Smart Key Mystery (2010 Auris Hybrid RHD)

[tintin2000]

Afternoon,

I've searched high and low for an answer, but nothing as helped me so far.

What's the Issue?
Both smart keys will neither lock or unlock the car.
There is no activity when the lock or unlock buttons are pressed.
The only way to start the car is to hold the keyfob to the start button, then press the start button.
We get the Key not detected! message after this point, but the car runs ok.

What I've tried and checked

• Changed both fob batteries - one at a time.
• Checked the voltage in these batteries. The voltage is 3v in each Battery.
• Checked the fuses to see if one has burned out. They seem fine.
• Ensured the red LED works in the key fobs.
• Looked for the mysterious button at the base of the steering column. Not in my car.
• Looked to see if there is a diagnostic menu option in the head unit (B9030) where the smart key operation can be checked, but nothing was found.
• Checked that the central locking button operates the locks, when I'm in the car.
• Got hold of an OBDII checker, but no fault codes are being displayed.
• Changed the 12v Battery. There was an issue recently whereby the batter had become discharged. This was resolved a few weeks ago with a new Battery and the car was running fine.
• Checked the volate of the 12v battery and it seems fine.
• There are no doors open and no message on the instruments to suggest that there is.

What's Changed?
I my job, when something goes wrong, the first question to ask is 'What's changed?'. In this case, My smart key has been with me (miles away) for a few weeks. It's only when I came home and tried to unlock the car with it did we notice the issue. My wife's key worked faultlessly the previous day.

If anyone has a pointer, I'd appreciate the help. I want to try and resolve the issue without the help of the garage, if possible.

Thanks.

 

[Gerg]

There is a 'customisable menu' for your car, it is generally only accessible through Toyota Techstream, although on newer cars of the higher trims (so as you say, not yours) it might be available through the radio/nav display.

I think it has has an option to disable all aspects of the keyfob radio reception listed as 'Auto Entry Cancel SW' in the Techstream displayed menu, I know, I tried it out once.  When this has been set to disable, the symptoms were the same or similar to yours.  Hence this thread:-

So it could be that, but if it is, how did it get changed?

There might be other ways of accessing this, I can't think of them at the moment.

A Techstream cable and software package is available off eBay etc. for about £15, but you'll need a laptop running Windows to set it up on.

I think I would disconnect your 12v Battery for 30 minutes to reboot all the controllers, then see what happens.

Remember that with your Battery disconnected all the doors will lock when it is reconnected!

Also, the CR2032 button cells, and other similar ones in other cars, seem to stop powering the keyfob at around 3v, and a new Battery (at 3.3v) makes them work again.  In the past I have had 'knock-off' button cells that claimed to be Panasonic brand, but very close inspection revealed them to be inferior cheap copies.

Just last week, my neighbour's JLR Evoque heater fan (which was completely dead) was brought back to normal operation by disconnecting the battery temporarily!

Hopefully other people will have some ideas, shortly.

[tintin2000]

Thanks very much, Gerg.
I'll go and disconnect the Battery shortly. Hadn't given that a thought at all!
I've ordered the Techstream form eBay, as you suggested, so I can go exploring in a few days.

I'll update this in a wee while...

[furtula]

As said above, voltage should be 3.3V

When i changed mine, i measured the dead ones, and they were around 3V, so it makes a difference.

They have shelf life of around 2-3 years, so it could be possible that you bought a flat Battery.  I would get a new ones and measure, they should be 3.3V, so could be as simple as that.

[flash22]

The fobs just need reprogramming (just the lock/unlock) if you do not change the Battery over within 30 sec - 1 min or if the Battery has gone flat it will drop is coding for the locking - the immobilizer is a passive chip so not an issue

make sure you use good quality cells not Poundland ones

you can change the locking type in the customization menu on the touch 2

Edit. Silly Question did you use the correct type of Battery as some use CR2016 and others use the CR2032, If you used a 2016 in a 2032 fob it will not work also some batteries have a little plastic sheet you need to remove off the bottom

Edit 2. its a fob battery issue

[tintin2000]

Thanks, furtula and flash22.

I disconnected the 12v Battery for about an hour.

Reconnected it and the same symptoms remain.
I changed the batteries in the fobs again, but still no joy. The new batteries are CR1632s and come in at just under 3.3v.
Good point to check - they are the right size.
I've got wet enough for the afternoon thanks to Storm Dennis.
I'll get a couple of newer batteries - these have been in sealed in their wrappers in the drawer for a good while.
Will update when I get them and try again.

Thaks again for all your help, folks. 🙂

 

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

The fobs just need reprogramming (just the lock/unlock) if you do not change the battery over within 30 sec - 1 min or if the battery has gone flat it will drop is coding for the locking - the immobilizer is a passive chip so not an issue

make sure you use good quality cells not Poundland ones

you can change the locking type in the customization menu on the touch 2

Edit. Silly Question did you use the correct type of battery as some use CR2016 and others use the CR2032, If you used a 2016 in a 2032 fob it will not work also some batteries have a little plastic sheet you need to remove off the bottom

Edit 2. its a fob battery issue

 

[flash22]

CR1632 ? They should be CR2032 (20mm round 3.2mm thick) if they are too small the negative will not connect properly, the black part that clips over the Battery has the Battery type moulded into it

I picked up some the other day £3.99 for 2 energizer lithium CR2032 from Wickes (got them on my way home as was convenient)

 

Edit. ah you have the early fob what is indeed a CR1632 (recessed buttons)

[furtula]

Did you try to program the fobs to the car?

I think i have the same model as yours, also CR1632, and had the same issue after having disconnected the Battery.

But the car automatically registered it when i tried to unlock it by just pulling on the handle, after that it worked fine (prior to it nothing, fob worked, car ignored it).

If it does not do that, maybe try locking locking the car, then unlocking by pulling on the handle.

The car should start fine during this time even if it's not registered to lock/unlock.

 

[tintin2000]

46 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Edit. ah you have the early fob what is indeed a CR1632 (recessed buttons)

You had me questioning myself for a moment. 🙂

[flash22]

It's the early fob with the reassessed cross

 

[tintin2000]

Tried a new CR1632 cell on Sunday, but stili nothing happened.
We're managing to lock the car using the key.
I've had to go away for a while, so won't be able to try the software, but i'll ask my wife to try again, to see if the fob will register as the handle is pulled.

Thanks everyone.  I'll update when I'm back home and can get stuck into it.
 

[tintin2000]

Morning everyone.
This is my thread, but it's lay dormant for a few months.
Reason for that is that I was called up to Glasgow from Sussex to look after my mum who wasn't well.
She passed away just before the full lockdown came into being and I found myself in Glasgow unable to get back down until last week.
I didn't have my Auris with me - as I couldn't trust it not to fail on me - so I couldn't follow-up on any suggestions in this thread.
Just to say thank you to all those who commented above.
I'm back now, so will start to look at the issues again in the next few days.
At the minute, the 12v Battery is dead and I managed to jump start the car the other day to move it.
We are able to lock the car using the physical key and this action has disabled the alarm.
More to follow when I have reminded myself of the replies above.
Thanks all for your patience.🙂
 

[flash22]

No problem, sorry for your loss, i know its not easy to care for someone, i have been there a few times myself

[tintin2000]

On 5/25/2020 at 9:46 AM, flash22 said:

No problem, sorry for your loss, i know its not easy to care for someone, i have been there a few times myself

Thank you, flash. It's been a strange time what with everything else that's been going on.

I've disconnected the -ive cable from the 12v Battery and put the Battery on charge. I'll see where I am once it's charged. I couldn't even jump start it the other day.
What can go wrong...?

[furtula]

Looks to me like the car is not recognizing the fob at all. Could be problem with the module responsible for this.

Car itself has few antennas around it, so if one died, you should be able to lock/unlock anyway.

Normal code reader wont help you much with this, you need Techstream to troubleshoot it.

 

The reason the car starts when you put the fob to the button is because it recognizes the imobilizer chip this way, another reason to suspect the module responsible for communicating with the key remotely might be faulty

[tintin2000]

Everything seems fine now...
Steps I took to get to this point...

• Checked the new 12v Battery with the multimeter. It was dead.
• Tried to jump start the car. Nothing happened when I tried to press the power button.
• Used my new Halfords "smart" charger to charge the Battery, while it was plumbed-in. No joy.
• Disconnected the 12v Battery and used the Halfords charger. The charger indicated that the battery could not be charged and possibly had suffered from reverse polarity.
• Tried my multimeter on the old 12v battery and there were no vital signs.
• Attempted to charge the old battery using the Halfords charger and it did not want to know.

So, I got hold of a multimeter from Amazon as well as a charger.

• Tried the new 12v battery with the multimeter and it registered about 3v.
• Managed to charge the battery using the new charger.
• Connected the battery after a couple of days of being on charge and it sprung to life like nothing had been wrong.
• Stopped, started, locked and unlocked all without issue.

What have I learned?

• Never trust a multimeter.
• Never trust anything with the word "smart" in its name.

I've bought a battery isolator, so I can use that if the car won't be used for a while.
Also, I could leave one of the chargers on the battery.

As for the old 12v battery, well, it charged using the new charger, so I might use that with a solar charger and have some funky LEDs in the garden.

The Halfords charger has now decided that it wants to work and keep the batteries topped up.

Thank you all again for your help and advice.
It was very much appreciated.

Edited July 11, 2020 by tintin2000

[Gerg]

That sounds like a real ordeal, at least it's working now!

Just as background, when the 12v Battery is just 'flat', the 12 volts will have dropped to, perhaps, 10 - 11 volts or less, and the 'smart' charger will work with that, no problem.

As the Battery discharges more, and gets really, very, flat indeed, and the voltage gets below about 7volts, then the smart chargers often fail to recognise that a battery is even connected!  In this situation any old fashioned, non-smart car Battery charger will still work fine (provided that the battery will actually still take a charge), and once the battery is above around 7-8 volts (when it is still useless to the car) the smart charger could be put to work on it.

This might have helped explain your situation, and you didn't know, which was remiss of me.  I only found this out the hard way, and I thought it could just be my battery chargers, but I am seeing more and more that this is quite commonplace, and your Halfords charger sounds the same.