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Programmed Toyota Keyless Entry Remote
I showed how to program a Toyota Remote Entry Key using a blank remote (which can be purchased off either Amazon or on eBay) in my last post. Using this with my daily driver 4th Gen 4Runner, it has worked flawlessly for about 3 years now. When I purchased my car, it came with one original remote key, but I decided to program an extra one so I had a spare one just in case I lost one.
Layout of Buttons
Looking at the remote, there are three buttons on the front, and one red panic button on the back. Here is a quick description of what each one does:
Front
- top button (lock button)
- press once and all doors will lock
- middle button (unlock button)
- press once and drivers door will unlock
- press once more shortly after and the rest of the doors will unlock (including tailgate)
- bottom button (tailgate window button)
- press and hold for 1 second and the tailgate window will roll all the way down
- you cannot roll the tailgate window back up again with the remote, you will have to do it from the tailgate window button inside the car
Rear
- red button (panic button)
- press and hold and alarm will sound off
Sensitive Buttons
Obviously the lock/unlock buttons get used all the time. The panic button is almost useless– I do find some comfort is knowing that if I see any suspicious or unwanted characters near my car, I can activate the alarm to draw attention from afar. Finally, there’s the tailgate window button. I’ve found it useful to use this button whenever I’m making a Lowe’s or Home Depot run; I’m able to lay down any longer items right through the open tailgate window. When I get in my car to leave, I can simply use the button inside the cabin to roll it back up before I drive home.
The biggest problem with this tailgate window button is that it’s just too sensitive! I’ve experienced several times walking to my car and having my heart stop when I see that my rear hatch window was completely left open. Luckily out of the 2-3 times I’ve had this happen to me, nothing was stolen from my car (which is amazing considering once it happened in San Francisco).
The issue here is that after I park and lock my car, somehow this button on my remote gets pressed (I’m guessing the keys pressing against it in my pocket.) It’s gotten to the point now where I lock my car, and hold the remote in my hand until I get far enough so that any butt-pressing of the remote won’t register, before I finally stick it in my pocket.
My Fix
I really don’t know why I held off for so long before doing something about it, as it is clearly inconvenient dealing with it in the way I described above. So I decided to fix these issues:
Use anything flat to pry open the Toyota Keyless Entry Remote
Exposed internals of the remote
To fix the accidental pressing of the tailgate window button, I added super glue to the inside part of the remote since everything is plastic
The three plastic buttons are connected with a thin piece of plastic; cut/separate the bottom button (tailgate window button) from the others (not doing this will cause your middle button to be difficult to press)
I also added a piece of scotch tape over the panic button to prevent myself from accidentally hitting that one too
Now, my tailgate window button can’t be depressed at all. Even though this means that I can’t use the remote to open my rear hatch window, I feel a lot more secure knowing it will never open on accident.
And while I was at it, I decided to put a piece of scotch tape over the panic button. Accidentally pressing the panic button and having the alarm go off is a lot less serious than doing the same with the tailgate window button and leaving my stuff inside the cabin to get stolen. With the tape over the button, it keeps me from pressing it on accident. Yet if I really needed to press it, I could press hard enough to actually push it.
All in all, this was very easy to do and it helped me eliminate the possibility of accidentally pressing any of my remote buttons.
