I recently put in a deposit on a GRC. It’s kind of silly but one of the things that bothered me a little was the key. The current Toyota key fobs are massive and I wanted to come up with a design that would utilize the stock internals since the PCB is actually not that big. This would eliminate the physical key within the key fob, but that seems like a reasonable trade off to me. The objective is to come up with a somewhat affordable and handsome key fob kit, or maybe a one-off if there isn’t interest.

This is a very early draft, but this is what I have now. It’s an aluminum frame with top and bottom plastic pieces, with new buttons.
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Dimensions are 57mm x 36mm x 10mm.
Link to AR visualizer will be added soon.

Would love to hear what the community thinks and whether there is any interest for something like this.

Cheers!

Interesting enough this is something that kind of bothered me a little.

I definitely want to see how this goes

 

I absolutely hate giant fobs too.

 

would there be any way to retain the key in the fob with this design?

 

I would love a small fob, but it would be nice to incorporate the mechanical key.

 

I am totally onboard with this idea, the key fob is way too large! I would like to retain the physical key as well. I will be interested to see what this could lead to.

 

I'm late to this thread, but if you make something we can pay you for or buy in to... I'm down 100%.

 

I would also love something like this and would definitely buy one

 

A few things to consider(I’ve made a few key fobs myself)
1)you must retain/the rubber “sleeve” that’s inside the OEM fob. This makes the internals waterproof.

2) be careful with how much metal is surrounding the antenna on the PCB. I tried an alloy fob and it severely cut down reception.

you’d be surprised how many people want to retain the spare key. Here’s a pic of how I did mine, slots in the back instead of the side.
If you want to go SUPER thin, check out the Lexus credit card key(albeit no buttons, but everything on the car is keyless anyway).
Design looks rad though!

 

Hey! Your fobs actually inspired me to have a go at designing one! That key placement is very clever.
I figured that the frame would degrade the signal some but I wanted to test it- was it totally unusable when you tried it?
Yeah, I measured up the rubber bit and it threw the design way off, especially since I tried to use clip structures which also eat up a lot of space inside. I’d probably want to take a different approach to my original design.
I actually use the card key on my ISF, but unfortunately I don’t think any of the PNs work for smart key compatible cars. I looked at the internal pics of that key card from the FCC filing and it’s beautiful- very clever design but impossible to produce without overmolding a very expensive PCB.
If I could find the Smart remote ICs somewhere I’d like to produce a much smaller PCB and that would allow for a lot more flexibility, but in my research they are just impossible to find (no idea where the bootleg key manufacturers get them).

Out of curiosity, did you have to make your own molds for each product?

 

interesting idea. I ended up looking for fob cases on amazon and found a few silicon style ones though I ended up find this metal one. So far no interference they fob seems to work the same. It adds some weight so that way I know I have it in my pocket. The only drawback is no easy access to the physical key. I would need to get a magnetic hide a key case for a screwdriver so I can remove the case if I ever need to get to they key.

 

I think Batman wants his key back lol

 

I found a few key fob options on line that could possibly work as replacements.

Here are the links to what I found.

Amazon Zorratin
Amazon Drosica
T Carbon

 

the first two won't work with the OEM fob its the wrong shape.

 

good to know!

 

I spent a lot of time trying to find some that fit. You can also check the brand store and see if there are other options.

 

Apparently these ones worked for the GR yaris guys.
similar to t carbon

style type TOB R1

 

So I ended up making a key that I think very few people will appreciate or would use. No buttons, no physical key. Just a little PCB and battery on display. I actually think it could stand to be a little bigger, as long as the thickness is the same, so I should be able to fit a physical key the same way it's stored in the key card. The bottom piece came out a little warped but I’m still quite happy with it.

 

Very few?

I'm one of the few... because I hate carrying things in my pocket, it's either in a sling backpack or my wife's purse. Wallet, phone, everything... if I can reduce the bulk of things in my pocket all the better.

So how do I get one? 😅

 

Related, today I learned that you can no longer program new keys via Techstream on your own. New passcodes can only be generated by Toyota or specialty locksmiths...

 

to be fair thats probably to cut down on the ability for people to make fake keys to steal cars.

 

MicroFob? Here's probably as simple and small as I can go with the stock fob guts, about 55mm x 28mm x 12mm:

I scanned the PC board, and subtracted it from a simple frame model to surround the buttons and provide a ring hole, then printed it. Then I put the two in a piece of shrink tube and shrank it down. The shrink film keeps gunk out and becomes the "button" surface. No mechanical protection to speak of, and you'd need to seal the ends with some silicone to make it water proof.

-The techs did a double take when I handed them the micro-fob to do an oil change-

I guess V2.0 would be to see how small a shell I could form around the PC board, but buttons complicate things and KISS is easier.

 

I would definitely be on board for some type of reuse the current pcb solution. This is my first car that i must carry a fob, and it’s just a pain. I’d buy two of the right kit to do my main fob and the spare, plus my two other GRC buddies would probably be on board. Definitely want to retain the physical key if at all possible.

 

Played around with the key some more and tried incorporating a locking pivoting key blade. A little bigger but still pretty thin- 57mm x 39mm x 8.7mm. This version also accommodates the stock PCB with buttons attached.

 

Played around with the key some more and tried incorporating a locking pivoting key blade. A little bigger but still pretty thin- 57mm x 39mm x 8.7mm. This version also accommodates the stock PCB with buttons attached.

any way to have it keep the stock spare key mechanism so it doesn't require modifications? Besides that, the design looks great, i'd be interested in buying if you ever decided to sell them.

 

That’s looks pretty sweet as far as I’m concerned! I’d drop a pretty penny on several for myself and couple buddies right now if they were for sale.

If this gets serious you can count me in for 4 minimum.

 

Well, I managed to add some sprung buttons and pulled the trigger on all the parts for a prototype. We'll see how it comes out. Definitely still not water resistant, but the clip and key are titanium so that'll be fun:

 

Put together the second prototype today and it was a bit of a mixed bag- the print didn't come out quite right and some of the tolerances were too tight, making the buttons unusable. But the key mechanism is pretty satisfying to play with. Ordering a slightly revised print as I already have a bunch of the key clips and key blanks.

I didn't bother polishing this prototype as it wasn't going to look pretty. But it gives you an idea of what an unpolished clear print looks like.

 

That’s the key fob Toyota should have made right there!

 

Well, I managed to add some sprung buttons and pulled the trigger on all the parts for a prototype. We'll see how it comes out. Definitely still not water resistant, but the clip and key are titanium so that'll be fun:

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This Is the most rad random thread I’ve found in a while, I had a lot of fun catching up and I’m pretty excited to see where it goes

 

Would LOVE for this to become a product we can buy.

 

New prototype came in. This one is a lot nicer, out of strong resin. The tolerances were much better and the ball detect works now. It is finicky to put together so I'm debating a few different solutions for the key blade. With that said, I am curious ow many people would want just a thin key with buttons but without the key blade, since I'm pretty sure I could make a run of those relatively soon. Please see the poll.

 

Nice, looks really cool