V Reg 1.8

December 3, 2005

Has anyone had this problem? I have a 99 1.8 Avensis, and it's just started to unlock it'self ! I can lock it with the remote, or key, makes no difference. After a few seconds. or a few minutes, it just unlocks all the doors and turns off the alarm.

It's parked outside now completely at the mercy of anyone. Nothing I can do about it. I am !Removed! annoyed that a car can have such a serious design fault.

I suppose Toyota will expect ME to pay hundreds of pounds to have their design fault put right. After it's fixed, how can I trust it not to unlock again? What does one do in this situation?

If the thing is going to fail, at least it should fail safe, ie. fail in the locked mode.

December 4, 2005

The door locked/unlocked switches have been known to fail in the avensis mate. I'm on about the sensors that tell the car if the door is in the lock or unlock position.

If your car only opens the central locking from the drivers door key then it is most likely to be that locking mechanism that's at fault. If it's unlocking, then it's most likely to be the unlock sensor thats permanently made, or a shorted wire making it think the same thing.

It's time to probe about in the wiring i'm afraid. There is a similar post to this somewhere if you have a look. It cropped up again recently when the bloke found the fault to be similar to what you've got.

December 10, 2005

Have you got a car alarm?? It may be the alarm device that's screwed, we used to have a Golf III, that after 4 or 5 years unlocked itself, and to make it worse, it openned all windows and sunroof :lol: one night my dad woke up with the siren, and saw 2 guys inside, went running to (try to) beat'em, were 2 police officers trying to find where we live :lol:

December 19, 2005

Well, I had to remove the dome fuse to lock the car manually. Took it to my local Toyota dealer on a Monday. They said it was an integrated circuit that had failed. Ordered the part for Tuesday. Phoned to collect the car, and was told it didn't work. They ordered a door sensor, it arrived Wednesday,

Phoned Wednesday to collect car, told it didn't work. They ordered another door lock part.

It arrived Thursday. Phoned Thursday to collect car, it didn't work.

On Friday they fitted two new parts, a sensor and door lock.

It worked.

5 days and £520 lighter, I got the car back.

The total bill was £578, but that included an MOT and an air filter and oil filter for me to service the car myself.

I would have thought they could have identified the fault sooner, with all their equipment.

December 19, 2005

It's funny, alot of cars suffer with this problem. But let's remember, most mechanics only have basic electrical knowledge.

At least it's fixed now, but they shoulda put things back after trying new parts. It's not good engineering to keep swapping bits out, and not put the old bit back if that wasn't the problem. You should only have been charged labour and for the actual failed part.

Maybe you should point that fact out?