Keyless Access Only Works On One Door - 2016 Toyota Tacoma Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Keyless Access Only Works On One Door - 2016 Toyota Tacoma Long-Term Road Test

Toyota Smart Key is available on the 2016 Toyota Tacoma, but it only works on the driver door.

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cromagnum_man

That is the first time I've heard of a vehicle's keyless entry system working that way. If that's true then it's a whole new level of cheapness.

vvk

Typical example of cost cutting by "non-premium" companies. People complain about the cost of German cars, but there is a reason why they cost more. The way proximity key works on my 550i is just perfect. All doors and the trunk work perfectly all the time. Approach the door handle and the car unlocks. Wave in from of the rear of the handle or touch it and the car locks. Feels like magic! No tiny buttons to press (and to aim for,) no having to go to a specific corner of the car. Excellent system.

banhugh

vvk said:

Typical example of cost cutting by "non-premium" companies. People complain about the cost of German cars, but there is a reason why they cost more. The way proximity key works on my 550i is just perfect. All doors and the trunk work perfectly all the time. Approach the door handle and the car unlocks. Wave in from of the rear of the handle or touch it and the car locks. Feels like magic! No tiny buttons to press (and to aim for,) no having to go to a specific corner of the car. Excellent system.

Not to mention the optional right hand external mirror, excellent workmanship well worth the additional cost on top of the car's base price!

Seriously though, did you see the post on the rear parking sensors of the 235 BMW that they posted here last week? That was NOT an excellent system, to say the least...

Here it is, in case you missed it: http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/2-series/2015/long-term-road-test/2015-bmw-m235i-sensitive-sensors.html

stovebolter

I doubt this is the result of cost cutting - it sounds like an intentional feature, in the same vein as the traditional key fob's "press once to unlock the driver's door, press twice to unlock all doors". Whether rational or not, people worry about the carjacker hiding on the passenger side, waiting for the car to be unlocked so they can jump in.

I do wonder, given all the "infotainment" and "connected vehicle" features in a modern car/truck, why there isn't a driver-programmable option to change this setting? It's certainly not a technical challenge to integrate it.

mercedesfan

@stovebolter,

I'm not sure you understand how these keyless systems work. As it is now in practically every car with keyless access, only the doors on the side of the car the key is on will unlock when you pull the handle. Furthermore, once you touch the handle all the doors unlock. This is not intentional design. This is just Toyota being incredibly cheap.

nagant

Are the editors slow, lazy or just dishonest? Go to page 566 of the OWNERS MANUAL and it states that through the Entune system the locks can be set to just open the drivers door or ALL doors. It took me all of 2 minutes to download the PDF of the manual and about 5 more minutes of reading to find the info I needed. Nice "unbiased" reporting.

bankerdanny

It may or may not be a cost related issue, but I agree with stovebolter, that from a safety perspective how many doors automatically unlock should be set by the owner and that the driver's door only should be the default.

nagant

vvk said:

Typical example of cost cutting by "non-premium" companies. People complain about the cost of German cars, but there is a reason why they cost more. The way proximity key works on my 550i is just perfect. All doors and the trunk work perfectly all the time. Approach the door handle and the car unlocks. Wave in from of the rear of the handle or touch it and the car locks. Feels like magic! No tiny buttons to press (and to aim for,) no having to go to a specific corner of the car. Excellent system.

Your post it a typical example of not knowing what you are talking about. Page 566 of the owners manual shows how to change the setting to open ALL doors at once......it is a simple preference. So do you always read something and just believe it? Most any modern car at least has some electronic menu preferences that can be used for things like this. It is hardly a German triumph in engineering.

schen72

Proximity key door handles cost more than non-proximity handles. Many non-luxury cars only have the front doors enabled for proximity key. This is the first I've seen where only the driver's door is proximity-enabled. It's simply a cost thing.

nagant

mercedesfan said:

@stovebolter,

I'm not sure you understand how these keyless systems work. As it is now in practically every car with keyless access, only the doors on the side of the car the key is on will unlock when you pull the handle. Furthermore, once you touch the handle all the doors unlock. This is not intentional design. This is just Toyota being incredibly cheap.

WRONG. See above. I am stunned that so many people just become lemmings and instantly believe what is written about a car.....especially when it seems not to make sense that such a choice is the only one. The manual states that drivers door only is the default setting (which is a safer one). German car lovers love to bash the Japanese and jump on the bashing bandwagon even though it is completely going the wrong way with the wrong info.

nagant

schen72 said:

Proximity key door handles cost more than non-proximity handles. Many non-luxury cars only have the front doors enabled for proximity key. This is the first I've seen where only the driver's door is proximity-enabled. It's simply a cost thing.

Page 566 of the owners manual is your friend in truth. This is just a simple setting. The amount of joy taken by several posters over the WRONG assumption of an editor is quite telling. Of course I doubt the editors or the posters pointing fingers saying "CHEAP" will come back and say they were wrong.

longtimelurker

nagant said:

schen72 said:

Proximity key door handles cost more than non-proximity handles. Many non-luxury cars only have the front doors enabled for proximity key. This is the first I've seen where only the driver's door is proximity-enabled. It's simply a cost thing.

Page 566 of the owners manual is your friend in truth. This is just a simple setting. The amount of joy taken by several posters over the WRONG assumption of an editor is quite telling. Of course I doubt the editors or the posters pointing fingers saying "CHEAP" will come back and say they were wrong.

Um, I think people will figure out that you can set all doors to open from the proximity driver's door handle, using the settings.

I believe the thing that has people shaking their heads is that if you try to enter from the passenger-side front door, it doesn't have a proximity handle, and that that's cheap. It IS cheap. I have never ever seen a car with key- or fob-less entry that doesn't have it on both front doors.

cromagnum_man

A lot of you are missing the point of this article. The issue is not how many doors unlock, it's the fact that you can't unlock ANY doors by simply grabbing the front passenger door handle. The system ONLY works when you grab the driver's door. So if you are approaching the car and want to open the door for your wife/girlfriend/whatever, then your only choice is to pull out the fob and press the unlock button.

cromagnum_man

nagant said:

Page 566 of the owners manual is your friend in truth. This is just a simple setting. The amount of joy taken by several posters over the WRONG assumption of an editor is quite telling. Of course I doubt the editors or the posters pointing fingers saying "CHEAP" will come back and say they were wrong.

Read the article again. It is NOT a simple setting. There is nothing you can do on this Tacoma to program the smart key to unlock ANY DOORS AT ALL by using the front passenger door handle. Every other car I have ever seen with a "smart key" system allows you to unlock one or all doors by simply grabbing EITHER of the front door handles. This Tacoma is the first vehicle that I have ever heard of where the "smart key" system only works on the driver's side front door.

Since you seem to rely on your knowledge of the owner's manual, here it is straight from the horse's mouth:

◆ Smart key system (if equipped)
Carry the electronic key to enable this function.
Grip the driver’s door handle
to unlock the door.
Make sure to touch the sensor
on the back of the handle.
The doors cannot be unlocked
for 3 seconds after the doors are
locked.
Touch the lock sensor (the indentation on the upper part or lower
part of the driver’s door handle) to lock the doors.
Check that the door is securely locked.

See those references that only mention the driver's door handle? That is the point of this article.

bromans

Some fault certainly lies with the author here (me!). To clarify (as others have done in the comments): only our Tacoma's driver door handle has an embedded sensor for Smart Key. You cannot unlock or lock any of the three remaining doors -- as the first door you touch -- using Smart Key. Commenter Nagant does correctly point out that the Smart Key system can be programmed to unlock/lock all four doors at once. I should have mentioned that originally. But your starting point for that function is still touching the driver door handle. If you are standing on the passenger side of the vehicle, as I was in the lead photo, there's no way to use Smart Key. -- Brent

vvk

banhugh said:

Not to mention the optional right hand external mirror, excellent workmanship well worth the additional cost on top of the car's base price!

Seriously though, did you see the post on the rear parking sensors of the 235 BMW that they posted here last week? That was NOT an excellent system, to say the least...

Here it is, in case you missed it: http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/2-series/2015/long-term-road-test/2015-bmw-m235i-sensitive-sensors.html

I have no idea what you are referring to about the mirror.

I have reviewed the post and the video about the parking sensors and I do not see what the editor is complaining about. There is clearly stuff you don't want to run into in front of the car, including a TREE. So the sensors are working perfectly. All my BMWs work this way, I don't see what the problem is. I disagree with you, it IS an excellent system that works extremely well.

dougnuts

Did anyone else notice that the black stickers between the windows (on the doors) don't line up?!

desmolicious

The angle of the hand/arm in the photograph bothers me. Is that person sitting on the ground?

mypathy2001

Wow, I read a good chunk of the comments and it does seem that "nagant" was completely missing the point as cro_magnam_man mentioned. It's not the point that there's a setting to unlock all doors from the driver's side, it's the fact that the passenger side doesn't have the sensor at all.

I thought, "Okay, maybe Edmunds purchased a mid-level version that is "cheap" for testing." So, I go to the first post in their experiences and lo and behold:

"We purchased the truck from Carson Toyota, which knocked $500 from the sticker price for a total of $35,079." To me, this isn't terribly a bottom model Tacoma.

I purchased my current vehicle, my first with proximity key, for about $1,300 more; and it opens both the front driver and passenger doors based on touch only; (shocked me when I first used it... very convenient). If I want all four doors, looks like I'd need to move up to a luxury version, MDX -- no thanks.

It's hard to believe that Toyota's system doesn't open both the front driver and passenger doors; especially at this price; just cost cutting on their end.

mlowery85

Interesting. My 2015 Corolla S+ has the smartkey and sensors on both front doors.

metalmania

I guess I haven't had the chance to be spoiled by all this new tech on modern cars. It doesn't ruin my day to unlock my doors with the button on the key fob. But if you guys think it's that big of a deal, please rage on.

But I do kind of agree if you're gonna put the option on the vehicle, at least make it POSSIBLE to work from both sides.