Toyota Trunk Won’t Open. Then The Driver Finds A Trick No One Knew Existed: ‘Oh The Valet Button’

A Toyota driver finally figured out why the trunk on their nearly 20-year-old Avalon had stopped responding to the key fob.

The TikTok account known as the “Toyota Avalon Page” (@toyota.avalon.pag) shared the small fix, which was hiding inside the glove box.

“I figured out why my truck wasn’t opening on my 2007 Toyota Avalon,” the text overlay on the screen read.

In the clip, the driver presses the trunk button on the key fob, but nothing happens. They then open the passenger-side glove box and press a small switch tucked along its left edge.

When they try the key fob again, the trunk opens.

The button is the Avalon’s trunk-opener cancel switch, according to various Redditors. Toyota placed it inside the glove compartment so drivers can turn off the electronic trunk release and prevent someone from accessing the trunk, even if they have access to the cabin. Pressing the switch again turns the system back on.

In other words, there was likely nothing wrong with the key fob or the trunk itself. The release system had been switched off—possibly without the driver realizing it.

As of this writing, the clip has garnered more than 545,900 views.

What The Secret Toyota Avalon Button Actually Does 

The button inside the Avalon’s glove box isn’t a trunk release and is actually designed to disable one.

In a video posted to Toyota’s official YouTube channel, the automaker explains that the switch—called the “trunk opener main switch”—turns off the electronic trunk release, including the button on the key fob and the release inside the cabin.

Toyota instructs drivers to lock the glove box and rear seat pass-through with the master key. Once both features are engaged, the trunk can only be opened with the master key. Toyota recommends keeping this key in your possession “at all times.”

The system is meant to keep someone who has access to the passenger compartment—such as a valet—from getting into the trunk.

That also explains what happened in the viral TikTok. The key fob likely wasn’t broken—the electronic trunk release had been switched off, so the car ignored the command until the driver pressed the glove-box switch again.

Toyota notes in a second video that Avalon drivers must hold the trunk button on the key fob for at least one second. That delay is another built-in security feature, designed to keep the trunk from opening after an accidental tap.

The glove-box switch is easy to hit without realizing it, particularly while reaching around inside or removing items. And because it is hidden from the driver’s seat, it is not an obvious place to look when the trunk suddenly stops responding.

But the location is deliberate. A driver can turn off the trunk release, lock the glove box and rear seat pass-through, and then hand someone a valet key without giving that person access to anything stored in the trunk.

So, in this case, the fix did not require a new key-fob battery or a trip to the repair shop. It only took finding a small security switch that was working exactly as Toyota intended.

‘Oh The Valet Button’

Several viewers recognized the switch immediately.

“Oh the valet button lol,” one person wrote.

“That’s for valets,” another added.

But plenty of others said the video sent them searching through their own cars.

“I wonder if that’s why the automatic doors don’t open with my fob on my Sienna,” one viewer wrote.

“Does this work for Hondas? Bc my trunk button don’t work,” another asked.

“Now I’m a have to check my old subie,” a third added.

Several people said they had already run into the same feature on other vehicles.

“Just found this button on my Lexus,” one commenter wrote.

“Happened to my rx350,” another said.

“My 99 Buick was the same way lol,” one viewer added, while someone else wrote, “My Park Avenue just has a separate valet key that does all of this!!”

Others said the switch was still showing up in newer models.

“The new Avalons have the same button,” one person wrote.

Another said theirs was located somewhere else entirely: “Ours is under the dash.”

Motor1 contacted the Toyota Avalon Page via TikTok direct message. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.