I have searched extensively (multiple hours of searching using the terms listed above) on several forums (Matrix Owners forum and the Matrix sections of Tundra Solutions and Toyota Nation) before posting my problem.
I bought a 2003 XR several weeks ago, drove it home and locked it with the remote. The next morning I clicked the unlock button on the remote, opened the door and promptly set off the alarm. Why on earth did it go off? Never having had a car alarm before, I didn’t realize that I could shut it off by starting the car, so the result was that I got to listen to a minute’s worth of jarring noise up close and personal while my blood pressure went off the scale. Whew! The alarm finally shut off and I then started the car several times. No further alarm. I immediately read the owner’s manual section on the alarm for a second time. I had read it cover-to-cover the night before but the part about starting the car to shut off the alarm apparently didn’t sink in.
The previous owner said she was told by a local dealership that an alarm had been added by the dealership prior to her purchasing the car used from them last year but she didn’t know if it was a Toyota item or an aftermarket item. She said she hadn’t had problems with the alarm or anything else on the car. I popped the hood and saw an alarm siren attached to the firewall (bell shaped, black, perhaps 4” tall with the mouth of the alarm pointing down). The two small bolts attaching it to the firewall were rusty, however, and looked out of place since everything else in the engine compartment was pristine. The rust made me wonder if it was an aftermarket alarm that used cheap bolts. Since 60 seconds of the noise of the alarm was almost more than I could tolerate the first time, I cut the two wires to the alarm and taped them off. I then tested to see what that did by locking and unlocking doors with, and without, the remote. I drove the car for about a week without a problem, locking the doors, firmly tapping the windows, rocking the fenders (anything to set off the OEM alarm) and everything was fine – no alarm. Problem solved, I thought. I would much rather forego an alarm than have one that surprises me when I don’t think I am doing anything to set it off.
About 10 days ago, I spent a day washing/waxing the paint, cleaning the wheels and vacuuming the interior. I then locked the car without driving it. I was sick for the next several days and then we had a snow storm and very cold weather so the car sat for about a week without being touched. Yesterday, I opened the door (it had been locked), put the key in the ignition and got nothing. The headlights, dash lights, radio and horn worked so it seemed odd that it wouldn’t even hint at cranking over. Could I have left something on for several days and completely run down the battery? I didn’t think so since these other things worked but I pulled the battery and put it on my charger. Within a minute the charger showed the battery was at full charge so I put it back in the car. Since it wouldn’t crank, I started wondering if it had some kind of immobilizer on it. This was the first time that I noticed the LED blinking on the dash to the left of the steering wheel (next to the coin holder) – I had the tilt steering wheel positioned so I couldn’t see the LED. It was accompanied by a very audible clicking noise coming from it that continued clicking for about 10 seconds. The manual pictures it with the word ‘Toyota’ above the LED and the word ‘Security’ below the LED, but mine doesn’t have either of the words; it is blank except for the LED. The little panel itself matches the dash perfectly. Could the LED be an added part of the supposed dealer installed alarm or is there an inaccuracy in the owner’s manual? The 2003 owner’s manual says the car has the Toyota Vehicle Intrusion Protection (TVIP) system. I have repeatedly followed the instructions (pages 19-21) but nothing has changed. Does the TVIP utilize a siren or does it just blow the horn? If the TVIP does use a siren, is it mounted on the firewall as I described? If not, where is it located?
Back to the manual and more hours searching the forums.
-My key does not have a chip (the key is all metal – no plastic). Several posts on the forum agreed that the key for the 2003 does not have a chip.
-Several posts said that the 2003 does not have an immobilizer on it. Could the extra alarm have an immobilizer on it? Several other posts said that if there is a flashing LED on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, the car has an immobilizer. This would seem to confirm that if the car does have an immobilizer, it must be part of the added alarm.
-The keyless remote says Toyota on it. Pressing the panic button honks the horn and it locks and unlocks the doors just fine even though the engine won’t crank.
-Glued to the inside of the windshield, on the upper left, is a small plastic square (1/2” thick). The only marking on it is ‘X HF’ – nothing else. It has a wire running behind the plastic interior windshield molding and there is a small antenna pointing toward the base of the windshield (parallel with the glass and parallel with the door post). Is this part of the OEM alarm or could this be part of an aftermarket alarm?
-I initially assumed the decals on both of the front door windows that say ‘Safe Guard Vehicle Theft Protection’ referred to an alarm system. I learned from searching the web, though, that this refers to the serial number of the car being etched into the glass. The Safe Guard company website says nothing about alarms, just that it sells this etching option to dealers.
I would prefer to just eliminate the alarm(s) and not have this hassle but it may not be possible to eliminate them.
I hate to think of towing the car to a dealer and asking them to diagnose something that might be part of a non-Toyota alarm. I hate to think of towing it to an alarm company and asking them to diagnose an alarm they didn’t install. Several posts related the negative responses people got to either of these options.
I am eager for comments from the Matrix experts on the forum. What should I check or do?
You've got an aftermarket alarm. First clue was when you wrote "alarm siren" in your 3rd paragraph. The TVIP utilizes the horn. Second clue was the alarm LED missing the words "Toyota" and "Security" above and below the LED respectively. Do you have pictures of the LED/coin slot area?
As for your metal key, that's the valet key. You should have been given 2 "black" keys along w/ the metal valet key for the complete set. And yes, the chip didn't appear in the keys until 2005.
I called the previous owner and, lo and behold, she 'found' another key since she sold the car to me which she said she 'meant to call me about'. I asked her to describe it and she said the key has a black plastic end with the Toyota logo. She also said it has a different looking remote attached to it. This one is gray and has four buttons: lock, unlock, aux and panic. I asked her to see if it had an FCC # on it. She said it has the name Auto Mate and this FCC #: EZSDE1476. She said it is worn enough that the Z might be a 2 and that the D might be the letter O, the letter Q or the numeral 0.
I did a quick Google search and learned that Auto Mate does make alarms.
I am going out to the car now to look under the dash to see if I can see anything that looks added or that has 'Auto Mate' written on it. I will also try to take a decent photo of the coin slot/LED area per your request.
The remote I received with the metal key when I bought the car is the Toyota remote just like your pictures show. The second key (black plastic end) the previous owner just found has a second, non-Toyota remote attached. This non-Toyota remote is the one that has 'Auto Mate' on the back of it.
I went under the dash and sure enough, I found the Auto Mate black box, model 553. I am going to search online for this model to see if it gives me any useful information. I am guessing that I just need to unplug it from the system but the connectors don't readily pull out so I want to see if they use a special tool or special technique to remove them. I don't like to pull on the wires when removing a connection and since the connection didn't easily come apart, I want to see a picture of them before accidentally damaging them.
It turns out there was an Auto Mate alarm box behind the dash - I had to take the plastic cover off from below the steering column to get to it. Good grief! What a tangled web of wires! I slowly traced each wire and removed it, frequently testing to see if the car would start. It finally started so I continued the process until everything was unhooked from the alarm and everything was working correctly. I will gladly make do without the alarm.
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