On a 2007 Avalon, the fob’s trunk release button doesn’t do anything. The trunk release button on the dash works, so the disable button in the glove box isn’t the problem. I tested that to confirm—it works as expected. According to the manual, a Toyota dealer can change the behavior of the remote’s button between several options:
Hold for 1 second to open trunk (default)
Press twice to open
Press once to open
Disabled
I’m wondering if it was set to “disabled”. This is the regular remote fob, not the integrated “smart key” version. Before I try to deal with a dealer, does anyone know how to adjust this setting?
This car was just handed down from someone who barely used it. We only have one remote, though a second one is expected in a few weeks after it’s retrieved from storage. The one we have didn’t work at all until a battery change.
Maybe you can reprogram the trunk function. Check the owner’s manual for instructions. If you don’t have the manual you can get a PDF version from the Toyota website.
There are a bunch of videos on YouTube about programming a remote for this era Avalon. I have no idea which are the best, but you could watch a few and see if that’s something you want to try. Always be sure you have a reasonably fresh battery in the remote.
Folks, every available online reference that I can find talks about pairing a remote to a vehicle. None of them talk about this specific function. That’s why I asked here.
I am starting to wonder if the problem is just a flaky fob. It has now totally stopped working a couple of times until I remove and re-insert the battery. I have used different batteries, and confirmed with a multimeter that the battery is putting out appropriate voltage.