oh, right...

[cellio]

When I returned to my car tonight with groceries (on the way home from work), my car didn't respond to the key fob. No light -- presumably a dead fob battery, with no warning signs beforehand. (I've never had this happen before.) As I was calling Dani to ask him to bring the spare from home, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't need to. Oh yes, that's what that projecting metal piece is for -- it's not just an ignition key! Right...

I spent way longer owning cars with plain old keys than owning ones with fobs, but I guess the memories of How Things Used To Be fade quickly. Except when talking to young'uns about how we did things in "our day", of course. :-)

I wonder if replacing the battery in one of these fobs is relatively painless. (It appears I can't do it myself, or, at least, there's no obvious way to open the case.) I know that if you lose one of these a replacement costs something like $150 (!), but I hope repair is cheaper. If it's not, I won't bother -- if the second one also dies while I still own the car I'll just use it the old-fashioned way.

What do Prius owners do, I wonder?

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

there ought to be a small notch in the plastic seam, into which a dime or swiss-army flathead screwdriver will fit.
But I suggest you go to Radio Shack or similar, the battery will be under 6$.

Also, keyfobs dot com is where we send people to purchase; there;s no reason to permit extortion.
The one for my jeep retails for 140 at the parts supply, and $0.05 at this site. Your regular mechanic can help you out if you have further questions.

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Earlier this week I locked myself out of my car when I was at minyan. To make me feel better (I guess) the minyan leader told me a story about a woman who'd come into his office with a dead fob... who did not think of the key, in exactly the way you are mentioning. He told me this YESTERDAY. That's bizarre, man.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

I have experience in this department!

To get into my Prius when the fob battery is dead, I know that there is a little slider on the side of the fob that lets one reveal the actual metal key. There is even a place in the door to put said metal key (which is also useful info if one's Prius itself has a dead battery. Another department in which I have experience...). Then simply re-assemble the thing and put it in the slot to the right of the steering wheel, and start the car.

Then I drive to the watch-repair place (assuming they're open) and get them to change the battery in the fob.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

You probably just need a screwdriver (not sure what model key fob you have). I've taken apart my VW switchblade key to replace the battery before-- I had to look up how to disassemble it but it's not actually difficult to do.

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

There's almost always a way to do it, but they intentionally make it difficult (if it were easy, it would pop open in your pocket).

Ford like to set things up with a sliding mechanism so that you can only change the battery when the key is off of the keyring. Other manufacturers have a hidden slot or hole that pushes a latch. You might see if it's mentioned in the manual. It's usually considered a user-serviceable part.