Weird thing happened in the last few days

Couple things.

1. Did you make sure to shut off the car before getting out and trying to lock the door? You can't electrically lock the doors with the car in Ready. (You can use the physical key to do that.)

2. Did you have something in the back seat? One of the newer safety features is a weight sensor in the rear seat to not let you leave a child unattended in the car. You can disable this system easily through one of the screens if you don't have kids.


small edit: It's not a weight sensor. It's triggered if the rear door is opened for more than a couple seconds before the front door is opened and the car started.

 

Could it be that the red alarm button on the key fob is defective or you're accidentally pressing it?

 

According to the manual:

• The logic is activated if a rear door is opened and closed after starting the car, or if one had been opened and closed in the 10 minutes before starting.
• Then when you stop the car you get a reminder on the screen. You can press OK at that point to prevent the next warning.
• Then when you lock the car, if you didn't press OK, and a rear door wasn't opened (but not closed too fast!), it will beep and flash at you, as it thinks you've left something on the back seat.
• This can be disabled on the multi-information display, and that's an option remembered in "My Settings".

The Europe version extends this to the passenger door, although the resulting text and description of configuration is a bit confusing. I went back to the Japanese to check, and it's the same as the US version - reasonably clear as above.

I can see ways that algorithm could mess up, but you just need to hit OK when you stop. That's the "I might be about to beep at you" warning. Or suppress it altogether in the options.

If you're getting beeps that don't match those rules, we're going to need some more investigation.

 

Yes. Don't overlook the obvious.

If that model has touch-to-lock sensors on the door handles,
try using them for a while.

Wild guess that one of the "door closed" switches or sensors is intermittent.

 

Wait, hold on there -- can you lock the door with the physical key with it running? Was it always that way (I don't have my 2012 to check). When I had a battery problem when I was traveling, I was told that I couldn't lock the car if it was running by two different dealerships. I drove 500 miles with just one stop with the engine off (at a Toyota dealership midway home in case it wouldn't start).

 

I'm pretty sure you can lock the car while it's running, but you have to use the physical key. By that I mean the traditional metal key that's inside the key fob. You exit the car and close the door, take the metal key out of the fob, insert it into the door, and turn. Because all the locks are electrically connected, the other doors will lock at the same time.

I haven't tried this myself, but others here have said they've done it, and I believe it's also in the manual.

For unlocking, I'm not sure if you have to use the metal key again, or if you can use any of the regular ways like fob, app, or keyless.

 

Thanks. My Prius isn't here yet (maybe on the train), but I'm going to try it on the Camry (with my husband inside just in case). thanks for the info.

 

The kid or pet you put in the back may not be heavy enough for seat sensors. So they use the door open on.

 

I think it senses you if you walk in front of the car too quickly after getting out… as if you are a pedestrian. It’s happened several times to me.