The wife pointed out that our 4Runner’s loud beeping (when locking and unlocking the vehicle) could be an annoyance to others while camping a few months ago. I figured there must be some way to decrease the beep’s volume. The Toyota 4Runner Manual lists a variety of customizable features that can be changed at the dealership. However, some dealerships charge money for this service… and I did not want to pay for such a simple change). After some research, I found a quick and cheap way to change the beep volume and much more!
Enter the Carista OBD2 Bluetooth Adapter. For a not-so-bad price of $20 (at time of purchase), I could customize many programmable settings as listed below. The little device plugs into the OBD2 port underneath the driver’s side dash and requires Bluetooth connection to a smartphone (with data). Note that Carista actually features free and pay-to-access features.
The free features include:
Basic OBD2 Diagnostics: Identifying fault codes for check engine lights, and resetting check engine light.
Basic Service: Shows if vehicle is ready for emissions tests.
The pay-to-access features include:
Advanced Diagnostics: Dealer-level electronic diagnostics of all electronic control units.
Customizations: Personalization of comfort and convenience features.
Advanced Service: Details information about vehicle’s electronic control units, and inspection of ABS/VSC/TRAC (if applicable).
The good news is that the Carista adapter comes with a free 30-day trial of the pay-to-access version. That’s all you need, really, for customization purposes. Setup is as simple as downloading the Carista app to your phone, plugging in the Carista OBD2 Bluetooth Adapter, connecting the adapter to your phone via Bluetooth, creating a Carista account and redeeming the free premium trial, and making changes.
The other cool thing about the Carista adapter is that it is compatible with other OBD2 mobile apps often used to observe vehicle performance (RPM, engine temperature, etc) and conditions (i.e. battery voltage). A full list of compatible apps are listed on Carista’s website here.
Below is a list of all features that Carista can customize. Note that some features may not be applicable to your vehicle based on trim level. Some changes that I made included decreasing the lock/unlock beep volume, enabling opening all windows with the key fob, and removing the annoying ECO drive indicator bar from the dash display.
Doors/Windows/Remote
Wireless door locking (Enabled/Disabled)
Blink turn signals when locking/unlocking with remote (Yes/No)
Beep when locking/unlocking with remote (Yes/No)
Volume of beep when locking/unlocking with remote (Off/1/2/3/5/6/Max)
Beep when opening/closing windows with remote (Yes/No)
Warn (beep) when door can’t be unlocked because it’s still open (Yes/No)
Panic function on remote (Enabled/Disabled)
Re-lock doors automatically if you unlock, but do not open a door (Yes/No)
Re-lock doors automatically if you unlock, but don’t open a door within… (30 seconds/60 seconds/120 seconds)
Auto-lock doors when moving (On/Off)
Lock doors when shifting into gear (On/Off)
Unlock doors when shifting into park (P) (On/Off)
Unlock all doors when driver’s door is opened (On/Off)
Close rear hatch window by turning and holding key in door lock (Yes/No)
Open rear hatch window by turning and holding key in door lock (Yes/No)
Open windows and sunroof by turning and holding key in door lock (On/Off)
Close windows and sunroof by turning and holding key in door lock (On/Off)
Open windows and sunroof via long-press on remote (On/Off)
Open passenger’s window using single button press (Yes/No)
Close passenger’s window using single button press (Yes/No)
Open rear left window using single button press (Yes/No)
Rear-left window single-touch-close (Yes/No)
Open rear right window using single button press (Yes/No)
Rear-right window single-touch-close (Yes/No)
Passenger window single-touch-open from driver’s switch (Yes/No)
Passenger window single-touch-close from driver’s switch (Yes/No)
Rear-left window single-touch-open from driver’s switch (Yes/No)
Rear-left window single-touch-close from driver’s switch (Yes/No)
Rear-right window single-touch-open from driver’s switch (Yes/No)
Rear-right window single-touch-close from driver’s switch(Yes/No)
Rear hatch window auto-close (Yes/No)
Rear hatch window auto-open (Yes/No)
Rear hatch window open/close delay (0.8 seconds/1 second/1.2 seconds/1.4 seconds)
Instruments/Displays/Dings
Seat belt warning (driver) (Enabled/Disabled)
Seat belt warning ding (front passenger (Enabled/Disabled)
ECO Drive indicator zone (On/Off)
Lights
Coming-home lights duration (Off/30 seconds/60 seconds/90 seconds)
Auto headlights activation threshold (Darkest/Darker/Normal/Lighter/Lightest)
Instrument lights dimming sensitivity (Darkest/Darker/Normal/Lighter/Lightest)
Instrument lights restoring sensitivity (Darkest/Darker/Normal/Lighter/Lightest)
Dim interior lights after… (7 seconds/15 seconds/30 seconds)
Turn on interior lights when you shut off engine (Yes/No)
Turn on interior lights when you unlock doors (Yes/No)
Interior footlight (bright when doors open, dim when driving) (Yes/No)
Turn on interior door-handle and center console lights dimly (flood lights) when ignition is on and shifter is not in park (P) (Yes/No)
Turn on exterior footlight when doors unlocked via remote (Yes/No)
Turn on exterior footlight when doors unlocked via interior switch (Yes/No)
Turn on exterior footlight for (Off/7 seconds/15 seconds/30 seconds)
Interior light control (Enabled/Disabled)
Exterior light control (Enabled/Disabled)
Other
Run rear wiper automatically after rear window washer use (On/Off)
Additional ‘tear’ wipe after window washer use (On/Off)
Rear wiper intermittent run time interval (2 seconds/3 seconds/4 seconds/5 seconds)
Rear wiper retract time (2 seconds/3 seconds/4 seconds/5 seconds)
Conclusions and Recommendations:
Customization :)
