Dealer won't disable Ecu features?
 

I'm at Toyota and they said they won't disable the passenger airbag chime or DRL's. Is this common? I thought it was a Toyota policy to let us do this?

Nope. Because of our litigious society "we" the dealer can't assume the liability. I can't even get my shop foreman to do my car.

I appreciate the response. I had it done to my previous frs (totaled) no problem. That was in Tx though. I thought you just had to sign a form that said the dealer isn't responsible should anything happen. I personally don't even won't drl's shut off though. Just the annoying chime from my phone sitting on the seat/:

Dealership policy can and will vary, mainly due to perceived legal/liability and insurance reasons. Smaller dealers typically balk at this request in fear of lawsuits.

We will do this at a customer's request. Our policy is to first advise the customer against making the changes for safety reasons, but that it is not illegal to make such changes in PA/NJ. We do not do it for free, and charge our $59.95 minimum labor charge for flat rate work. We take duplicate paperwork stating with some pretty specific language that the dealer made these changes at the paid request of the customer and are not to be held liable in the event something happens, and signatures from both the customer and service manager.

While we are in the menus, we also go over any other changeable features that exist and offer to make changes as needed -such as auto headlight time delay length, beep volume of the keyless entry, etc, and offer them up -- if we are going to charge for the service, it's only fair to tell the customer what else they can change.

I did this to my own car, myself, with one of our tech stream units. Even though (as a service writer) I performed the changes, I was still required to sign the paperwork. I guess they don't want private-self to hold work-self responsible.

Why does Scion issue a TSB saying that these are things the customer can request? There should be no charge for this "service" as it seems to me that the customer was supposed to be able to customize this stuff at the time of purchase.

I think you can buy the Toyota Tech software from ebay which should allow you to turn them off. I would search the forum. This topic has been discussed before.

I bought a Mini VCI cable with the Techstream software and turned them off myself. The software is a pain to setup but it works on my Windows 7 64bit system. If your in the NJ area, stop by and I'll change it for you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINI-VCI-FOR...item3ccf1d6c51

Thanks for the input. I would've done a search, but I was at the dealer.

Can you turn off the low air pressure warning too?

Not that I'm aware of, and there won't be a dealer out there that will because its now federally mandated to be in the car.

Not a personal rant aimed at you: this is a blanket statement.

We charge for this service because it takes a technician's time to do this.

Most techs are flat rate and are only paid by the job they do - no matter how long it takes. I don't know very many people that work for free. Dealership policy does vary, just like labor rates, operating hours, etc.

A TSB is a document advising a tech the most common repair for a given situation and how it applies to any warranty that may be on the vehicle. TSBs are not a free pass to have something done at any time. The TSB for the DRLs states that if a customer asks to disable them, the early vin numbers require a new ecu, and then go on to explain that part is covered by the 3/36,000 warranty. If you come in with 40k on the clock and an early vin car, you're going to have to pay for the computer, too.

So... Why does everyone want to turn the DRLs off?

Personally, I hate that they go off when you pull the e-brake. I once had someone give me the finger when I was behind them a few years ago in my A4 on a hill. He thought I was flashing my lights at him. That's always something that's stuck with me.

If my car was an auto, I'd leave them on.

Hmmm never thought of that. I don't even notice them really, so I was just really curious as to why so many people go out of their way to turn them off.