2020 Toyota Highlander
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2020 Toyota Highlander Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

I got a call from a homeowner over in Bressi Ranch, the gated section off Palomar Airport Road. His 2020 Highlander was sitting in the guest parking area inside the complex. The fob had been acting up for a few days, short range, touch unlock on the driver handle working sometimes and not others. Then one morning it just stopped communicating with the car entirely.

The tow company he called told him they could not get through the gate without a resident escort. He could not escort them because the car was his only way to move around. Classic dead-end.

I drove in behind a resident making a turn, walked over to the Highlander with my bag, and set up on the trunk lid. His original fob still had the emergency blade inside, so getting into the car was not the problem. The issue was that the vehicle was not recognizing the smart fob at all, even held directly against the start button.

I pulled up the vehicle's key registration data through the diagnostic port. The fob itself was intact, but the registration had corrupted, something owners on the forums describe as a sudden all-or-nothing failure after a period of intermittent behavior. I cleared the key memory, re-enrolled his fob, then cut and programmed a second one so he had a backup going forward. Walked every function: touch unlock on both front handles, the liftgate release, start button recognition with the fob in his pocket and with it inside a signal-blocking bag to confirm the car would fall back to the backup start procedure correctly.

The whole job was done in the guest parking lot without moving the car an inch. He mentioned the dealer had quoted him a wait of several days just to get an appointment. That part was almost an afterthought by the time I was packing up.

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