I used to have a little gadget, size of small key chain that would sound alarm when you clasp your hands loud enough for it's mike to pick it up. Something similar but less complex and less expensive should work as well
http://www.findonefindall.com/indexg...FQ3aZQodX03Byw

 

Steven.. Long time no speak. Some key story all right.. How in the world did you drive away from the place when the key was first lost? I remember last fall when we were literally in the middle of the desert on "Indian Service road 5120" according to the navigator
It occurred to me that we were about 2,500 miles from home.. What if we LOST our FOB?.
The nearest Toyota dealer was at least 75 miles away in Albuquerque. It seemed real scary to me to think of this.. You can't take the other one with you all the time and you can't hide one in the car because anyone could then take off with it. Maybe the answer is to somehow take or conceal the little emergency key with you. Can these little keys be duplicated without purchasing a new FOB?.. Did you inquire as to what a new FOB would cost? according to the forum, the car has to be towed to a dealer where the FOB is custom made for the car. Anyway.. glad you found your original key..
WillyBill BTW, I just passed the one year anniversary 19K miles. 61 tanks. 36 mpg avg.
Happy New Year ! (especially at $3.18 per gallon) (more for you I'm sure)

 

Why not attach your smart key to your cell phone?

 

Since my Razr phone has no place to attach it to, I'd have to use duct tape

 

The manual notes that a cell phone and SmartKey should not even be pocketmates, so keeping them attached would not be good.

 

There's a problem keeping an "emergency" FOB in the car. If the SKS senses a FOB in the cabin or trunk, you cannot lock the car using another FOB. You have to use the key. And that segues into the next item -- by "little key", do you mean the small metallic key on the side of the FOB? If so, the key will only lock/unlock the driver's door. No ignition capability.

You can purchase the small key from Toyota. Mine cost me ~ $75. The local Toyota dealer said they couldn't cut the key locally, they had to order it (using the VIN number for "verification") from another Toyota entity.

What you CAN do is: get another FOB, make it an "emergency" FOB by taking the battery out of it. Now, when you travel, you can hide it in the car (somewhere good). As the manual says, to start the car with it, just hold it close to the POWER button/switch. This is what I do when I travel. (I'm paranoid. I just KNOW I'll lose my operational FOB.)

I, myself, lost one of the two FOBs after only 3 weeks!!! It has to be in the house SOMEWHERE, but danged if I can find it. I swear that @*#$ thing must be playing hide-and-seek with me. I immediately purchased 3 extra FOBs ~ 300 ea; 2 extra keys ~ 75 ea and programming ran 95. VERY expensive! At least I now have four FOBs.

 

Not quite, you can lock the car if you press the lock button again on the other fob outside the car, even if a fob is in the cabin or trunk.

 

OOPS, Forgot about that. I seldom use the FOB's pushbuttons (except when I need to find the car in a parking lot because the TCH moved itself to a different parking spot than where I left it).

 

So ...
The scenario is to
(1) obtain a 'spare' fob with key ...
(2) 'Hide' the fob, sans key and battery somewhere not that obvious inside the TCH.
(3) 'Hide' the key somewhere exterior and not really obvious, so that in emergency the key can be retrieved to open door and fob (sans battery) can then be retrieved to start TCH ...

Sounds like it would work.

With prior two Camry's I found a place in a wheel well to securely store 'spare' key ... and this little one shouldn't be that hard. Just need to be sure it won't jostle out, or move into a place where it can't be retrieved.

 

If the FOB battery is removed for an extended period of time, will the FOB still be programmed for your car? I removed the battery and (per the manual), touched the FOB to the start button and the car started as it should.

There must be some kind of residual charge in the FOB to communicate with the car for a short distance.

My concern is that this residual charge that is meant to keep the FOB operational while the battery is being replaced, will run down and make the FOB a generic FOB and will no longer work with your car.

Any ideas or thoughts?