2024 Toyota Prius
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in San Diego

2024 Toyota Prius Smart Key Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

It was around 8 in the evening in San Ysidro, right in the Border Area, and the call came in from a hospital parking lot.

A woman had just picked up her kid, who was being discharged after a rough stretch. She had her hands full in every sense of the word. She pressed the fob button walking to the car. Nothing. She tried again. Nothing. She remembered something about holding the fob to the start button, tried that too. The car did not respond. She had a tired child, a bag of discharge paperwork, and nowhere to go.

The dealer was already closed for the night.

She called me, and I drove out to her.

When I got there she was sitting on a curb near the car, kid leaning against her. I got the door open for her first so she could get the child settled inside. Then I checked the fob. The CR2450 inside had not just run down, the contacts inside the fob housing had corroded, which was preventing even the passive backup read from working. That explained why the hold-to-button trick had not saved her.

I replaced the fob, programmed it to the vehicle through the diagnostic port, tested every function including the door handles and the start button response, and confirmed the old fob was no longer recognized by the system. From her first call to the engine running was about 45 minutes.

She did not say much. She just buckled the kid in and said thank you quietly, which felt like enough.

The dealer would have meant a tow, a morning appointment, and a night in a hotel or a ride share home and back. She saved a good chunk and got her kid home the same night.

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