Added an audible warning to BSM...

I had an audible warning added to the BSM system on my Prime Advanced. Of all the things I've had done to my Prime, this is the one I most resent having to do. I'm sure that, for virtually no cost, Toyota could have added a few lines of code that would have created an audible warning option that would beep when the BSM lights on the side view mirrors flash (just like the beeping of the rear cross-traffic warning when you are backing up).

As equipped by Toyota, when you turn on your turn signal, if there is a car in your blind spot in the lane that you are changing to, the amber BSM light on your mirror for that side of the car will flash. As modified, there is now a beeping under these same circumstances. I'm linking to a video that I recorded in my car. You can't see anything in the video, but you can hear the beeping of the audible warning I've had installed. I've included a few instances of the BSM beeping, and a few instances of the stock lane departure warning beeping for comparison.

This was accomplished by tapping into whatever wire makes those amber BSM lights on the side view mirrors blink. I don't know all of the details, but they used some sort of step-up relay, I believe, and a little speaker to generate the beeps. I think my installer said the signal to those BSM amber lights is only something like 5V. I had the work done at StreetNoyz in San Diego. I'm not sure what they'd charge to do it. They hadn't done something like this before, and it took two visits to fine tune it (the original "speaker"/buzzer they installed was too loud and sounded bad, as they warned me when I picked it up, so they needed it a second time). It's one of those things that would be much easier and faster to do the second time around, I'm sure.

 

I think you may have misread how it works. The beeping noise I had installed only sounds when you put your turn signal on to change into the lane and there is a car in your blind spot. So it is definitely not going off all the time, only when you are changing lanes with someone in your blind spot.

You've probably noticed that your side-view BSM warning lights light up whenever there is a car in your blind spot. But those lights only begin flashing when you put your turn signal on to merge change into a lane and a car is in your blind spot in that lane. The beeping warning I had installed only sounds when that flashing occurs. There is no way I could have it beeping whenever the BSM warning light comes on and is just solid, because that does happen all the time.