Actually, that's not true either... at least not on my gen III. After locking the car with the key and walking away for a few seconds I came back and unlocked it by touching the handle. It may be different on a gen II car. However, where I suspect some of the confusion might be coming in is that the car will automatically disable the SKS system when there is a fob inside the car. If you left your fob in the car and locked it with the metal key (or with the button on another fob) then you won't be able to unlock it using SKS. If you leave a fob in the car and have a second fob with you and try to lock it using SKS by touching the door handle the car will beep and display a message along the lines of "Key detected in vehicle".
Did you search the car for the 2nd key, perhaps it was not lost just left in the car, under a seat or even where the spare is located, you never know till you check, stranger things have happened.
The easy way to check this is to leave your existing fob away from the car, then get in and try to start it... if it still starts then there's a key somewhere in the car. The car should detect a key pretty much anywhere inside it. If not, then there's still a chance that it's in the car somewhere with a dead battery or wrapped in metal or something.
Good idea. I was thinking maybe the other fob was kicking around somewhere in there, but didn't know how to find it. I'm going to open the door and try to start the car. Thanks. Well, tried starting the car. Got a "key not detected" message. Tomorrow in the daytime I'll look around the floor, and see if there's one with a dead battery. But I think they would have found it when they detailed the car.
Wow, I must have been naiively lucky when I picked up my Certified Used Prius as I got two fobs and assumed CU Prius always came this way.
FYI, your problems sound very, very much like the problems I experienced when I mistakenly left my wife's key fob in our Prius.
The key number is required to make a duplicate high security key. The dealer or an automotive locksmith can get the key number using your vin.
Well, I checked all over and could not find a loose key fob anywhere in the car. Since the car was a "loaner," I doubt they ever gave out two fobs at once, anyway. And when I tried to start the car without carrying the fob, an error message came up "can not detect key," so I assume there is no loose one somewhere in the car.
Why are there so many threads on this subject? People need to learn if they have a question on a subject, they need to click on the search button before they ask.