Homelink/Garage opener always or or not?

I did not bother programming my garage door on the truck yet since my truck sleeps outside most of the time. I don't have a remote for it either, wife has the remote, so I use my phone app for the garage door.

I am considering programming it, but if the Homelink system is powered when the ignition is off, I won't bother, that's like leaving the remote on the visor outside. If Homelink only works with the ignition is on, then I will consider it.

On older vehicles that I've owned, Homelink was on all the time, do others know if it's the same with Gen4?

 

Yeah it’s never off. So if you don’t park in the garage then it could be a safety concern.

 

I don't know about the 4G Tacoma, but it's interesting to me that your old cars would power the Homelink transponder when the ignition is off. I've had a couple of cars with it and neither powered the Homelink with the ignition off. My current car is this way; I frequently forget to open the garage door after parking and shutting down my car and have to turn it back on to open the door. You'd think it would be a pretty serious security risk to power it without the ignition active, much like the button people love to leave on the sunvisor. My wife leaves hers up there and always leaves the car unlocked. Drives me nuts.

Either way, since you've got one, why not push the buttons when the truck is shut down and see if they respond? All the Homelink systems I've poked will light up or do something even if you press the unprogrammed buttons as long as it's powered.

 

This worked on the third gen to make it function only when the truck was on (makes it pnp vs rewiring, which is still an easy fix): 12 Pin Male to 12 Pin Female Adapter Harness For Homelink® M (bobsmirrors.com) Might work on the 4th gen also, but would be worth messaging Bob over there, he's pretty responsive.

 

FWIW my experience with Homelink has been that the Japanese and American cars I've owned have Homelink defaulted to be on all the time. The European cars i've owned have Homelink defaulted to off all the time. I've been able to reprogram a few cars to default Homelink off with things like this or once through something like Carista if I remember. But generally the car is the way it is, in my experience.

 

Actually, it was just 1 vehicle, a 2007 GMC. So 17 years ago.

 

Not sure how Carista would be able to disable a constant hot lead.. But when I've added Homelinks to vehicles, I've just used the switched hot from the vehicle to power both hots on the mirror. Works great and the mirror does not forget programming. That is essentially what the pnp harness I linked does, but without having to cut and splice anything. Just unsure if it is pnp on this platform which is why I recommended contacting Bob to have him confirm.