CR1632

I was technically in charge of a friend's car who was on vacation. I was asked to pick her and another friend up at the airport. Since I believe in planning ahead of time, I went after work to try to start her car and drive it over to in front of my place.

She has a Toyota Camry Hybrid, which is completely electronic. So it was a bit of a puzzle when I could not get the door to unlock with the key fob. I played around with the key fob, until I found a black piece that said "push" and so I did and out slid a slit of steel. It fit into the door, similar to an actual key and allowed me to unlock the driver side door.

Thinking I could now start the car, I tried and it said "Key not detected." How could that be? I was holding the key, but the electronic sensors in the car needed to find the electronic key. So I grabbed the manual out of the passenger side compartment, locked it up and went home on the bus. On the ride there, I discovered in the manual that I would need a CR1632 battery replacement.

Little did I know that this CR1632 battery would prove to be immensely elusive in being discovered at local merchants. I went to Walgreens, Target, Rainbow, ACE Hardware, but fortunately found one at Radio Shack. Thankfully, I did not have to leave Minneapolis to go to a Toyota dealership or a Batteries Plus.

One note to Toyota owners: use your spare smartkeys more often. Otherwise they tend to lose their charge faster - according to the manual. This could be why my friend left me with a spare she thought would work, because she never used it.