I absolutely hate and do not trust the smart access door function and I do not have the hand function nor dexterity to put the fob to sleep every time I get out of the car.

I need to permanently disable the smart access function, which per the manual, the dealer should be able to do. Dealer says they don’t know how. Called corporate - they called the dealer for the dealer to tell them don’t know how and they have no idea how to locate the instructions. This is a bit ridiculous. I found some instructions from 2022 on a 4 runner forum (very similar to what I did with my rover which involved pushing buttons and opening and closing doors), but they have stated that they won’t try them because it “won’t work with the new system” - which sounds very lazy to me.

I need the fob to only work with button presses and not open the door by touch - does anyone have the sequence of steps needed to do this?

 

Worst case, if there is no satisfactory solution for you, it appears the Carista can disable that, and much more. Carista Diagnostic

 

You bought a new vehicle and you don't trust its basic lock/unlock functions?

 

The feature is unsafe for women who drive/travel alone and allows relay theft. I am not interested in a Faraday collection nor do I have the dexterity or hands required to put the remote to sleep every time.

Carista was not able to set the “unlock doors by touch” to never, so I need to go in. I will be having them disconnect the handle sensors to maintain the push to start function. Hoping to also pull the wires on the camera.

It is a poorly thought out convenience, not unlike many of the “safety” and “driver assist” features that I have already disabled - which was nearly all of them. I am unable to fully/permanently disable the dynamic cruise (I will never use this and it keeps defaulting to it), the constant error for the park assist brake (bike rack), and the driver alert camera (because my hand is always is at 12) - having features that cannot be disabled is not smart or helpful, especially t when they create dash warnings that cover the map that must be manually cleared. It also means I won’t buy another one and I may not keep this one because I need to do a multipoint inspection of turning things off every time I get in the vehicle; and the navigation system is poor, which it a critical feature for me.

 

I have the same issue regarding a 2018 Lexus ES350 I recently purchased. The Owner's Manual customization documentation lists a dealer only setting called "Smart access system push-button start can be disabled" On/Off. Took to local Lexus dealer to have them turn this Off and they told me they couldn't find it in their program (i.e laptop connected to car with custom settings app). So no go... nice, NOT. So I do not know whether buying the Carista app will let me do it. Wonder if the dealer custom settings app ever had it available to toggle on/off or it was never programmed in and the manual is wrong (meaning it was never implemented) etc... Would love to disable this and always be forced to use the remote buttons (like the good 'od days) for safety and security reasons. I am aware it can be turned off on demand with fob, but only until you use it again, not permanently.

 

I found it for the GX 2024, it took us a minute but it is called “auto entry cancel 2 setting” and it needs to be turned on. It disables the hands free entry while maintaining the ability to touch to lock from the handle.