Can the smart key be paired with more than one vehicle?

My wife is in the market for a new car and I was thinking it would be cool to have one key to rule them all. Does anyone know if you can pair a smart key with two Toyotas?

Are the keys compatible across the whole lineup?

 

http://lifehacker.com/5586261/program-a-single-key-fob-to-unlock-multiple-cars

Found this for the old-school keyless entry fobs, so it is possible there. Not sure about the new push-button start fobs.

 

Depends if the fob learns the code of the ecu or if ecu learns the fob's I would think.

 

Unlike older wireless entry remotes that were 1-way, the smart key is a 2-way process and both the car and the remote gets programmed and sync'ed. Smart keys can only be programmed to 1 vehicle at a time.

Jeff

 

ecu learns the key id. another issue I found when trying to program my 4runner fob to the Tacoma was they are on different freqs so it wouldn't learn the 4runner fob.

Tacoma can learn up to 5 fobs from what I have seen on the techstream settings.

 

Salesman told me they are coded to the VIN, so the two way part makes sense to me. If you want to believe a salesman.

 

It's not exactly coded to the VIN per se, the only computer in the car that knows the VIN is the engine ECU. The rest is internal (certification ID, etc.). There is a certification ID that links a specific smart key to the vehicle, programming them is essentially performing a handshake between the key and the car. An ID is generated and stored in both the vehicle and the key.

Jeff

 

That makes sense to me. Are there steps to programming a key (e.g. push start twice, turn on wipers, push button on fob, punch my ear, etc LOL) or is a certain "device" required that only the dealer has access to?

 

That's right, these don't need the key in the ignition, just hit the start button. How close does the key need to be to work?
Duane

 

No, we were talking about programming the key, not starting the engine. For that, key just needs to be in vehicle. Think there are 4 separate antennas inside the vehicle, may be 3, can't remember it's in the owner's manual.

 

I am not surprised but I have to say I am kind of annoyed. It is like Toyota didn't think that people might own more than one Toyota. I also wish they had multiple form factors of key. I would really like to have a smart key that was like the key fob that I use to access my office. I want one of these that will allow me to use the door handle and push button start on my vehicle and my wife's and also to get into my office and make it a 2 factor authentication token for my smartphone and computer while you are at it:

 

The reason they do it that way is for added security. The vehicle id gets programmed to the fob and the fob id programmed to the vehicle. When customers buy used keys we have to reseed the immobilizer system which erases all the saved data on the key and erases all other keys except for the one being programmed. It now gets registered with the government too.

 

Government? Explain why they need to know about a vehicle key.

 

I'd settle for an app on my phone. Get rid of my two Toyota key fobs on my key chain altogether. I can pay using my phone so why not open my doors and start my car?

 

Then your battery dies and not only can you not operate your car but you can't call anyone to help with the situation...

 

They are heavily involved with vehicle securities, more than a lot of people think. This is why different countries have different systems.

A big example of influence for security by country is how they moved security control modules and BCM's to places that are extremely difficult to swap out, often far behind the cluster.

The encryption used to start the Smart Key system would need the key to send out multiple signals talking to the multiple cars. There's no way one key could start two cars without it doubling in size.

 

Smart keys suck and are expensive if you loose it it's $350+!! You need to have the dealer or a locksmith program it using a device that connects to the ECU! Long gone are the days you just turn the key 5 times while holding buttons to program you key.

 

This just isn't true. The cryptography is the same regardless of the key used so the chip could just store two crypto keys. If they are using very high security cryptography (very unlikely) those keys would be 4k each and perhaps you would need one for the car and a pair for the key so perhaps 12k of storage per vehicle. 12k is .000011GB. Considering that a micro SD card the size of your thumbnail (of which 99% is inert plastic so it is large enough to hold) that you buy for $10 holds 32GB I assert that it would neither need to be physically larger nor cost appreciably more.

It would involve a little bit of careful and smart design which is probably the reason it isn't so.

 

Been a while since this was brought up, has anyone discovered a way to do this?

 

A smart key can only work on one vehicle at a time.

Jeff