My Prius had a button to turn off Smart Entry. It was recommended that SE be turned off if I wasn't going to use the car for more than 7 days or so to minimize the drain on the 12v battery.

Although page 37 of the TCH owner's guide has a section labeled "Disabling the Smart Entry System" there is no procedure to do it. It says contact your dealer.
So I guess I'm asking:

1) Is it recommended that the TCH's SE system be disabled to reduce battery drain if the vehicle will be unused for an extended length of time?
2) If yes then how is it done?

If it is not recommended and can't be disabled how does the TCH deal with the battery drain issue that the Prius couldn't.

Tnx,
J

 

I'd love to know too.

 

Why does so much in this car say "contact the dealer". In my TL you went through a menu that you selected how certain functions operated.

 

The best part is that when I contact the dealer, they tell me the car is so new they don't know! So I contact Toyota by e-mail, and even AFTER telling them the dealer doesn't know, they tell me to contact the dealer. Let's say that I'm NOT satisfied with my dealings with my dealer NOR Toyota itself.

 

The system will automatically shutdown if the car is not used for 2 weeks.

A related amuzing conundrum. The manual says the Smart key system will shutdown if a key is left within the activation range for 10 minutes to avoid draining the battery. But, the manual then says avoid leaving the key in range of the car to avoid the system from draining the battery...

 

I'm going to a "new owners" dinner/meeting with the dealer and service folks. This is one question I will ask them. I'll let you know what comes of it.

 

Regarding my original questin it turns out that 3 pages before where it tells you to contact the dealer there is a blurb in the manual that says the system will got into a battery saving mode under several conditions.
1) If the smart entry is unused for 2 weeks it shuts off.
2) If a key fob is kept close to the car and not used for a period of time the system also shuts down.
So it appears there is less of a reason if any to actually disable the smart entry system on the '07 CHV.
J

 

Hmmm....my dealer said that after 2 weeks the battery would be dead so not to do that but the manual seems to indicate differently.

So that begs the next question. Once its in battery saving mode, do you have to use the key and hold the fob next to the power button to get the car going?

 

I would guess that you could still use the remote to unlock the doors and that would also rearm the smart key, so you could just get in and press the Start the button. For that matter, pressing the Start button may just enable Smart Key also.

 

Simple as that. I'd say that unless your 12V battery is near the end of it's life, the whole turn off the Smart Key to save the battery ala Prius is wholly unnecessary.

Toyota Engineer #1: How do we deal with the 12V battery going dead from the Smart Key system?

Toyotal Engineer #2: How about an "off" button?

TE #1: Tried that in the Prius, some people forgot to use it...

Te #2: How about an automatic off after a certain period of inactivity?

TE #1: You're a genius, can I buy you lunch? Sushi?

TE #2: Let's go!