Hello~. I own a 2024 Prime XSE Premium. I live in the PNW and it's getting close to the colder seasons. I've been trying to figure out if there is a way I can automatically warm the car interior without having to go outside and do everything manually. I don't want to pay a subscription for this feature, either. Is there a way? Searching Google says there's some type of climate prep you can activate in the charging schedule menu, but I've not found any such option, so I assume this is either wrong information or for an earlier model Prius. I've also read something about being able to activate "My Room" mode with the key fob with the three-tap-then-hold method, but I don't think I've managed to actually get this to work, either. Any help/suggestions/work-arounds are appreciated.
If you have line of sight, you can use the tap-tap-hold on the lock button of the fob to start the car even without a paid subscription, but it's probably not what you're looking for with a Prime and it's flakey enough that I don't use it on my HEV unless I can visually confirm the car successfully starting up(blinking turn signal lights). Since I don't own a Prime, that's the best I've got. Hopefully a PHEV owner can help you more.
I gave the key fob method a try again this morning and it worked. Thanks. The car will activate whatever settings you had prior to the last shutdown, so you have to make sure if you want your PHEV to defrost without using the engine, you have to set the air vents to defrost/floor setting and crank the heat and fan to max before your next use. The fob method is a bit finicky, it took a few tries for me to get it to work as I watched through my window to make sure it was actually working. Thanks again for bringing it up, as I had pretty much written it off before. For anyone reading this that doesn't know how to power on the accessory mode with the key fob; starting with the car locked, tap the lock button twice and then press it a third time and hold it down until you see the car's blinkers flash a few times. If you can see the dash it's obvious if it worked.
