2019 OR Battery (?) issue

A co-worker just came to my office to let me know my 2019 OR horn was chirping about every second or so, so we went out to check. The key fob would not unlock the door, so I unlocked it with the key. Got in, and tried the ignition, nothing. No radio, etc. at all.

The light switch on the stalk had been left on, but I've left that on in the past, and the lights shut off automatically.

Got out the Audew charging unit, and after I figured out how to get it on (I'd never had to use it before) the truck started right up, and everything is back to normal. I drove it a few miles, and it starts right up again. I'll try it again when I leave in about 3 hours.

Is it a feature of these trucks that the horn chirp happens when the battery gets low? I'd never heard of that before...also, are the oem batteries simply good or bad, with no in between?

Is this some random electrical glitch, or is the battery toast? Bought the truck new in Sept. 2019.

 

OEM isnt always the best and i've seen them (not toyota) go from starting in the morning to dead in the lot by lunch with a bad cell. Glad you had a way to charge it and avoid being stuck.

 

Being that your truck is pretty much the same as mine - if you lock your doors like I do, then that arms the security system. When the battery gets low for whatever reason, the security system freaks out when the voltage gets to a certain level. On my truck (2019 ORP with KDSS) I have noticed that my headlights do NOT switch off when the drivers door is opened. When I discovered that, I have never left the exterior lighting switch in the headlight on position for fear of killing the battery. Before I shut off the engine, I always turn the lights switch back to parking lights / DRL that shut off when the drivers door is opened. Did you have a different experience with yours?

 

Hopefully it's just a sign that your battery is on its way out. I bought mine in January of '19 and replaced the battery in December or January. And, that's with mostly highway miles. (at 77K right now).

They turn off after a few minutes. Or, if you double click the fob, they turn off as well.

 

Okay, I wondered about that, and didn't want to find out the hard way. My ignition still has a key, so does that matter regarding double clicking the FOB?

 

So the truck started up fine 3 hours later, no sign of a low battery this time. I'll keep an eye on the truck in the next few days. It's not my only way around, so I'm going to let it sit 'til Wednesday and see what's up. The thing that threw me was the horn chirp every second or so - hadn't heard of that...

 

I had a similar experience with my 2007 Jeep JK some years back. Came out to leave work, nothing worked. Fob to unlock, ignition, power to accessories - nothing. I ended up disconnecting the battery terminals then for a while, voila, it all worked again. It never did that again afterward.

Thanks for the responses.

 

As far as i have noticed, is from 3rd gens. up that is a signal that the battery is about to crash. The oem battery usually lasts about 5 yrs. But as you know stuff happens.

 

I still have a key as well. I would think it's the same. But, I always look when I hit the button to confirm they're off.

Yeah, that's weird. It might be worth getting the battery tested.

Good to know!

I would have expected more than 3 years out of my battery. But, I have heard of newer Toyota batteries not lasting very long. I'm not sure if it's because of lower quality batteries, or more parasitic drain on newer vehicles.

 

Thank you everyone for the information.

 

As of this morning, no sign of any issues. Truck unlocked/locked, and started as usual, with no signs of a weak battery. I wanted to bring it to work today to see if the chirping horn issue happens again.

I'll update if anything changes.

 

Wait - you're saying that every time I lock the doors on my 2019 (TRDOR), this arms the security system?

 

I wish I could tell you for certain. Every time I've gotten into my truck and found the light switch still turned to on, I can never remember having left it on intentionally...

 

That is my understanding of what happens.

 

I don't know if the 2019's are different but on my 2018, my headlights will only turn off after a couple of minutes if I go from running to turning the key off completely. If I go from running and turn the key to AUX (to finish listening to something on the radio, for example), my headlights will stay on.

Maybe you turned the key to the Aux position for a few seconds and the headlights didn't turn off......draining your battery.

 

Not that I know of. On your statement above, would that also be true if you had the key in AUX, then turned it to off? As in, would the headlights remain on after you turned the key to OFF?

 

Yes, they will stay in in that scenario. They will only turn off automatically if you turn the key from Run to Off immediately.

 

Makes sense. The odd thing about all this is I park in my carport with the front of the 4R facing my fence. If I had been driving with my lights on at night, I would have noticed them on when I pulled in, and would have turned them off if they were still on when I shut off the truck. I don't rely on them going off automatically even if they do.

 

Like @Thatbassguy was saying, I know you can force turn them off by double clicking the lock button on your fob, but I don't know if that only works if you've gone from Run to Off or if you can also do that going from Aux to Off. I'll have to give that a try after work.

 

Hmm. Never knew that. I may test that some day.

 

I was playing around with this a little yesterday.

With the lights turned on (on the stalk):

If I turned the key from Running to Aux and paused there for a few seconds, then turned the key off and pulled it out - the lights stay on and I could not double click the fob to turn them off.

If the key is off then turned to Aux, then off again the lights will stay on and will not be able to be turned off with the fob.

 

The battery in our '16 4R only lasted for 3.5 years, and then it was replaced with a 5 year old (that was removed from a Rav4 before we traded it in) Red Top Optima.
And still going strong.