Driver door handle does not “touch to unlock”

[poorcow]

Greetings from China!

I would like to first say thank you to all who contribute to this forum so generously. I have a learnt a great deal in the pass few months since I bought my 86.

My car is a Toyota 86, built in Nov 2014, which in China, comes with Smart Entry & Start System.

Two weeks ago, the Driver door (LH) handle stopped “touch to unlock”, but I can still lock the door by touching the 2-lines area on the outside of the door handle.

The passenger (RH) door works as normal, locks when touched on the 2-lines area on the outside of the door handle, and unlocks when touched on the inside of the door handle.

I also observe that when I approach the car from the Right side getting to approximately 1 meter from the car, the Map/Dome light comes on, which indicates that the sensor detects my key fob, and I can proceed to unlock the passenger door by grabbing/touching inside the passenger door handle, it used to be the same for the Driver/Left door, until it stopped doing so two weeks ago.

My suspicion is that it is sensor related, and isolated to the Left side only, but I am not sure where exactly. Is the sensor on the door handle or inside the door?

I have two key fobs that work perfectly, both lock and unlock the car as normal. No issues with them.

What can be the culprit and how can I fix it? I have done some work on the car myself, so am quite happy to remove panels and poke around.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Max.

[zeroxg35]

I just picked up a new to me car that has this problem.

Some folks told me to pull the car battery and let it reset itself.

Others have mentioned that it's something that may be unplugged in the door itself. But this shouldn't be the case if it's never been tampered with.

[86raus]

When the dome light comes on it means it is unlocked already no need to touch just pull the door open maybe what is happening is you are relocking when you touch it.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[Subsonic]

Originally Posted by 86raus

When the dome light comes on it means it is unlocked already no need to touch just pull the door open maybe what is happening is you are relocking when you touch it.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Not helpful to the original post I know, but sorry that is incorrect. The dome light comes on when the key is close enough to the vehicle, but will only unlock when the door handle is touched.

[sneaky_pete]

I had this problem today after removing the door card to fix the rattling window switch and mirror control assembly that vibrates when you have your tunes cranking.

"Touch to unlock" on the drivers side door was not working but "touch to lock" was working on drivers and passenger side door, and "touch to unlock" was working on the passenger side door.

Just the "touch to unlock" not working on drivers side door.

Both key remotes working perfectly to lock and unlock the car. New batteries in both.

To fix this issue:

1. Wind down the windows (did this just in case nothing worked so I could unlock manually).
2. Open the bonnet (hood).
3. Lock the car with the remote.
4. Disconnect the negative terminal from the battery and leave it for 15 minutes.
5. Depending on the time of day, have a cup of tea or an icy cold beer.
6. Reconnect the battery and leave it for another 15 minutes.
7. Repeat step 5.
8. Unlock the car with the remote.
9. Lock the car with the remote.
10. Try "touch to unlock" on the drivers side door again.

Mine worked again after doing all of this.

Hope this helps someone.