The Information Guide for the 2010 Prius II I got says To unlock: Grip the handle to unlock the doors. Make sure to touch the sensor of the back of the handle. The door cannot be unlocked for 3 seconds after the door is locked. To lock: Touch the sensor area to lock the doors. [Does this include all doors?] This worked for awhile, but now it doesn't. Before I even know about this, I was surprised when the door unlocked when I touched it lightly. So now I lock the doors with the remote - and they unlock again in a few seconds. It seems to work when I push to lock toggle switch on the inside of the drivers door. Any clues about what's going on here?
Only the front doors and the rear hatch have the SKS functionality (Smart Key System). The front doors unlock by touching the back of the handle (this is usually accomplished by simply grabbing the handle and waiting a split second before opening the door.) The front doors lock by touching the indentations that look like "=" on the face of the handle. There is one set on the top and one on the bottom. Usually touching the top is fine but if you find that it's not always successful. You can always touch both sides of the handle (e.g. a pinching motion) to lock the front doors. To open the rear hatch, press and hold the large rubber area. (Alternatively, you can press the large area twice - once unlocks it, the 2nd time releases it to open). To lock the rear hatch, locate the small rubber dot that is (unfortunately) located next to the large rubber area. When the hatch is opened, look underneath to see what I'm talking about. The unlock/release area is the large rectangular section. The lock button is the small, ovoid button to the right of it. Of course you can always use your remote fob to lock/unlock but it kinda defeats the purpose of SKS. Note that the default setting is: Driver's door handle - unlock driver's door only Front passenger door handle or rear hatch - unlock all doors. This is customisable.
Yes, this is an important clue, as it shouldn't immediately auto-unlock. Are the door handles clean and dry? Has the car been washed recently? We know that when wet, such as when handwashing the car, the Lock sensing can get fooled and unintentionally lock the door. I'm wondering if something similar (electrical leakage through dust or oily dirt?) is fooling the door handle sensing into thinking you are trying to touch and unlock it.
This can be a sign that one or more of the electric actuators which physically moves the locking mechanism is failing. If you watch the lock indicators closely you might SEE where the problems is. The system "knows" when all the doors don't lock......and is unlocking them all in an attempt to tell you that things are not working right.
It's weird that the lock/unlock only happens with the remote and not with the physical lock switch. I was thinking that maybe the car was sensing keys left in the car or something and so refusing to lock, but I did a test and the car is happy to lock a set of keys in the car.
That would tend to indicate that the physical switch that you were using for the test is the one that is failing electrically.
????? Please explain. The OP says locks are AOK with the physical electrical switch located on the door in the car but there's a lock/unlock problem when using the remote.
When the actuator fails, it only moves part way and does not move it's attached button enough to lock. IF......you are using THAT button for your manual test, everything will appear OK......because the actuator for THAT BUTTON does not come into play when you are moving it by hand. Now, after typing that I realized that probably isn't the button he was talking about. When the actuators first start to fail, it is intermittent. I think I had the same result when mine first started to fail. Maybe the lock/unlock electrical switch on the door keeps power on the actuator longer ?? Don't know.
I interpret the OP as pressing the electric rocker switch that locks all doors of his Liftback, not rolling that purely mechanical roller switch that looks just a single door. It makes no sense lock only the driver door and leave the other three unlocked. (With the default factory settings, placing a Liftback in Park unlocks all four passenger doors.) I suspect (based on evidence outside this thread) that it depends on how long the driver holds it down. If so, then in my typical use, it is shorter than the signal applied with the remote.
