[ltsnyder]

When you buy a prius there are a number of packages and a number of seperate options:

1) what is the difference between:

package #A "Smart Entry System"

package #B "Security Alarm"

3) Accessory "V.I.P. - RS3200 Plus security system (V5)

Accessory "Glass breakage Sensor"

2) I mean if the "Smart Entry system" is not an alarm system then is it only a remote door lock/unlock system?

3) And if you get the "Glass Breakage sensor" does that require that you have already selected the alarm option to start with?

Or what would it mean to have a "Glass Breakage system" and not have an alarm.

4) and finally if package #B includes the alarm, what value added does the "VIP security system" provide?


All these security options are very confusing.

-Lee

 

[ehurtley]

Smart Entry is the 'keyless, wireless' system. (Where you just need to have the keyfob in your pocket or purse, and don't need to push anything or turn anything to unlock the door, and you don't need to insert anything to start the car.) It is also called 'Smart Entry/Smart Start', or SE/SS. It is simply a fancier key.

Even the base model comes with an immobilizer, which means that if you try to start the car without the specially coded key, it will lock the starter (I'm assuming it will really lock the transmission in this car,) preventing someone from hot wiring it. This does nothing to protect you if someone tries to break in, and doesn't provide for any beeping or similar.

The 'security alarm' is a true 'alarm'. It detects if someone intrudes into the car, and beeps. Specifically, the security alarm detects if someone opens the door without first deactivating the alarm. By itself, the base system does not do anything to monitor if someone breaks the glass. (Hence the optional 'glass breakage sensor'.)

The V.I.P. Security system is for packages that don't include the alarm already.

Yes, you need the security system to have the glass breakage sensor.

 

[finman]

security

Forget the security stuff, just get the SE/SS (Smart Entry/Smart Start). It is so cool. NEVER do you have to pull a key out of your pocket...except on wash day!
It's a proximity sensor thing. As you approach the car it detects the remote FOB in your pocket, then when you grab the driver's or front passenger's OR rear hatch handle, it opens right up. Then it detects the remote FOB is inside the vehicle and it will start by depressing the brake and pressing the Power button. No need to EVER fumble with keys, etc.
It truly is the evolution of 'keyless' entry. Of course, EVERYTHING on this car is part of the automobile's evolution.
I really don't know how a 'security' system will protect the car anymore than this system: NO FOB, NO GO. All the glass breakage sensor will do is make a louder noise (than breaking glass) after someone tries to enter the Prius. NO one's going anywhere in this car without a coded FOB.
Love my Prius!

 

[Daniel]

Note that the concept of "hot-wiring" a car is meaningless in a Prius. The car is totally controlled by the computer, and the computer will not operate unless it receives the correct security code from the key fob. There is no switch that you can bypass or wire you can touch or connect to start the car, as there is in old-fashioned cars. The Prius does not even start like other cars. "Starting" it really means booting up the computer, which requires the security code. (It's a rolling code, by the way, so a scanner that intercepts the fob signal does not provide any information about what the next code will be.) The computer starts and stops the engine as needed, sometimes propelling the car on the electric motor alone.

If you have SS/SE you do not need to insert the fob into the slot, but it must be in the car. (Although once started, the car will run even if the fob is not present. There are both good and bad points to this.)

Smart entry is indeed just a very fancy remote door-unlocking system which uses a proximity sensor so you don't need to actually touch the fob, and smart-start allowes the car to start any time the fob is inside the car even though it is not inserted in the slot.

I don't know what you mean by "package A" and "package B" unless you are refering to the Canadian options packages. In the US there were 9 options packages for 2004, fewer for 2005. The "BC" package has everything. The "AM" package has all the safety features but lacks such luxury items as navigation, bluetooth, and the mirror that opens your garage door.

 

[ehurtley]

Yeah, I'd like it if I could add SE/SS to my other cars, and use homelink to unlock my house. Then I'd only ever have to carry around the one keyfob. (Or, in my wife's case, she'd just have to have her purse, since the Prius fob is in a zipped pocket in her purse.)

I wonder, if I get a second Prius with SE/SS, can I 'program' a single keyfob to work with both cars? (So I'd only need one keyfob, not two, and I wouldn't get the two cars fobs confused.)

Related to that, I wonder if the Hybrid Highlander and the Lexus 400h will have SE/SS? (Since we're seriously considering replacing both our Ford Explorer and our Hyundai Accent with a single hybrid SUV.)

 

[BIF]

Something you said made me laugh, Daniel. See highlight below.

Note that the concept of "hot-wiring" a car is meaningless in a Prius. The car is totally controlled by the computer, and the computer will not operate unless it receives the correct security code from the key fob. There is no switch that you can bypass or wire you can touch or connect to start the car, as there is in old-fashioned cars. ...

You see, it's natural for me to think of my Prius as a "normal everyday car." When I see or hear the term "old fashioned cars" applied to .. er, almost EVERYTHING ELSE OUT THERE, well, it just made me laugh!

 

[Daniel]

Yeah, I'd like it if I could add SE/SS to my other cars, and use homelink to unlock my house.

I've got it! Just rip out one wall of your house and install a garage door. The mirror can actually control several different doors, can't it? (I don't have it. Mine's a pkg "AM".)

Something you said made me laugh, Daniel. See highlight below.

old-fashioned cars. ...

You see, it's natural for me to think of my Prius as a "normal everyday car." When I see or hear the term "old fashioned cars" applied to .. er, almost EVERYTHING ELSE OUT THERE, well, it just made me laugh!

Yep! The Prius is here. Everything else is obsolete.

 

[mrv]

Yeah, I'd like it if I could add SE/SS to my other cars, and use homelink to unlock my house. Then I'd only ever have to carry around the one keyfob. (Or, in my wife's case, she'd just have to have her purse, since the Prius fob is in a zipped pocket in her purse.)

I wonder, if I get a second Prius with SE/SS, can I 'program' a single keyfob to work with both cars? (So I'd only need one keyfob, not two, and I wouldn't get the two cars fobs confused.)

Related to that, I wonder if the Hybrid Highlander and the Lexus 400h will have SE/SS? (Since we're seriously considering replacing both our Ford Explorer and our Hyundai Accent with a single hybrid SUV.)

You don't program the keyfob, you program the Prius to recognize the keyfob. There is someone on the Prius_Technical_Stuff yahoogroup that has 2 2004s, and he and his wife had their keyfobs programmed to each car... Biggest problem they have is if they're both in the SE&SS car, and the passenger exits the car with the first recognized keyfob that entered the car, so the car thinks the key left and starts beeping...