A Toyota RAV4 owner’s frustration with a subscription demand from his car has sparked debate on TikTok. But did he post before reading the manual?
Teltok User Travis (@Unhingedtravis) posted a 36-second video showing his infotainment screen displaying a “Your session has expired” message, asserting the automaker “remotely turned this on” to force him into paying for services.
But commenters, critics, and Toyota owner forums suggest that the message is a lot less hostile than it seems.
The Pop-Up That Started It All
In the viral TikTok video, Travis films his RAV4’s touchscreen from his point of view. The display screen shows a message reading “Your session has expired” in large text, followed by smaller text stating, “To keep your account secure, we closed the PIN entry due to inactivity. Please try signing in again,” with a blue “Okay” button below.
Travis saw red, ranting, “In 2023, I ended up buying a RAV4, and I [expletive] regret it now because Toyota, look what they’ve done,”
Jabbing his finger at the screen, he continues, “They have actually gone and remotely turned this on.”
He admits that this was the first time he’d encountered this notification after two years of ownership.
“For the entire two years that I’ve had this vehicle, I’ve never once had this pop-up,” he says. “[Now] they want me to pay for a subscription.”
What’s Really Happening?
Despite Travis’s belief that Toyota was demanding payment to remove the pop-up, Toyota owners in the comments offered a very different explanation: the message appeared to be a standard security prompt related to the Toyota Drive Connect system.
According to multiple commenters familiar with Toyota’s infotainment systems, the “session expired” message is a periodic security check that asks users to re-enter their PIN to verify their Toyota account connection. This happens roughly every six months as a security measure, regardless of subscription status.
Multiple threads discussing the same issue can be found on RAV4 owner forums and subredditsand they almost all come to the same conclusion: the message is a security prompt related to the Toyota Drive Connect system.
“That’s not what that pop-up means. I have the same head unit OS on my Corolla. It asks for your PIN like once every 6 months,” explained user LilBramwell. “If it’s popping up every day, then you need the OS reinstalled at a dealership.”
Another commenter, PsychoTechV4, offered technical insight: “From a simple Google search, it says that your account that syncs with the car, the session expired … due to a number of issues that can happen. All you need to do is log in in to your Toyota account to generate a PIN to resync the account to the car to the account. No payment needed.”
The Creator’s Response
Travis held his ground, claiming that when he followed the PIN reset process, it immediately redirects him to subscription sign-up.
“Ninety days is when that expired, and I never used it since. I never stayed logged in, and after syncing it again cause I couldn’t get it to go away. It still comes up asking me to subscribe,” he wrote.
When another user suggested entering the PIN for security purposes, he responded, “Nah. After I enter in the PIN, it goes right to sending me a subscription via text to my phone.”
‘Same Thing Happened To Me’
The wrinkles in Travis’ experience drew some sympathetic comments from the community, who perhaps saw that he was having trouble with the app-based fixes.
User codysantor, who owns a 2024 RAV4, offered a potential fix: “Same thing happened to me. I logged out of [the] app on my connected phone via USB, logged back in, and it went away.”
Others pointed out that the issue might be device-specific. “I get that, but it seems I may have a faulty install of the last update. Someone is coming to look,” Travis responded to one commenter.
Several users noted they don’t experience persistent pop-ups without subscriptions. “You actually don’t. I don’t pay for the subscription and get no pop-ups,” wrote one.
The debate extended to broader industry practices, with user Pizzadroid commenting, “All the car brands do this now when you stop paying their subscription.”
The Subscription Reality
While the specific pop-up in Travis’ video appears to be a security prompt rather than a subscription demand, Toyota does offer paid services through its Connected Services platform. These include remote start via smartphone app, vehicle locator services, and other connectivity features.
According to Travis’s comments, “They want you to pay $30 per month for your remote start and car location finder,” though this figure appears higher than Toyota’s standard pricing.
The frustration reflects a broader industry trend where automakers are increasingly moving toward subscription-based services for features that were once standard or one-time purchases. This shift has drawn criticism from consumers who feel they’re being charged repeatedly for features in vehicles they already own.
Whether Travis’ issue stems from a genuine technical glitch, a misunderstanding of the security prompt, or an overly aggressive subscription, his experience highlights growing consumer frustration with the automotive industry’s embrace of recurring revenue models.
Engine reached out to Toyota and Travis for comment. We’ll update this article if either responds.
