LE Owners: Don't place your keys on the rear bumper!

[Snake05]

So yesterday on my lunch break, I ran home to hook up my trailer and pick up a couch. After unlocking my hitch lock and trailer master padlocks, I placed my keys on the rear bumper as I always do, and proceeded to finish the job. In the lunch time rush, I forgot to pick up the keys, and hopped in the truck. Brake+Button and it fired right up no problem, so I thought none the less. I made it all the way to the furniture store ~ 6 miles away, and turned off the car and hopped out. Fast forward to a loaded trailer and now the truck won't start. Keys - no where to be found. House keys, truck/wife's car keys, 4 wheeler keys, trailer keys (that I'm currently hooked up to) and many work keys, all gone:Cry:. The wife had to leave work from 45 minutes away to come give me her spare so I could search the route that I took, to no avail... Also had to saw off the hitch lock so I could unhook from the trailer.

Toyota is claiming this is completely normal as apparently the transmitter in the rear hatch for the touch button window controls will activate the entire ignition system, and the truck knows no different. So all they offer me is a replacement key (~for around $400:faint2:...) And I have at least another $400-500 worth of other keys/rekeying that I will now have to be doing.

 

[4runr4eva]

So yesterday on my lunch break, I ran home to hook up my trailer and pick up a couch. After unlocking my hitch lock and trailer master padlocks, I placed my keys on the rear bumper as I always do, and proceeded to finish the job. In the lunch time rush, I forgot to pick up the keys, and hopped in the truck. Brake+Button and it fired right up no problem, so I thought none the less. I made it all the way to the furniture store ~ 6 miles away, and turned off the car and hopped out. Fast forward to a loaded trailer and now the truck won't start. Keys - no where to be found. House keys, truck/wife's car keys, 4 wheeler keys, trailer keys (that I'm currently hooked up to) and many work keys, all gone:Cry:. The wife had to leave work from 45 minutes away to come give me her spare so I could search the route that I took, to no avail... Also had to saw off the hitch lock so I could unhook from the trailer.

Toyota is claiming this is completely normal as apparently the transmitter in the rear hatch for the touch button window controls will activate the entire ignition system, and the truck knows no different. So all they offer me is a replacement key (~for around $400:faint2:...) And I have at least another $400-500 worth of other keys/rekeying that I will now have to be doing.

Oh gosh. Sorry to hear. That is quite the story. I am sure you will never make that mistake again. My wife bought a new VW that has push start and was jealous my SR5 had a key. I didn't understand why she would thought push start was bad, but after reading this story, I am happy to have a key.

 

[tm965]

wow. this makes me want to get one of those trackers you attach to your keychain to help recover keys should you lose them

 

[PaulB-2006 T4R]

Sorry to hear about the lost key fob. I lost one on my wife's 2018 Crosstrek with the push button start. I wound up buying a new fob from a Subaru dealer online for $92 which was less than my dealership $130 and the cost to program the key at the dealer was $68. I did not buy a replacement emergency key because that was going to be an additional $140 because it needed to be laser cut by Subaru only, also how many times to you use the emergency key? The dealership gave me a key to another car to fill the opening and to hang a key chain. I was happy with the $160 versus nearly $400.

 

[1jzgte]

smart key not so smart

 

[Skywriter]

Sorry for your misfortune, I have lost mine a few times. I considered getting the Tile tracking device. It simply connects to your bluetooth, and your phone remembers the last place it was connected before the disconnect. Since bluetooth is only good for about 30 feet, you would know where they dropped. I believe "Tile" started this but there are others out there. Cool idea. Tile also has an app to run the process, and it allows you to activate the tile and have it beep if you are close enough to connect. I got several for things I might misplace and slipped a few in cases of things I did not want to lose while traveling. I like the new ones that allow others with app to locate it and then automatically contacts you where their phone found it. The older ones you could not change the battery, so when it goes dead in a year, it is trash. Competitors have removable batteries, I am not sure how well other work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9moC_EqAzoQ

 

[Snake05]

I will definitely be getting some sort of tracker for the future set of keys, whenever I can get it piece mailed together.

I just got back from a 4k mile trip across the country 2 days before, so the thought that this could have happened in the middle of Montana or something, hours away from service, really makes me paranoid.
Had the trailer and couch parked in the garage and the truck in the driveway until the wife pointed out I could have lost the keys in the neighborhood, and someone of questionable nature could have easily picked them up and was just waiting only to find my truck easy pickings...

I am looking at the new keys online instead of the stealership. Right now looking at keylessentryremotefob.com, then I'll have to pay someone to reprogram and remove the lost fobs from the system.

 

[LTDBLKTRD]

Dango what a bumper I mean bummer haha.. thank you for the shared experience, I leave my keys in the vehicles a lot as the fob’s fall out of my pocket easily and under the seat, luckily it reopens after reminding me but when you are in a hurry it might be overlooked/unheard

 

[AdmiralAugbar]

I like my antiquated old key

 

[MidnightOffRoad]

A new standard FOB from Ford is $290. A specialized FOB (with a Shelby emblem) is $340.

When I bought my car, they only had one FOB. The dealer assured me they'd provide me a second. After 3 weeks of dicking around with the dealer (they have a "key" guy and you HAVE to be there with the vehicle so he can program it and of course, he works bankers hours and I work for a living) I gave up and just decided to check to see how much it would cost to just buy one from a Ford dealer.

Yeah, $290 for a regular. Bonkers. Absolute bonkers.

A business associate used to lock his key in his car (and use the keypad to unlock). One night he left something on and it drained the battery down to dead. So then, he couldn't get in the car to open the hood (to charge the battery). $180 locksmith call later and he doesn't lock his keys in the vehicle anymore.

A $3 magnetic keybox and a spare key go a long way to preventing heartache and expense

 

[STX4Runner]

I like my antiquated old key

Exactly. Why are smart keys and keyless start so popular? If your keys are in the ignition you won't lose them and you don't have to find a place to put them when driving.

 

[baldrik78]

I see you had a run in with my old friend Murphy and his law. Sorry to hear your comical series of events is going to be so costly

 

[03_4x4Runner]

I did not think the 4runner would start with the fob outside the interior so I tried it. I set the fob on the bumper and it started right up. I do not have any other keys on my fob so it never leaves my pocket.


Not related but have any of you noticed that when you wash the 4runner with the fob in your pocket the doors lock when water hits the door handle then unlocks when you sponge it off and dry it then locks again when you do more drying and hit the door handle right. Kind of annoying and wears out the actuators. If you leave the fob in the interior it beeps every time water hits the door handle. I found it is better off to keep the fob out of range when washing the 4runner.


Even with these quirks I could never go back to a standard key.

 

[Axix23]

Don’t need to worry about this. Trd off road doesn’t come with a smart key. lol

 

[Dropzone]

Exactly. Why are smart keys and keyless start so popular? If your keys are in the ignition you won't lose them and you don't have to find a place to put them when driving.

One reason I like my 94 4runner Daily driver. Both front doors have a key slot along with the back door.
One thin key that can go through the wash a million times and I can get a new one made for two bucks. And can have a spare one hidden and exposed to the elements for years and it will work..no batteries etc

 

[Snake05]

I did not think the 4runner would start with the fob outside the interior so I tried it. I set the fob on the bumper and it started right up. I do not have any other keys on my fob so it never leaves my pocket.


Not related but have any of you noticed that when you wash the 4runner with the fob in your pocket the doors lock when water hits the door handle then unlocks when you sponge it off and dry it then locks again when you do more drying and hit the door handle right. Kind of annoying and wears out the actuators. If you leave the fob in the interior it beeps every time water hits the door handle. I found it is better off to keep the fob out of range when washing the 4runner.


Even with these quirks I could never go back to a standard key.

Even though she's a limited, I still treat her as the rough rig she is and rarely see the carwash, so I haven't noticed...

But on an awesome note (other than Arkansas just won game 1 of the world series), someone just sent me a Facebook photo of someone who found a large set of keys on the road. Mine! Wow I am so thankful tonight, and certainly won't be making this mistake again. Buying a Tile tracker right now...

 

[boyguan]

I never realized why people carry more than 1 car key unless your driving multiple cars a day. I bring the 1 key for the 1 car i am driving and i keep my house key on it. I might make 10 copies of the house key if i have 10 cars but its cheap.

If i lose one i only lose the one.

Spares are always kept at home (why would you wife have the key with her)

 

[phillyd2]

You out dummied all the built in dummy features. Well done :clap2:

 

[fsroader]

I did not think the 4runner would start with the fob outside the interior so I tried it. I set the fob on the bumper and it started right up. I do not have any other keys on my fob so it never leaves my pocket.


Not related but have any of you noticed that when you wash the 4runner with the fob in your pocket the doors lock when water hits the door handle then unlocks when you sponge it off and dry it then locks again when you do more drying and hit the door handle right. Kind of annoying and wears out the actuators. If you leave the fob in the interior it beeps every time water hits the door handle. I found it is better off to keep the fob out of range when washing the 4runner.


Even with these quirks I could never go back to a standard key.

The same thing happens on my Mustang. I put the key on the porch steps. I too find it easy to get spoiled by just sticking the fob in your pocket and forgetting about it.

 

[renau001]

Just had a rental with a push-button start for a week. Made me appreciate the lack of such feature on my Trail. The only thing I appreciated about that car was the computer not crashing every time I made a phone call. And the 40+ mpg didn’t hurt.