SOS light is now permanently red. Anyone solve this?

Hi all,

Sorry for the length of this. Bear with me.

I’ve read a number of threads on this issue. I’m still not clear on what’s going on, and neither is Toyota Corporate or the dealership.

So anyone who has dealt with this issue, I’d appreciate your insights.

I have a 2022 SR5 Premium. I bought the 4Runner CPO, so it had a 12 month/12k warranty on it.

I never noticed the SOS light at all until it turned red. I have no idea if the light was off or green before this issue cropped up, because the green indicator is behind the ceiling console and out of my line of sight. I also rarely drive the car at night, so I never recall seeing the green glow of the SOS button. When it turned red, I happened to be driving at night, so that’s when I noticed it. I have read both that the button should be off if it is working correctly or solid green if it’s working correctly. I have no idea what the correct state it should be in, and no one at Toyota Corporate or the dealership seems to know either.

Anyway, it went red about 11 months into my ownership. I took it into the dealership, and they had it for a couple of days and told me it was fixed. I went to pick up the car, and it was not fixed. Still red. They then kept the car for over a week, and claimed they found the problem… a faulty antenna that connects to the “shark fin”. I drove it home and it was green for the entire trip, and for about a week or so after. I thought the problem was solved.

However, one day I started the car, it was green and then bounced back and forth between red and green and then turned red. The next time I started the car, the light was green again, so I figured it was just a glitch with the system. However, since then, the light is green for a second or two after startup, and then turns red for the duration of the time the car is running.

I called the dealership, and they suggested I call Toyota Customer Care before bringing it in.

I called TCC, and they did a number of different things. I discovered that the previous owner’s name was still connected to the emergency services and the SOS button, so I had to get that name removed before I was able to download the app. They then gave me a month of free service to see if the light would turn green. It did not.

The weird thing is, the SOS button is red and it still works. If I press it, I get the recording of contacting emergency services. I assume that’s a recording stored in my car, but the Toyota people say that indicates that the service is active. I have not tried to connect to a real human, but I need to try that to confirm that the button is indeed working.

There are a bunch of theories out there suggesting that it could be a dead subscription, something faulty in the car, or maybe a software/firmware update is needed. What’s strange is, no one connected to Toyota actually knows. They can’t tell me why the light would turn red in the first place. All anyone says is “take it to the dealership”.

I had this taken care of under warranty, and it wasn’t fixed correctly. However, the car is now out of warranty and no one seems willing to fix it unless I pay for it. I’m not exactly confident in the Toyota techs troubleshooting this correctly. They told me they had their shop foreman (or whatever his title is) work on this the last time, and he kept it for days to make sure he found the problem. He did not.

Anyway, I want the red light to go away. What are my options?

1) does the battery disconnect option work? Is that something that works for this, or is that work for something else? I’ve read that sometimes it fixes this, sometimes it doesn’t. In any event, it appears like its a temporary fix and the problem comes back, but I’m curious as to others experiences here.

2) firmware update. This is an ai-slop video, however it discusses this issue for 2020-2022 Toyotas (4Runner’s are not discussed, but it’s a similar issue).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-knUm25h68

This gives tech bulletin numbers, and instructions on how to fix it. These instructions are for the dealership, since they have the proprietary software to perform the firmware update.

3) disconnecting the fuse. - I’ve also seen this as a solution, but apparently I will lose some other functionality.

4) black electrical tape - that will do it, but its annoying to me.

Thank you for your time. If you have any questions regarding my experience with the dealership or Toyota Customer Care, please ask. I’ll fill you in as much as I can. I will continue to try to get this resolved and update the thread as I go.

Please let me know if this sounds familiar and how you fixed it (or if you just said “screw it, it’s not worth fixing”)

Thanks!

 

Mine only turned solid red after I unplugged the antenna wire behind the center stack to avoid data collection. It was not red even when my subscription ran out after I first bought it.

 

What do you want it to do? If you want to disconnect it, push the button and talk to someone and tell them to disconnect your vehicle from the system. I did that when I bought mine, and I believe both lights are off after they alternate briefly after starting the car.

 

I would like the light to go out. I have no problem disconnecting the service. Are you saying that you had the solid red light and once you disconnected from the service, the light went out?

That would be awesome. I am amazed that no one seems to understand why this light is always on. If it is that easy, great.

I’m not sure that’s the problem, though. As far as I know, I was never connected to the system until last week. That’s when I discovered the previous owner was still registered with the service. Toyota doesn’t remove the owner when the car is sold, nor do they update it with the new owner when the car is resold. I guess that means the old owner, if he was paying for the service, continued to pay even though he no longer owned the car if he was using something like AutoPay.

Your solution is worth a try though. I just want the light off, and if the tracking stops, that’s a bonus.

 

I was told that if the system is working properly, the light should not be red even after the subscription runs out.

 

Hi Kurahee. Welcome to the forum. What year is your 4Runner?

Have a look at this thread. At least the first 5 pages.

Edit: tell us what you see in the upper right corner of your infotainment screen.

 

Bad news my friend. Your DCM can still transmit data even with the antenna unplugged, when you are in close proximity to a cell tower.

 

I will look at that thread, thank you.

Apologies if I did not mention it, but my 4Runner is a 2022.

I will update the thread when I get a chance to look at the upper right corner of the infotainment screen.

Thanks!


Edit: checked the infotainment screen. I have the DCM light and to the right of that light is three bars.

 

Easiest solution: buy a 2019!

 

Easier solution. Buy a 2nd gen! The most advanced safety features were seatbelts! ABS was an option!!

 

Are the 3 bars crossed out?

Press the SOS button. Report whether you get a live person or a recorded message and what the message says.

 

You were never connected, but the owner never disconnected. There is no one at Toyota HQ or dealers that really care it sold. It’s probably better to just call them and tell them to pull the plug. Be specific and tell them no emergency phone calls, no tracking, no nothing. They give you a warning that you wont be able to get tracked any longer, and that you wont be able to make emergency calls. You say yes, the they should disconnect you. Unless they tell you have to be the original owner to have it disconnected.

Regarding the light, yes, there are no lights on…they all turn off once they cycle for 10 sec or so after starting. Confirmed this today.

 

OP, I did the step-by-step guide to remove the DCM and top right corner of my screen DCM is gone and the SOS red light is dead.

 

The 3 bars are NOT crossed out.

I get a recording. The transcript is the folowing:

Button starts out green for a few seconds after starting the car, then goes solid red.

Press the red SOS button, and when it connects, the green light on the button starts to flash, the red button stays on and is solid

Toyota recorded voice (female) asks if this is an emergency/accident needing emergency services, say “yes” or “no”

I say “no”

Toyota recorded voice - asks if I need roadside assistance, do I want to stop the service or if I want to enroll.

I say “enrollment”

Toyota recorded voice - if you want to enroll, download the Toyota app and I can enroll through the app.

It then asks me if I want to end the call, which I did.


FYI, I CAN get a live agent. If I say “Agent” after the enrollment question, it connects me to a live person. I learned this when speaking with someone from the Brand Engagement center. They asked me to try this out and it worked.

I don’t have the exact transcript. If you need it let me know. I tried recording it on my phone this morning and for some reason all I got was about 90 seconds of a loud hiss. Very odd. The infotainment screen had “Emergency call in progress” or something like that on it during the call.

Thanks

 

Sorry if I missed it, but can you link these step-by-step directions? I’ll take a look at them.

Thank you!

EDIT: if the steps are in that thread that Captain Spalding posted, no need to repost.

 

I was about to reply, but it's in page 9 of that thread.

Looks scary to do, but it's not, it's super easy barely an inconvenience. Just make sure to get that by-pass cable, if not, your mic and front right speakers will not work.

 

me reading the guide to remove DCM, which still transmits to big brother without antenna:

 

Do it! Looks scary to do but it's actually easy. Took me half hour to do all.

 

I’m smiling because I own a 2016

 

Thank you. I didn’t make it that far in the thread yet, so I appreciate the note that it was on page 9.

The by-pass cable you are referring to needs to be ordered from autoharnesshouse.com, correct? Looks like it comes in 2 parts?

I hope it’s easy… I hate digging around inside of my dashboard.

On a side note, I am amazed at the tracking Toyota is doing here. I probably would not have given this much thought if that red light wasn’t so damn annoying and bright. I honestly never noticed it.

If anyone has anything else to add, please do. I’ll keep the thread updated with my progress. I will disconnect from the services first to see if that has any impact on the light (I doubt it) but I will also order the by-pass cable. That seems to be the solution to take care of this permanently.

One question. Is there a separate battery for the DCM somewhere in the dash? Once I bypass it, will it die, and if so, does anything else become affected? Also, if everything is reattached properly and the bypass cable is removed, will the battery recharge?

Thanks!

 

No separate battery for the DCM. Just remove the negative terminal on your start battery. I just did this two times in one month, so I have a couple of 'gotchas' I'll add here later today when I have access to one of my vehicles for a couple pics. Yes, the harness is actually two harnesses. This is very easy and definitely worth it. I'll take a couple of pics to point some things out and post them later today.

Edit to add, as pointed out by CaptainSpalding, there is a battery inside the DCM but the harness will remove it from the equation and it will eventually die. It only powers the DCM, itself.

 

Can I ask you a couple of questions? You said you did this using these directions….

1. Remove the negative terminal from the battery. (even a miniscule risk of having an airbag explode in my face was not worth the risk).
2. Remove the small Panel Trim on the right side of the radio. If just pops off, use a plastic trim tool if you need to convince it a little.
3. The pull off the small Trim tab on the left - bottom side of the glove box.
4. Pull off the door trim on the right hand passenger door. It pops off.
5. Picture of trim removed
6. Reach underneath the glove box and air bag and gently pull down on the trim panel piece. It just popped off.
7. Pull on the left trim panel. Pull the front part toward the door, and once the tabs come loose, pull towards yourself.
8. Unscrew the little plastic cap at the rear of the Right Trim Panel. Then gently pull on the panel. It pops off.
9. Remove the two airbag bolts on the left and right side.
10. Then GENTLY pull out the airbag and set it down carefully.
11. Open the glove box and remove the 3 trim tabs to expose the bolts.
12. Bolts exposed, remove all three. There are also 2 more underneath. Remove those as well.
13. Drop the Glove box and rest it gently on top of the airbag.
14. DCM is finally exposed. Squeeze the small releases to unplug the gray and white connector.
15. Plug those same connectors into the bypass harness and tuck away.
16. Now I simply reversed the trim process. And reconnected my battery! Started the car and found that the DCM logo has completely disappeared from the Radio. Success!

Just want to confirm a couple of things.
Questions:
Step 9 - is this the right airbag bolt? It doesn’t look like he shows the left one, but I assume the left one is visible and easy to identify?
Step 12 - what does it mean that there are 2 more (bolts) underneath? Is there a picture of those bolts, or are they obvious? (I’ve never taken out my 4Runner glove box)
Step 15.- it looks like you unplug the two connectors from the car, plug them into the bypass cables, and tuck them to the side… you don’t plug anything back into the car, correct?

Thanks!

 

Great question!!!!

 

That would be awesome, thank you! The more info and pictures I can get, the easier this will be.

 

There is a backup battery inside the DCM.

 

I read the question as him asking about a separate, external battery "in the dash." In my mind, a battery inside the DCM doesn't matter, since it's being bypassed. I removed both of mine from the vehicle entirely.

 

Put a mini foil hat on the button.

 

Alright, so for being an IT/SQL guy, I'm not very techy, so bare with me.

First pic...the screws that hold the top of the glovebox on screw into thin metal clips, basically, so don't torque down on them during reassembly or you will strip the clip(s).

Second pic is left side of air bag cover. When reassembling this side, make sure the pointy, plastic tab goes into the metal square opening or your screws will not line up correctly and seat fully.

Third pic is right side of air bag cover. Careful prying on this, it's very thin and the plastic will distort. Also, there are two "points" that need to be located correctly during reassembly. I found that starting both left and right sides of the airbag during reassembly helps line everything up. Don't do one side then the other or you'll end up out of alignment.

Last photo just imagine a metal clip, under where my finger is pointing. It clips onto the body joint, under the door seal, in a small recess. This can accidentally come off with the panel and leave you wondering where it came from when you just happen to see it lying there on the floorboard. It happened to me but luckily I have another 4runner I used to verify where it goes.

That's pretty much it. I completely removed two DCM modules and I could do a third with my eyes closed. It's so simple, once you get into it.

 

Yes, but does anyone know if that BU Battery dies once fully discharged, or can it be made viable again if one reverses the disconnect?