Unconnected Mystery Wire

Anyone have any idea where this wire is supposed to be? I just noticed it hanging down near the internal fuse box coming from above the emergency brake. Thanks for any and all help!

 

If you purchased pre owned it could be anything.

 

I cant tell what the end on the wire is. Is it covered with pinched off heat shrink? Or is it exposed wire?

Maybe it was previous owner who took off his electrical accessories, but left the 12v supply wire capped ready to use by the next owner.

If it’s exposed wire, then good lord! Handle carefully, dont let the end touch metal. (Your battery will probably explode after the wire welds itself whatever metal it touches). Safely check to see if it has 12v, switched and unswitched. Then cap it.

The wire is thick enough that it probably goes direct to the battery (which is fine as long as it has a fuse right before it connects to the battery

 

Thanks for the replies!
I’m the original owner and haven’t done any type of mods to it. I’m attaching a closer picture of the end of the wire. I’ll use some electrical tape to wrap it up real good until I figure out what it is.

 

That’s definitely not right. Can you take a picture of where the other end of the wire originates? I have an off-road model as well, maybe I can find where it connects.

Is yours a premium? Does it have any dealer installed accessories? I’m asking because I dont recall seeing any flat ribbon type wires under the dash.

 

If you’re the original owner then it might be a dealer-installed anti theft or alarm system that they just cut off when it was sold to you. It was probably loosely stuffed up there.
But to be sure you’ll need to trace where it’s all connected.

 

Some wild guesses for you . . .

I think it's some type of serial comms wire as would be used for a modem/telemetry/transceiver device.

Reasons:

• four flat wires in parallel (2x transmit, 2x receive)
• RJ 11 connectors use four wired in parallel and are used in serial comms
• that they are touching an nothing has short circuited or blown fuses

The connector housing has been removed/broken off. Maybe someone tugged at the wire to disconnect the device that used to be there and they pulled out.

If it hasn't caused an issue by now, it probably won't. But if you have any OCD in you this is gonna bother you long term. So, separate and insulate the wires. Rubber tape it. Secure up under the dash.

Jason

 

^^^^ This. Dealers, at least mine does, have a remote control for new vehicles that does a lot - lock/unlock, alarm arm/disarm, ignition control that only allows 1 start of the engine then it's immobile (for test drives), etc. It's not a normal car alarm - the "remote" is very large and controls every car on the lot until they remove the "receiver" from inside the vehicle. I bet this is what the other end plugs into.

 

I’m definitely thinking it was an anti-theft device or some other dealer related device as a couple of you think it might be. I really got to practice my contortion skills and followed the wire to a spot where it looks like it should be plugged into something(attached picture). Basically, it’s not attached at either end and all of my electronics are working, so I’m not going to sweat it.
I really appreciate everyone’s help with this! Thank you!

 

Good job. It’s probably what you suspect. Those other connectors visible in the photo don’t exactly look Toyota OEM. The one with red and green wires could be the device power and ground. You could check this with a voltmeter if you’re curious. You might as well pull that flat cable out of there to clean things up.