Trunk Won't Open
 

I can't get the trunk open on my '16 BRZ. I've tried everything. It's not just hte keyless lock-out - I've tried the button on both key fobs, and the trunk open button on the dash. When I try to open the trunk, a small red light flashes on the key fob. Have any of you had this happen? Thoughts on how to fix it?

Wait didja try the button on the left side of your trunk? Just happened to me the other day with my hands full of groceries. Had to use my physical key to unlock it...something rolled around in my trunk and hit the button.

Yep, that did it. Looks like I hit the button when I threw my bag in there after work.

Thanks for the tip. I feel like an idiot for not figuring that out. Not sure I understand the purpose of that lockout button, TBH. Maybe I'm just having a dim Friday...

No sweat dude I had to go into my manual. Threw me for loop aswell. It turns your trunk into a safe, basically.

Basically it's so you can give the valet the electronic key and keep the physical key for yourself so the trunk is still secure, if you're using a valet ever.

No, it's a common question here. Don't worry about it.

The lockout function is stupid anyway. The idea is that you can lock your valuables in the trunk and hit that button to disable anything but the mechanical key. But you can also get into the trunk extremely easily through the back seat without the mechanical key just by pulling up the covers on the corners and yanking up the latch rods. If a valet wants your crap, that button isn't going to stop him. And what's worse, he can put it all back (minus what he stole) so that it's still locked out and looks like nobody was in your trunk at all.

I'm surprised one of the vendors hasn't made a nice molded flip up cover for that switch yet. People get locked out often enough from stuff shifting around in their trunks that there would be a market for it.

Oh, we are going to be merciless at Sykart. Bring the lube.

Just leave the switch plate/face. You would only have to do one of two things.

A) Cut the wires

B) Cut the wires and add a butt connector

In reality, it should have been the first "Mod" everyone does :iono:

Have you tried opening it with the physical key?

I don’t see it as an attempt to keep valet (I would never let somebody else park my car anyway) out as it is a deterrent for a typical smash and grab opportunist thief. This typical type of thief will just smash a window out and quickly rummage through anything in the open, the glove box and the trunk.... they would hit the trunk release button, see that it doesn’t work and move on to the next car.
The same trunk lock button exists in NC and ND Miatas and the popular solution is to tape a plastic bottle cap over the button to keep it from being pressed. Personally I don’t see what the big deal is. I know the button exists... if my trunk is ever inoperable due to the button accidentally engaging, the next step is to simply use the key to open the trunk and press the button once the trunk is open.

Page 23 of the owner's manual:

When required to leave the vehicle’s key with a parking attendant

Turn the trunk lid opener main switch off as circumstances demand.

On vehicles without a keyless access with push button start system, provide
the attendant with the valet key.

On vehicles with a keyless access with push button start system, remove the
mechanical key for your own use and provide the attendant with the access
key only.

I mean, that's why they call one of the keys a valet key.

I’m not debating what the manual says, I’m simply explaining what I would use the trunk switch for... hence my statement starting with “I don’t see...” As stated, if you are worried about valet getting into the trunk, they can still do so pretty easily and they won’t have to worry about being as quick about it as a smash and grab thief.

I’m surprised it hasn’t happened to me yet. And I’ve had all sorts of heavy things rolling around back there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've had mine for almost five years now, and it only happened to me for the first time two weeks ago.

I'm not following. Why would you cut the wires when you can just pull the connector out of the back of the switch?

Besides that, cutting the wires or simply disconnecting the switch would render it inoperable. What if I want it to work, but I just want a protective cover over it so that groceries flying around back there when I take hard curves going home don't hit the button and lock me out? That's what I was expressing surprise nobody has offered as a mod. We get some dumb as shit mods for this car, yet this is something actually useful that wouldn't cost a whole lot to produce in China and would probably sell pretty well, considering how often this question arises.

I was under the understanding that you wanted to render it useless.

It's already useless. :sigh:

Whelp, I just went out and confirmed something unfortunate. If you remove the switch, the trunk switch doesn't work at all. If it has to be part of the circuit, cutting the wires also wouldn't work. You'd have to cut them and solder them back together to bypass it.

So I'd still rather find a cover for it than hack into the wiring.

This thread reminded me about something that came up in my last service at a Toyota dealer (actually my first Toyota Care service). I keep the remote trunk opening disabled so it only opens with a master key. I gave the service guy only the "valet" key. I thought this would prevent them from checking the spare pressure, which was OK with me. (It's a royal pain to check it.)

After the service they gave me a long checklist of stuff they (supposedly) checked, and surprisingly it included the spare tire pressure. What are the odds they really checked the spare? I'm thinking fairly low. But do they have a secret way (a master key? something dealer only?) of getting into the trunk? (It is the dealer where I bought the car if that would matter.)

I mean, they could get into it the way anyone else could get into it. Release the latches from inside the car. The trunk is by no means a secure space. The valet mode is just a deterrent to prevent the uninitiated from snooping through your things, but anyone familiar with the car will know you can just open it from the cabin.

Of course that would also have meant crawling in there and popping the trunk open too, which I doubt a tech would bother doing, so unless they have a master key, then I dunno whether they did or didn't check it.