There is a panic button, which could have been triggered by you by accidentally pressing it, or some other means, like computer error or RF signal.
The weird thing is that TCH has pretty much everything for the alarm to work as it should, it has door, trunk and sunroof sensors, it has capability to flash and sound alarm when panic button is pressed and it has enough computers to control everything and all it pretty much needs is few lines of computer code to trigger the alarm when door is opened without the key. Maybe later production cars had software update to enable alarm function? I'll check again over the weekend , but so far I was unable to trigger the alarm in my car and that's the one thing I wish I had, working, simple sound alarm.

 

Yes, thinking about it some more, there must have been pressure against the panic button on the fob in my pocket. And I must have been turning the power off at the time (the manual says the panic button is disabled when in Acc or On).

Frankly I think that the active security alarms have become "the boy who cried wolf" in that with so many going off accidentally nobody pays any attention to them anymore.

 

Maybe that's the case most of the time, but I park my car in my driveway and I do pay attention to car alarms (I have more than one car) even if just to shut it off, to stop waking up my neighbors. Probably nothing can stop a pro, but it could stop some casual bum, looking for easy couple bucks.

 

As mentioned you have to purchase the VIP security system with the TCH. This is what I did and it was installed at the factory (Kentucky). I have the stickers, although they were removed for the window tinting. This is also true of my gf's RAV4 and hers was installed by the dealer.

 

For me, I was able to get my 2005 Toyota Sienna LE alarm activated without any component installation. It did not have this as an option when I bought the van and if you want it, you have to pay extra for it. So, after reading a post on Siennaclub.org, people had success with bringing in the van and all they did was hooked up the computer and turned on the alarm system. By default, the ECU settings have it off. There was no additional installation or anything. Another thing is that I did not have the glass break sensor installed.

Link to Siennaclub discussion about turning on inactivated alarm:

http://www.siennaclub.org/forum/inde...pic=14567&st=0

I just showed them these instructions:

http://www.siennaclub.org/forum/inde...e=post&id=5616

So, I'm assuming that this method might work with the Hybrid/LE/SE models. Anyone want to give it a try by bringing in their hybrid to get the system activated?

 

I'm so sorry to bother you, but it is kind of surprising news that the proper alarm software is already programmed in, but just needs to be turned on.
But here is my problem: your second link doesn't work, it asks me to log on, can you post the info here instead, for easier access?
I'm also little confused: the thread mentions some V5 instructions being 35 pages long, but then it says something about dealer using scanner and inputing following sequence " Customize menu > OPTION SETUP (3) > DOP SECURITY (1) > ON > YES"
So do I need those 35 pages or just follow the sequence here and be done with?
And how do I get that scanner? I really hate to be depended on the dealer all the time, being at their mercy and pay for the privilege of setting things that should be user options.
BTW thanks for the info, but it really stinks Toyota plays this secret dirty games and makes a lot of people to pay extra huge amounts of money for the stupid alarm, which is already build in.

 

No problem. Here's the extracted and modified pdf file attached to this post. The dealer is the only one that has the scanner to do the changes (it's the same scanner that, for example, is used to modify the locking function-- such as when you park, it unlocks the doors, but you can disable that). So, I would bring this file in, and ask them to activate the alarm for you. They might be hesitant, but insist on it (be friendly with them). If you installed the GBS yourself, they would have to follow these instructions first to activate the alarm, before activating the Glass Breakage Sensor. But in this case, you don't have the GBS installed and just want the first part to be activated. The Siennaclub discussion link that I gave is a good source of additional info. Good luck!

 

This will be intereste to see if the procedure can be performed on a '07 TCH.