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Car recognizes me when I walk by after I locked it

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by bamike, Jan 9, 2019.

  1. bamike

    bamike Junior Member

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    Does anyone know how to disengage this feature. I’ve got the key in my pocket and the car is locked, but when I walk by it turns on the interior lights until I get farther away from it. I don’t want the car to do anything without me touching the door handle or pressing a button on the fob.
     
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Slide the position of the interior light switch to OFF instead of DOOR.
     
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  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    That will, of course, prevent the dome light from coming on even when you really do open the door.

    Using Techstream, you can set the customizable feature for the car not to respond with the interior lights when you walk by. It was one of the first settings I changed on mine. Carista can probably change it too.
     
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  4. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47C17U/pdf/OM47C17U.pdf
    is your owners manual, on page 744, it shows that to turn off illumination option "Operation when you approach the vehicle with the electronic key on your person" is not possible from the center screen. Either the dealer or some one with a ODBII programmer and the right code would need to do that.

    If you decide that it annoys you enough to have the dealer do that, I would consider every other customization item before hand, so you only pay once.
     
  5. smyles

    smyles Active Member

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    I think you can change it with Carista.
     
  6. bamike

    bamike Junior Member

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    Thank you this is exactly the info I needed. It doesn’t bother me enough to pay to have it changed, but it’s crazy that we can’t change this setting ourselves.
     
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    maybe on prime, it's available in the menu
     
  8. Hayman66

    Hayman66 Member

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    I kinda like this feature. I feel like my car is saying Hi when i get close. :ROFLMAO:
     
  9. m8547

    m8547 Senior Member

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    The manual says it's under "Settings that can be changed by your Toyota dealer". In other words not in a menu.
     
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  10. Offline

    Offline Active Member

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    I think it's a great feature. I'm curious about why this is considered to be a problem?
     
    #10 Offline, Jan 10, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2019
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if the o/p only knew all the things the car was doing when they aren't around :sneaky:
     
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  12. bamike

    bamike Junior Member

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    It’s a problem because the car is wasting battery constantly scanning to see if your key fob is getting close. It’s also putting you at risk for a robbery by making it clear you’re approaching your vehicle and which vehicle is yours. I’m going to have it reprogrammed by my dealer free of charge.
     
  13. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    Just turn off the key fob battery. Only takes a second.

    Screen Shot 2019-01-10 at 4.33.14 PM.png
     
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  14. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Turning off the "welcome light" feature will not reduce battery use, because the rest of the smart-key system will still be operating (to let you open the door by touching its handle, etc.). But it will address your security-risk concern.

    If you want to save battery, turn off the smart-key features entirely. Then you also won't have the touch-to-unlock door handles (you'll have to unlock by pressing the fob button, or turning the key) or simple push-to-start (will have to hold fob next to power button to start). That will stop the constant scanning and reduce the drain on the aux battery.

    Caveat: I'm speaking from Gen 3 knowledge; somebody correct me if those details have changed for Gen 4.
     
  15. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    Turning off the key fob turns off all of the features you mentioned...
     
  16. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    From that owner's manual page 178 that you posted, it's not clear whether that feature is for extending the life of the battery in the fob, or the battery in the car. It is sort of written to sound like the former, but it doesn't come right out and say.

    Just turning the fob off would certainly save the fob battery, sure, but would not reduce drain on the car battery, because the car will still be looking for a fob.

    To preserve the car battery, you need to tell the car to stop looking for fobs.

    In Gen 2 you could do that with a single button under the dash, and in Gen 3 you have to do it with a ten-step dance pressing one of the fob buttons and the driver's door-open switch.

    I don't know how it's done in Gen 4 ... possibly that is what that page 178 procedure is doing, and they've just described it oddly.

    If you have two fobs, and you try following that procedure with one of them to turn it off, do the car's proximity features still work with the other fob, or not?
     
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    based on his premise, o/p is doing the right thing
     
  18. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Well, o/p mentioned two concerns (in #12), and what o/p seems to be doing about it (in #6) will address one of them but not the other. But the only way to address both would be to turn off even more functionality, so it's o/p's call whether that's desirable or not.

    In that sense, whatever o/p decides will be the right thing....
     
  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    agreed. seems like the paranoia should take precedence
     
  20. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    It appears to just preserve the fob battery, but it prevents the interior lights from coming on when in close proximity, and won't let you unlock the door(s) by touching the door handle (I know this is how it works), which is what the OP seems to desire.

    I would assume (I know, I know...) that the car is still searching for a fob signal, which would of course cause a VERY minor drain on the 12V battery, but if you (or the dealer) disable this function you would have to use the mechanical key every time to unlock the door and (perhaps) prevent the car from starting, even if the fob is used at the power switch.

    In any case, I believe that the car stops searching for the fob signal after a set period of time (a couple of hours?). I think the Gen III did the same thing.