My car must never have had the remote start option. Techstream said not installed. I ended up installing the 12V.solutions remote starter. Its plug and play, 3 clicks on the lock button and it starts. This will be handy in the winter. The install was fairly straight forward.

 

Does your car's engine shut off when you open the door after remotely starting it? Because that's how it is with the stock remote start. I'm considering getting the 12V.solutions one. How is it?

 

Not with Toyotas. There is no way around the auto-shut off when doors are opened.

 

YES, the engine will turn off as soon as the door opens. It will also auto shut off after 15 minutes. It works great.

 

Can someone tell me why this happens? Not from a technical aspect, but from a practical aspect, how is this helpful when you've remote started for a reason (warm up or cool down the car)?

 

Not a necessity for everyone, but I find it very convenient to use this during winter time. I hate sitting on a very cold seat.

Summer time - I always put a sun shade so it does help on preventing those front seats to become really hot.

 

Oh I totally agree - I was referring more to the car turning off when you open the door... I've never seen this is a remote start car before and this is my first time with the Toyota brand so I'm just curious about the benefit of the car shutting off only to have to be restarted

 

When the key fob is Not present inside the car during Remote start up
only the necessary systems boot up, ignition, HVAC, lights. When you
start (restart) the car with the fob present inside you get everything including
the Bluetooth, radio, Nav (if equipped). You would not want the Bluetooth to
connect when you stroll to your car chatting on the phone, right?

 

Well, with other cars I've owned (Mustang, Camaro, Challenger) they all "passively" started the car as you described and when I got in the car I had to push the START button on the car to fully engage the vehicle. All without the car shutting off... So I guess Toyota/Lexus is just behind the curve from a technology standpoint.....just like Apple CarPlay not being offered until the last year or so.

 

This definitely came stock on my 2018.

Goodbye, Enform.

Only downside is you have to be within fob distance for this to work, obviously.

FYI, you can link a youtube video that starts at exactly 7:55, in your case.

 

Able to DIY install? How long does it take?

 

Id say about 30-45 minutes. Once you get the knee panel off, remove the 3 bolts holding the air bag (2-right and 1-left) and that gives you enough room for your hands to work.

update: when you install the remote start unit/control box locate it away from the BCM. I tied it to the wire harness by the BCM and it interfered with the tire pressure monitor system. Once I moved it to between the parking brake cable and firewall everything went back to normal. It must not be shielded.

 

Legal reasons.