Remote starter

It is not the same. I can leave my car running and locked using the manual key. These are the steps when you get back to the car.

1) Unlock Door
2) Get in Car
3) Press brake pedal
4) Put car in gear
5) Drive away

If you use the Toyota remote start these are the steps.

1) Unlock Door (car turns off)
2) Get in Car
3) Press brake pedal
4) Press start
5) Put car in gear
6) Drive away

It is also nice when you walk out to a parking lot and start your car. This is worthless if it is going to turn off as soon as you get in.

If you let the ca run for 10 minutes you can drive off in EV mode. When the car turns itself off you cannot drive off in EV mode. It has to run for 4-5 minutes before the car lets that happen.

 

None of this matters. For people that want a remote start they can let run as long as possible and does not turn off when you get in, there will be a fix soon. I just feel bad I wasted my money on the Toyota remote start.

 

For some reason, I get the feeling that you disagree with me just to be argumentative. But, it's difficult to ascertain motive over the internet when you don't have the luxury of tone of voice and body language.

So, I'll quote what I wrote earlier, add emphasis, and make another attempt at trying to simplify what I said previously.

Remote start the car with the Toyota unit:

1) Unlock car (car turns off)
2) Sit down
3) Depress brake pedal
4) Depress Start button
5) Place car in gear
6) Drive off

Not remote starting the vehicle (re-read what I quoted myself as saying above, please):

1) Unlock car (car doesn't turn off because it wasn't on in the first place)
2) Sit down
3) Depress brake pedal
4) Depress Start button
5) Place car in gear
6) Drive off

Now, yes -- the way you'd like to do it will inevitably lead to George Jetson Syndrome. However, I doubt that I will find the Start button that difficult to depress when getting in the vehicle as I would have to depress the button anyway were it that I had not remote started the car in the first place.

[NB: Depressing the start button is akin to putting the key in the ignition and turning it on any other vehicle -- something that even an aftermarket remote start requires you to do before you're able to drive off.]

 

You are 100% correct. Having the remote start requires the same steps as not having it. So don’t waste your money. Wait for an aftermarket unit that works the way it is expected to.

You are correct a key is needed with other remote starts. Newer cars have replaced having to put a key in the ignition with a RF key fob that needs to be close for the car to start

After the car is started with the remote car you should be able to get in the car and drive off without the care turning off. On cars were you have to put the key in the ignition they just keep running. If the fob is nearby it should work the same way.

Again none of this matters. When an aftermarket module is released, the remote start will work as expected. Do not waste your money on the Toyota remote start. You will be like the many others that come to this forum complaining that it does not do what you expected.

 

The purpose of a remote start is to allow you to warm the car up in the winter or cool it down in the summer before you get in. All this arguing about whether an extra button press or a three second delay before you can drive off is not even relevant to the feature. It does what its supposed to do.

 

The purpose of the remote start is convenience.

Having it only run for 10 minutes is not convenient. Having to restart is after 10 minutes is not convenient. Not being able to start it again after two 10 minute intervals is not convenient. Having the car turn off when you get in the car in not convenient.

If it met the expectations for the people that purchased it no one would be posting about it. It is heavily flawed. Soon we will be able to purchase a unit without all these inconveniences.

 

You have one of these don't you.

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No but I have a car loaded with convince features like heated seats, power windows, auto head lights, heated side mirrors, RF entry with cap sense locks, intermediate wipers, A/C, Hepa filter, rear window defroster, and all the other amazing high tech things this car does.

It hard to believe they screwed up the remote start so bad.

 

I agree the car should not shut off. Can you remote start with the window down and help someone in and see if they can drive off with-out the key? If you could then, I expect that Toyota feels the door lock can be picked easily and then they are off and driving. I have notice the car turns of as soon as you touch door handle. So if the door is never open maybe you can drive off.

Okay for the rest of the story. I just tried my idea. I remote start my Pv with the window down. I got my fat as threw the drive window (lol) made sure the no key indicator is on, by the way ready light is on, speed indicator goes black after the hazards turned off. Put my foot of break to put into gear engine turned off.

Second time a bit smarter I decided to hold the key out the window and remote start car. No change as above even when I bring the FOB back into car. Note car still does not pickup the FOB in the car.

Next try remote start inside the car window still down same thing car does remote start even in the car. Get out of the car using the door J car shuts down.

Tried again inside car, remote start, touch the breaks car shuts down.

Tried again inside car, remote start, I decided to put the FOB in contact with the start button. I believe this is what you do when the FOB battery is bad. No matter what I did I could not get the car to tell me the FOB was in the car.

Anyways so even if you could get the door open you have another set of issues to drive the car away.

I would like to get in the car with the air blowing heat or cold close then close the door and be have car pickup the FOB and let me drive away, or at least at this point if the car turns off, at least the door would be closed and I have max heat or cool temp, before I put my foot of break and the car turns off, then I would keep foot on break and press start button again.

ICE start ups every time I remote start the vehicle, however I never let it run for long so... I am not sure about the posting saying the car would go into warm up mode ever time your re-start vehicle. I will try that some other time.

As for what Ggood said about being difficult to set remote start, I have found a trick with a bit of practice you can have a high rate of success of starting vehicle without being able to see you car.

Press lock twice quickly as Ggood said, however now use the light on clicker press lock again but let light on FOB blink 3 to 5 times.

I also put a wireless thermostat in vehicle to see it cool off. The humidity drop fast but the temp takes a long time. In Houston TX it would be good if you could set the time yourself. I would want 15 min on a hot day to pre cool the car.

By the way this issue is not a problem as Ggood would say- it works this way it was design. However I don’t like the design and I think Ggood and other think that a software update would be good.

This issues should be a classified as annoyance. I guess

 

No feedback on my testing of remote start

 

If you're intention is to change the way you start the car, then your conclusion would be valid. However, the intent of the Remote Starter is NOT to avoid pressing the start button, it is to "start the car", typically for warm up or cool down some time before you're ready to leave. So, if YOU want the remote start JUST so you can start the car as you walk up to it, then YOU should not "waste your money" (and one could reasonably argue that a remote start for _only_ that reason is pretty stupid). If you want a remote start to "warm up your car on cold winter mornings", it may well be a very good purchase.

why the hell would you want to leave your car running for over 20 minutes without driving it? You're putting wear and tear on your car and wasting fuel _for no reason_.

Um, the normal state for a car is "off", by design. It "turning off" when you open the door puts it in the same state it would be in if you didn't have a remote starter. There is no logic or rational expression you're making with that point.

This applies to YOU, and ONLY to the case where you simply want your car to be "drive off ready" before you sit in it. If your intent is to not have to wait that 3 seconds before you drive off, then yes.. buy an aftermarket starter (that won't be under a 3 year factory warranty). If your intent is to "warm up your car before you go outside on cold winter mornings", then the factory remote starter is probably a good buy.

What's flawed is your expectation, not the starter. Your complaint is that you have to push a button (and wait 2 or 3 seconds) to drive off.

 

In "remote start" mode, the car will not drive. Remote start mode is not a fully booted mode of the car, and various systems (including selecting gears) do not work. Or so they told me at the dealer

and yes, I will test this as now I'm curious

 

I'm having the same issue, no solar roof. Temp dropped to 5-F over night, and the car refused to start with remote start, but started fine with the button.. I'm starting a separate thread about it..