I took my dog with me on a drive to SoCal. When I stopped at rest areas and restaurants, I walked the dog. But when I wanted to buy a meal or use the restroom, I put the dog in the car, rolled the windows down a bit, and locked the doors. Each time, the "smart" Scion radar alarm sensed the dog inside the car, and set off the alarm. I ended up skipping all meals on the road, and had to leave the door unlocked for restroom stops.

Is there any way around this, short of disconnecting the battery? My xB didn't care whether I used the key fob to lock the doors, or whether I used the automatic lock button in the door.

 

you could try putting a piece of electrical tape or duct tape over the sensor, it may be enough to block the motion inside the vehicle, although i dont know if the sensor is an IR motion sensor, or if it is more like a glass break sensor that picks up high freq sounds. more then likely it is an IR motion sensor. I havn't looked in my owners manual about the alarm since i got the rs3, but i seem to remember something about an IR sensor..,. The sensor is in one of the blank covers in the dash console, it looks like a small round mic. cover it up, sit inside vehicle, and enable the alarm, then move around if it beeps then i am an idiot, and if not, well then, i'm a super genius!

 

Thanks. I'll look around for an IR sensor. I looked in my repair manual, and find no mention of the alarm system in the discussions of electrical and door locking systems.

 

its a sound sensor for the alarm

 

Ooh. That's not going to work well with the dog. She barks when I get out of sight. Thanks. A sound sensor will be easy to check, but taping it over won't help with my dog.

 

if you got the rs3 new, it should have come with a seperate manual for the scion security along with the owners manual and the alpine hu manual. I am sure you checked already, but if you didn't look in the owners folio if you have it.
if not PM me, and i'll pull out mine and review - see if there is anything you can do short of disconnecting the mic sensor.

 

If you take out the glove box and the center dash piece, you can follow the wires from the sensor to a little black box in the dash. There should be a dial on it somewhere that adjusts the sensitivity of the sound sensor. Find the box and give the dial a hearty crank to the left and see what happens.

 

I'm wiring up a cruise control right now, so I've got the glove box out. I found the sensor in the center of the dash. Apparently, it's an IR sensor, and not a sound sensor, as I can set it off by waving at it silently. I don't think I'll mess with the sensitivity rheostat. For the few times I need to shut it off with the dog in the car, I think it'll be easier for me to just disconnect the negative terminal to the battery. On second thought, that means I'll have to reprogram the radio channels.

I bought the RS3.0 used, so I don't have any manuals other than a DVD repair manual I bought. I'd appreciate a 5 or 10 point summary of how to send a DVD to the rear passengers, as I'll be taking a trip from Alabama and Georgia to Miami with two 11 year-olds in 2 weeks.

 

Apparently I was wrong about there being no difference between using the remote or the door lock switch. I took a nap in my car using the door lock switch to lock the doors, and the IR sensor didn't alarm. It did alarm when I used the remote to lock the doors.