Adding Power Trunk Release Ideas...Need Help

[Jrilla]

I have searched for a liitle while for threads about this and haven't found anything beyond adding an aftermarket solenoid and running a long green wire from the trunk to the under the dash. I have installed these solenoids in several cars and I was never impressed by the way they things looked. I know this sounds picky, and I am fine with installing my power trunk release this way if I have to, but I wanted to ask the experts on the Yaris here to see if they had any knowledge of another way of doing this. I am sure I could spend hours researching this, but I thought if anyone could figure this out, you could.

Here it is: Is there another vehicle out there with a remote power trunk release that I could pull the latch and release mechanism off the trunk and install it on my Yaris and make it work both manually and electronically?

I'm not too worried about running wires from the trunk to under the dash to trigger the above mechanism or even the solenoid if the above doesn't work, but I would prefer to use an extra factory wire in the trunk if there is one.

My main goal in all of this is to never compromise the factory look with anything I install so as to not decrease the resale value in case i need to sell this in the next couple years for whatever reason.

Thank you for any insight you can give.

[Tamago]

to my knowledge there are no extra wires in the harness. i'm assuming you're talking about a sedan? do you want a power release so you can open the trunk via remote? have you thought about replacing the "pull handle" on the floor with a "puller solenoid" ? use the existing cable release and just pull it from it's OE location..

[Yaris Hilton]

I do miss being able to hit the remote button on the key and just pull the trunk open on my Villager and Volvo. Takes me way back in time, using the key to open the trunk.

First remote opening trunk I saw, BTW, was in a 1967 Buick Electra 225.

[Jrilla]

Yes, I am trying to open the trunk on my sedan via my RS remote.

I don't think the solenoids I have seen would fit or look good even if they did fit on the floor where the lever release is. Those solenoids are pretty big and ugly. Thanks for the idea though.

I saw a 2003 Camry at the salvage yard and I think I will take a closer look at the trunk latch to see if I could modify it to fit on my Yaris. Maybe see if the release could be separated from the latch somehow.

Are there some models of the 09 Yaris sedans with power trunk release?

[Jrilla]

OK, so I took off my wife's camry latch and my Yaris latch and it looks like I could take the actuator mototr off the camry and it might fit on the Yaris latch. The Yaris latch looks like it was designed for the same motor as the Camry since they are both similar in shape and design and there is a plastic cover on the Yaris that looks exactly like the one covering the motor on the Camry latch, and they are in the same position with respect to the latch mechanism. The only difference I see is the Yaris has a spring loaded trunk pin and the spring runs right through were the motor would go. This might not be a problem since the Camry only has 2 wires and it doubles as a motor actuator and a trunk pin (I assumed that but I haven't looked too close at that yet).

On the other idea, I did see a connector that wasn't being used near the license plate lights, one was White/Black and the other was Tan. I thought this might be for a brake light on a spoiler since I couldn't think of anything else it would be for. The camry had two such connectors but I forgot to look at the colors.

As before, any ideas are welcome.

[b_hickman11]

This is probably the kit you are trying to avoid but it's a shot.

http://a1electric.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AEOS&Product_Code=TK01KIT

[BLH]

My 2007 Sedan has two wires connected to a small square box. Mounted on the latch mechanism. I don't have any keyless or remotes from Toyota or after market.
I wounder if mine is wired for such things and just not connected.
The wires are White/Black for sure and the other maybe Tan. It is definitely connected to a part mounted on the latch mechanism.

[b_hickman11]

My 2007 Sedan has two wires connected to a small square box. Mounted on the latch mechanism. I don't have any keyless or remotes from Toyota or after market.
I wounder if mine is wired for such things and just not connected.
The wires are White/Black for sure and the other maybe Tan. It is definitely connected to a part mounted on the latch mechanism.

Those wires are for the display on your gauges that lets you know that your trunk is open.

[BLH]

Thanks for that information. Make sense.

[CTScott]

OK, so I took off my wife's camry latch and my Yaris latch and it looks like I could take the actuator mototr off the camry and it might fit on the Yaris latch. The Yaris latch looks like it was designed for the same motor as the Camry since they are both similar in shape and design and there is a plastic cover on the Yaris that looks exactly like the one covering the motor on the Camry latch, and they are in the same position with respect to the latch mechanism. The only difference I see is the Yaris has a spring loaded trunk pin and the spring runs right through were the motor would go. This might not be a problem since the Camry only has 2 wires and it doubles as a motor actuator and a trunk pin (I assumed that but I haven't looked too close at that yet).

On the other idea, I did see a connector that wasn't being used near the license plate lights, one was White/Black and the other was Tan. I thought this might be for a brake light on a spoiler since I couldn't think of anything else it would be for. The camry had two such connectors but I forgot to look at the colors.

As before, any ideas are welcome.



The beige and White/black wire is for the spoiler stop light. It merges with the wiring to the taillights right in the trunk.

[Jrilla]

I ended up installing the kit since the Camry motor did not have any place to mount and the actuator assembly is different between the two. It was a really easy install as I knew it would be, but the reason I was hesitant to do this kit is because I have installed many of them in the past into older cars that I didn't care if it had an after market look to it, and a few of them have stopped working after a couple years and needed to be adjusted. The other reason I was hesitant is because I didn't really like the location of the solenoid that others on this site had used since I wasn't sure if the cover would fit over it. I was able to locate it between the inner and outer pieces of the trunk. So far everything works fine. Thanks for the replies.

[Jrilla]

I am using my Remote Starter trunk output to trigger a relay.

[Jrilla]

so how you are you triggering it? i missed that part of your post sorry

This made me think about this a little more. The trunk release button on my remote starter transmitter is a real PITA. It doubles as the status confirmation button, so i need to hold it for 5 seconds. This isn't a big deal when the button actually works, but the button design is not the best and sometimes the connection between is broken while I am holding the button down and it thinks I let go so it starts the 5 second timer over. If this happens I usually have to press the button so hard it could break. I have actually had one break.

This got me thinking about ways of using the factory remote to trigger the relay for the trunk release. My 09 sedan doesn't have power trunk release (obviously), but I am wondering if the vehicle was wired for it at all, like if there is a wire somewhere that sends a signal when the unlock button is pressed for 3 seconds. That is how I have read some trunk releases work on some Yarii. If there is no wire I assume I would need some sort of pulse counter module. I doubt I would bother with this idea though if there is no such wire from the keyless entry module.

Crazy idea I know, just thought I would ask.