[dave351]

I have a '10 V6 AWD with ~3k miles on it. This afternoon one of my coworkers told me that the alarm went off for about 10 minutes (I was in a different building at a meeting at the time).

My keys were sitting on my desk in my office, which is ~1000 feet from where the car was parked. There was a guy sitting in the parking lot waiting for his wife and told my coworker that he hadn't seen anyone around the car. Car is at the end of a 'dead end" parking lot and was parked between 2 coworker vehicles. I work at a hospital in a town of 2500 people, so let's just go on the assumption that no one disturbed the car.

Only thing I could think of that could have caused this was that my keys were sitting next to my laptop - but could that have caused the alarm to go off from that far away? Anybody had any similar experiences? Should I call Ghostbusters?? :ugh3:

 

[mpioso]

I had the same issue with my 2009. Problem found and fixed. Under hood sensor replaced. You may have other sensor but temperature changes may cause contact to close or open, not sure of the state monitored to set it off, but simple fix once found.

 

[TrailDust]

Like mpioso said, this is a common problem to other models as well. Have the dealer change out the hood sensor and everything will be cool.

 

[dave351]

Good to know, thanks guys!

Just curious - is this something that'll show up on the computer when they plug it in, or is it going to be one of those "sorry, we can't find anything wrong" sort of things because they don't want to fix it on their dime?

 

[dave351]

Just a follow-up... I still have this problem. When I made my appointment for my oil change at the dealer, I told them I wanted them to look into this problem (and mentioned that I'd heard a hood sensor could be causing it).

They must have taken a whole 2.5 minutes to "look for the problem" (probably just plugged it into the computer) and came back with "we can't find anything wrong and we've never heard of this problem before." Furthermore, they are sure that it's the wind/rain/snow/sun/sonic booms... you get the idea.

I guess I just wanted to vent. If I call the dealership and insist that they change the "hood sensor" - will they know what I'm talking about? Or am I just opening myself up for more runaround?

 

[nhcycle]

here's a thought to try and verify/or not that the hood sensor switch is defective - disconect the wires going to the switch and see if you get random false alarms when parked. No false alarms = defectve switch.... info to take to the dealer? It may be worth a try:dunno:

 

[sturkewa]

Mine was doing the same ,took it to the dealer he said it was the hood switch and that they are back ordered. They un-hooked the horn alarm and just the lights blink but the horn still works if you press it. since then i haven't seen the lights flashing and my neighbours have had peacefull nights sleep.

 

[dave351]

Hey Sturkewa, has your dealer addressed the issue yet? Mine told me they ordered the part on 5/5 and I haven't heard anything since. I don't know if it's still on backorder or if they are just ignoring me. It's pretty sad that such a little problem as this is making me regret buying my first (and probably last) Toyota.

 

[sturkewa]

Ya! they took approx 2 weeks to order the piece ,changed it and no problem since then . They even changed the mud guard that I broke while backing up that hit a big chunk of ice at no cost to me .
Try a different dealer if there's one in the neighbourhood . These days they should be trying to please the costumer and not give them the runaround !!
Good luck !!

 

[louee1]

I have a 09' and the alarm started going off last year around this time and has gone offintermittantly ever since. My fix??? Don't lock the car!! I took the car to the dealer and he won't do a thing until it goes off in front of him. I went to the dealer one Saturday at 11:30 and sat out side my car with the fobs inside with the dealer and it never went off. I then left the car for 2 days and they told me it never went off but no matter where I take the car, it goes off unless I don't lock it. I am so sorry I purchased this car and the dealer has been terrible.

 

[mpioso]

louee1,

Sounds like your dealer sucks. Try another, and also as above, unhook wire to the hood switch (sensor). Sorry but I do not know its location so can not help you with the disconnect, but unhooking will verify it is this sensor causing the alarm to fire. Have not heard of any other sensor causing this issue with this car as yet. You MUST lock your car or it will get stolen and please do not let a bad batch of switches nor a horrible dealer sour your opinion of the car.

 

[louee1]

Thanks for the advice, but do you know of anyone that knows where this sensor is located? I want to try this but need to find where the sensor is located first.

 

[louee1]

nhcycle,
Do you know where the sensor is under the hood. I want to try this but need the location in order to do the disconnect. I get a complete run-around by my dealer.

 

[nhcycle]

louee1,

The alarm horn is mounted to the firewall near the brake cylinder/reservoir.
The relay is nested in the block of relays adjacent to the LF fender. The relay you're looking for in the row nearest to the fender - should be marked SEC HORN Relay.

Hope this helps

 

[dave351]

My dealer wouldn't believe me at first - or more likely they just didn't want to deal with it. I ended up writing a letter to the dealership owner explaining the situation - how it's a documented problem in similar vehicles, etc, and how my I was starting to regret purchasing a Toyota if this is how I was going to be treated, etc. I also hinted that I was considering writing some letters to the editors of local papers complaining about the lack of service (this was when Toyota was in the middle of the "sticking gas pedal" hoopla in the news) in order to warn my fellow consumers to steer clear of these evil cars...

I laid it on pretty thick, but I got a call from the service manager a few days later and he said he "looked into it and came across one case of this in another Toyota," and he was willing to switch my sensor for me to see if that helped (like he was doing me a huge favor). Despite the BS he was spouting over the phone, I bit my tongue and got the sensor replaced and it's been fine ever since (though they did take about 3 weeks to get the part in - or maybe they were hoping I'd forget about it)

Last Toyota I ever buy, probably not. Last Toyota from that dealership, definitely.

Good luck in getting yours fixed. I know what a royal pain it can be!

 

[TheeREMAXmaN]

Random alarm going off

Just to add to everyones post I had the same problem in my 09 Venza after getting the car battery checked and replacing the fob battery I still had the problem of my alarm going off ....after reading the forum I noticed a lot of answers were to replace the hood sensor or a door sensor at that point I went out to just make sure every thing was closed tight. When I got to the trunk with the auto close I went threw all the steps opened it and closed it and let it pull tight on its own. I notice it would pull tight then you could almost hear it loosen again. so after opening it again and clearing the way from all the stuff i had back there I closed it and heard it shut and pull solid have not had the problem since !!! :thumbsup:

 

[LMRK]

Does anyone have the part# for the hood sensor?
My 2010 Venza is doing the same. I wanted to replace it myself.

 

[try786]

I had same problem in my Camry'07 SE. After research on different forums, I just cut the two wires from last stage before hood latch and joint them together. Everything works fine since than....only problem can be that if hood is opened, it will not catch by the Security system as when we joined the wires together, system understanding that hood is always closed

 

[Rods1966]

Good to know, thanks guys!

Just curious - is this something that'll show up on the computer when they plug it in, or is it going to be one of those "sorry, we can't find anything wrong" sort of things because they don't want to fix it on their dime?

Mine Goes off every summer and I have taken it Toyota 3 or 4 times finally I gave up so I told my Son-in-law and with end 5 minutes he found out what was wrong and it was a faulty hood switch replaced it and no problems yet 2 Whole nights there should be a recall to fix it for free but it's not a safety issue but it is if you have bad neighbors luckily I don't they politely left a note they tried knocking but I didn't hear because I am in the back bedroom also my neighbor across the street came over and politely told me but It could have went very ugly but anyway TOYOTA SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE AND HAVE TOO CHANGED THEM ALL FOR FREE!!!

 

[Rods1966]

Mine Goes off every summer and I have taken it Toyota 3 or 4 times finally I gave up so I told my Son-in-law and with end 5 minutes he found out what was wrong and it was a faulty hood switch replaced it and no problems yet 2 Whole nights there should be a recall to fix it for free but it's not a safety issue but it is if you have bad neighbors luckily I don't they politely left a note they tried knocking but I didn't hear because I am in the back bedroom also my neighbor across the street came over and politely told me but It could have went very ugly but anyway TOYOTA SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE AND HAVE TOO CHANGED THEM ALL FOR FREE!!!