Door Locks - random intermittent activating?

New to me `03 V6 - 4WD - auto trans. double cab - 203k miles on the clock;

• Electric locks on rear doors randomly trigger for no obvious rhyme or reason while underway. Sometimes every few minutes, sometimes in seemingly thirty minute cycles. Very annoying. How to deactivate the electric aspect of rear door locks?

• Coincidentally, a red light on dash to the right of steering wheel (air bag?) randomly blinks a few times, seemingly in concert with the rear door locks triggering. Does that light blink some kind of a code indicating a malfunction, or a coincidental gremlin in the system? Owners manual shows a air bag control with a key function to deactivate. The one in question does not have a key switch to deactivate.

• Another button . . . lower left of steering wheel, next to dash panel light control: no label, just a simple push button with no resistance to indicate a on/off position. Owners manual does not show this button. No idea what is does. Is this OEM or an add-on?

Another unrelated question... a faint vibration transmitting up through the steering wheel at speeds between 30 --> <-- 40 mph. Perfectly smooth at 29 and below and 41--> north. Opinions on where to look for problem: Tires, wheel bearing, U-joint, driveshaft?

Never had a electric activated shift-on-the-fly 4WD rig before. Don't even know how they work.

Thoughts, opinions and perceptions welcomed. Thanks.

 

Take some pictures of what your talking about on the dash.

From your description it sounds like some sort of Alarm malfunction is causing your door lock issues

The easy way is to fix your problem

You could pull the Door panels and disconnect things

 

The intermittent blinking light in question is circled in yellow on the attached pic. Thanks.

 

That is the light telling you your alarm is doing something

No doubt the cause of your door lock issue

 

Thanks. I'll work on figuring a way to disable the alarm, and/or the electric connection to the rear door locks.

Appreciate your time and feedback.

 

The rig is in the shop . . . discovered an aftermarket security system w/ non-oem electronic key fob control installed. . . by a certified hack. Guy at the shop had never seen such a hack job at wiring. The system - including the light on the dash - has been gutted. Hopefully this solves the rear door lock gremlin issues. Working on fixing a couple other unrelated issues (bearing supporting driveshaft and front steering component bits). With 203K on the clock (w/ big ticket service records & new tires), the otherwise clean rig with curbside appeal should meet my needs for a few years.