[Evil_dr_prkchp]

I bought a used 2016 Toyota Highlander limited and was told it did not have a remote start. For Christmas I had an OEM remote start added for my wife by a local shop. Last night I randomly hit lock three times on the original keyfob and the car started remotely! I was told the car did not have a remote start when buying it so I am wondering if the original keyfob can control an after market remote start or if I had a remote starter the whole time?!

 

[blizzard2017]

i'm confused you said you got remote start added. and yes there are remote starts that work with 3x lock button on oem remote so you don't need another remote just for remote start.

 

[Evil_dr_prkchp]

I have had the car for almost a year now and bought a remote start for a Xmas gift. I haven’t given the gift yet so haven’t used the OEM system yet. I did not know about the 3x lock button and accidentally did it yesterday by grabbing the wrong car keys and mashing the buttons. My question is would the original keyfob 3x lock work on a new OEM remote start system? Or did my car already have one and the sales rep just didn’t know what he was selling? My main concern is a I just bought and added a system when the car already had one.

 

[Rickvmax]

Likewise, I was confused with your OP... and am still not quite clear. However, I can tell you that By default, our Highlanders (HL) do not come with the Remote Starter from the factory; the Remote Starter is a dealer added assossry item. If your HL was sold to the previous owner with an OEM remote starter installed, you "may be" able to contact (that dealer if you know which one or) Toyota USA with your VIN to find out, that is if there is the OEM remote starter installed by a Toyota dealership at the time of selling your HL NEW.

It is also possible that the previous owner may have installed an Toyota Remote Starter on his/her own after purchased the HL. I would think, unless you take the driver-side lower dash cover/panel and physically take a look, otherwise, we couldn't possible tell you if you have one already installed or not... Perhaps other members have other ways (i.e. Specific fuse to pull/check) to verify.

Lastly, can you contact your Remote Starter installer and check, perhaps the installer incorporated the control of remote starter that you purchased in to your OEM key fob?

There is just one on-board starter circuit, it's hard to imagine that your installer installed a 2nd remote starter unit in your HL without seeing that there is one unit already exists, yet still add-on the 2nd remote starter unit... then again anything is possibles!

EDIT
Just had an another thought:
1. Remotely start you HL with the OEM key fob, observe how many times the lights flashing and horn beeps, compare that with the remote starting when using the aftermarket controller... If different in pattern, there may just be two system....
2. Have you tried remote starting the engine with the OEM key fob then see if you can shut-off the engine with your aftermarket remote controller and vice versa?

 

[Evil_dr_prkchp]

Thank you for your input! It is a Christmas gift that I had installed so I haven’t had time to play around with it. I only noticed it when accidentally hitting her keys late last night in the dark repeatedly thinking it was my keys and a google search which is where I found the 3x button push. That being said i have the OEM keyfob already wrapped and under the tree! It didn’t make sense to me that the original keyfob would work with after market starter but after getting your and others input if the keyfob is programmed for that circuit but nothing is there, then nothing would happen yet if it is installed the keyfob would then work. The thing that really threw me off is I have a purchased new 2017 corolla that had a starter installed by dealer at time of sale that I tried the same thing with and won’t work. I am so confused!