I recently bought a 2013 Prius 2 from the original owner. When installing a back-up camera, I found a device under the steering wheel that is tapped into the wiring harness in about a dozen places, with diodes in several places. It's clearly not factory equipment. It's a small black box, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, with small wire coming out of it that may be an antenna. It has a 'min-max' adjustment on it. It's attached to the car with a zip tie. The box is labeled 769102 1106. There's no manufacturer or brand name on it. There's also a relay located behind the glove box. The previous owner says she has never had any aftermarket parts installed in the car. She saved every piece of paperwork for every service done on the car since it was new, and there's nothing in that record about any alarm or remote start installation. I'll try to upload some photos of it. I'd like to disconnect it but it's so intimately connected to the wiring harness that I'm afraid I will disable the car in the process.
Curious gadget. Blue wire looks like an antenna, min-max adjusts range. That's a fairly complex set of connections (probably more than a garage door opener would require). You might get a wiring diagram and figure out what it is tapped into. Let us know what you find.
Get a bar code scanner app on your phone and scan the bar code. Then Google. Sometimes the result matches the numbers printed on the sticker and sometimes it doesn't.
This is a security system. Looks similar to the Viper system I had. You are missing the key fob. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
While I have not found this exact unit, it does appear to be similar in terms of components and wires to an add-on (aftermarket) remote start kit...
I found out what it is. It's a dealer installed security system, made by a company called KARR. Evidently some dealers install this system on all their new cars. It allows salesman to access all the cars on the lot with a single key fob. Then when they sell the car, they put a lot of pressure on the buyers to purchase the 'upgraded' security system. It's really not much of an upgrade over the Prius factory security system and they try to sell it for up to $800. If the purchaser declines to purchase it, they 'disable' the system but leave all the hardware in place. Here's an article I found about it. Google "never buy car alarm dealership" and open the first link that shows up. I'm concerned about what happens if the system fails or if a thief gets hold of a dealer master key fob. It's tapped and spliced into the wiring harness in at least a dozen places, so removal will be a bit tedious and not without some risk of something not going back to together right, but I'm going to try and disconnect it so it can't fail or be hacked.
Cut the antenna wire and that will limit the distancethe key fob would work...or you can wrap the entire unit in aluminum foil. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
My 17 prime advanced was just at the dealer for its 5000, two days before the 11” screen with nav, phone and heater controls died, the dealer found a port installed alarm??? Had lost its connection, sounds just as fishy as the op’s problem.
That is totally crazy - I bet that system also lets a repo man just walk up to the car, get in, and drive away if the car had been financed and one missed payments. Now it's just a potential security risk. +1 cut the antenna, turn the blue potentiometer to minimum range and wrap the entire unit in aluminum foil.
That particular part looks like the shock sensor. A lot of dealers pout that KARR alarm in. They sometimes try to sneak it into the price of the car saying it is a "car alarm". If it were me, I would have them remove every part of it.
Find out which lines feed it power and ground. See if the car will run without them connected. Without power it can't do do anything.
