A family member is down to one key fob. Is there a surefire way to replace the lost one that's cheaper than the dealership? I've heard they can charge an awful lot. Thanks
Look on eBay for a virginized used fob for a Gen 3 Prius; they seem to run about $80-ish. Program it to the car using Techstream. If you have a scrap Windows laptop to use, you can get set up for not much money, and you'll have it for other service needs too. If you don't want to bother, see if your dealer will program it for you for $50 or so. Honestly, from plugging the dongle onto the car's OBD-II port, it takes less than five minutes to do. But if you buy a fob that is just used (not virginized), the programming will fail. (If that happens to you, there are folks on eBay you can send a used fob to who will send it back virginized for $20-ish.) -Chap
Call a few locksmiths in Cincy and ask if they're able to program a used Prius fob. A town that size ought to have a few, and it's not like the fobs are new technology. Get 2 of them (at least) and remove the battery from one of them and store it inside the car in a non-obvious place like under the spare. Then? Take the keylet that's cut for your door and tie-wrap it to a non-obvious exterior location. It's pretty small and there are loads of places to hide it. If you lose access to your fob, let yourself into the car with the metal keylet and retrieve the fob without the battery. Sounds like a lot of work until you've had a purse stolen, or a gym locker rifled through....or you just lock your fob inside the car accidentally because it's in a computer bag and the battery is a little low......or you swap drivers and somebody jets off with your fob. Lock-proofing 101
Yes. One of the operations in Techstream (you need access to one good, already registered fob to get started) is "unregister all fobs except this one". Then you can register your new one (along with any other old ones you still have). -Chap
Some place that's not easy to spot. Mine is in the rear of the car, and I used 100MPH tape instead of a tie-wrap after the only time I had to get into the car sans fob. (left fob at home) In the motorcycle community, I've seen people hide a key inside a signal lamp (requires a screwdriver to get to.) I've also seen keylets taped to the back side of the licence plate...or taped under one of the plasticky underbody panels. The only thing I would not try is one of those magnetic hey holders or gas cap compartments from from the 80's. They're about as secure as a front door key hidden under a doormat, and there are not a lot of places under the car to attach the magnet safe. Good Luck!
THIS. And in my opinion, you should get the FOB from them too. The few extra $$$ it will cost is insurance against being scammed on Ebay or Craigslist.
