diff --git a/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/modeling_pi052.py b/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/modeling_pi052.py
index a8e2103fa..440c5afa9 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/modeling_pi052.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/modeling_pi052.py
@@ -797,7 +797,11 @@ class PI052Policy(PI05Policy):
         if tokenizer is None:
             from transformers import AutoTokenizer  # noqa: PLC0415
 
-            tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("google/paligemma-3b-pt-224")
+            from .text_processor_pi052 import register_paligemma_loc_tokens  # noqa: PLC0415
+
+            tokenizer = register_paligemma_loc_tokens(
+                AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("google/paligemma-3b-pt-224")
+            )
         if eos_token_id is None:
             eos_token_id = tokenizer.eos_token_id
 
diff --git a/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/text_processor_pi052.py b/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/text_processor_pi052.py
index 6e0e8bff6..ea5951b4b 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/text_processor_pi052.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/policies/pi052/text_processor_pi052.py
@@ -254,6 +254,26 @@ def _sample_indices(value: Any, batch_size: int) -> list[int | None]:
 _VQA_COORD_SCALE = 1000.0
 
 
+def register_paligemma_loc_tokens(tokenizer: Any) -> Any:
+    """Make PaliGemma's ``<locDDDD>`` ids match on raw text — single tokens.
+
+    PaliGemma reserves vocab ids [256000, 257023] for ``<locDDDD>``
+    (detection / pointing) tokens, but the *stock* tokenizer does NOT
+    match them when encoding raw text — it BPE-splits ``<loc0162>`` into
+    7 pieces (``<``, ``loc``, ``0``, ``1``, ``6``, ``2``, ``>``). Training
+    the LM head on a ``<loc>`` target then supervises those 7 generic
+    BPE pieces instead of one detection-vocab id, the LM head learns to
+    emit the *character sequence*, and those pieces' logits dominate
+    other turns (the ``<loc>``-salad on subtasks). Registering the loc
+    tokens once makes them tokenize as their single ids (256000+idx),
+    leveraging PaliGemma's detection prior properly. Idempotent.
+    """
+    if "<loc0000>" in getattr(tokenizer, "added_tokens_encoder", {}):
+        return tokenizer
+    tokenizer.add_tokens([f"<loc{i:04d}>" for i in range(1024)])
+    return tokenizer
+
+
 def _loc_token(coord: float, scale: float = _VQA_COORD_SCALE) -> str:
     """PaliGemma ``<locNNNN>`` for a coord on a ``[0, scale]`` axis."""
     idx = round(float(coord) / scale * 1023) if scale > 0 else 0
@@ -410,7 +430,9 @@ class PI052TextTokenizerStep(ProcessorStep):
             return self._tokenizer
         from transformers import AutoTokenizer  # noqa: PLC0415
 
-        self._tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.tokenizer_name)
+        self._tokenizer = register_paligemma_loc_tokens(
+            AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self.tokenizer_name)
+        )
         return self._tokenizer
 
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/lerobot/policies/smolvla2/inference/steps.py b/src/lerobot/policies/smolvla2/inference/steps.py
index 403e10003..6366103e9 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/policies/smolvla2/inference/steps.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/policies/smolvla2/inference/steps.py
@@ -291,12 +291,15 @@ def _build_text_batch_pi052(
         _flatten_say_tool_calls,
         _format_messages,
         _strip_blocks,
+        register_paligemma_loc_tokens,
     )
 
     tok_name = (
         getattr(policy.config, "tokenizer_name", None) or "google/paligemma-3b-pt-224"
     )
-    tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(tok_name)
+    # Register PaliGemma's <locDDDD> tokens so inference encoding /
+    # decoding sees them as single vocab ids — must match training.
+    tokenizer = register_paligemma_loc_tokens(AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(tok_name))
 
     messages = [_strip_blocks(_flatten_say_tool_calls(m)) for m in prompt_messages]
     prompt, _spans = _format_messages(messages)
diff --git a/tests/policies/pi052/test_pi052_vqa_loc.py b/tests/policies/pi052/test_pi052_vqa_loc.py
index a51452a08..a1e145350 100644
--- a/tests/policies/pi052/test_pi052_vqa_loc.py
+++ b/tests/policies/pi052/test_pi052_vqa_loc.py
@@ -36,9 +36,48 @@ from lerobot.policies.pi052.text_processor_pi052 import (  # noqa: E402
     _loc_token,
     _messages_vqa_to_loc,
     _vqa_answer_to_loc,
+    register_paligemma_loc_tokens,
 )
 
 
+class _FakeTokenizer:
+    """Tracks ``add_tokens`` calls; mimics the bits ``register_paligemma_loc_tokens`` reads."""
+
+    def __init__(self, prepopulate: bool = False):
+        self.added_tokens_encoder: dict[str, int] = {}
+        self.calls: list[list[str]] = []
+        if prepopulate:
+            self.added_tokens_encoder["<loc0000>"] = 256000
+
+    def add_tokens(self, tokens: list[str]) -> int:
+        self.calls.append(list(tokens))
+        for t in tokens:
+            self.added_tokens_encoder.setdefault(t, len(self.added_tokens_encoder) + 256000)
+        return len(tokens)
+
+
+def test_register_loc_tokens_adds_full_1024_range():
+    tok = _FakeTokenizer()
+    out = register_paligemma_loc_tokens(tok)
+    assert out is tok  # returns same instance
+    assert len(tok.calls) == 1
+    added = tok.calls[0]
+    assert len(added) == 1024
+    assert added[0] == "<loc0000>"
+    assert added[-1] == "<loc1023>"
+    # Spot check a few in the middle.
+    assert added[162] == "<loc0162>"
+    assert added[759] == "<loc0759>"
+
+
+def test_register_loc_tokens_is_idempotent():
+    """If the loc tokens are already present we skip re-adding them."""
+    tok = _FakeTokenizer(prepopulate=True)
+    register_paligemma_loc_tokens(tok)
+    register_paligemma_loc_tokens(tok)
+    assert tok.calls == []  # never called add_tokens
+
+
 def test_loc_token_normalizes_and_clamps():
     # Default scale is the 0–1000 Qwen convention.
     assert _loc_token(0) == "<loc0000>"