2008 Sequoia Got Locked Up

I had a weird situation with my 2008 Sequoia that I am hoping someone can explain what may have happened.

I drove it to the store, got out and thought I didn't lock it about 40 feet away from the vehicle. I pressed the lock button on the key fob and thought I heard the vehicle "beep". I came back out, unlocked the car with the fob and when I turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. No starter, no turnover, only two lights on the dash lit up (don't recall which ones but they were not the usual one, something with 4 letters (I think) and another one that was next to it). The door locks and window controls would not work, I couldn't take it out of park and I could not lock the car with the fob. (The unlock button on the fob would make the car beep, but that was it.) I noticed a red light in the shape of a car with a key in the middle of it blinking - light is located by the clock in the center of the dash.

I pressed the back door opener on the fob and I think that unlatched it but the lifting mechanism did not engage. I could not get the door to relatch and there was a clicking sound coming from the back left panel. The door close button on the left side of the back also did not work.

By this time someone brought me the spare key and fob and they did not make a difference. Then we opened the hood. All of a sudden the clicking noise in the back left panel of the car stopped. I was then able to latch the back door and the vehicle started like normal.

Any ideas on what happened? I love my Sequoia and would hate to think it's starting to fall apart.

 

Could be a couple of things, but I'd check the battery for a loose connection or maybe even a weak battery. The anti-theft sounds like it engaged for one reason or another, but low voltage can do weird things - perhaps it didn't read the key correctly because of the voltage drop. That's the first place I would look.

 

OP I had a similar experience a few months back in my Tacoma and it turned out corrosion on the battery terminal cables was causing a bad connection and the anti-theft system went wonky as a result. If you haven't replaced the battery terminal cables in several years or more, I'd plan to do that if I were you.

 

Thanks so much! It looks like it was loose battery connections.