I asked the dealership to enable the autolock function of the keyless entry during dealer prep.

My salesman said all they did to enable it was cycle the ignition key and play with the switch on the side of the door that sinces the door closed. Anyone have the procedure from a new manual?

Anyway...

They enabled it - but they couldn't get it to function reliabily.

I plan to gripe it at my first service call with a few other minor things.

It seems to work about 1/3 of the time.

If I exit the car and close the door it will beep within about 5 seconds.
As I walk away it beeps again and locks the doors - cool.
But if it doesn't beep within about 5 seconds after I exit then it never will and it never does lock the doors.

Seems like some kind of a software problem to me.

The sensors always know about the keyless module and my closeness to the doors because I can always get in and out and others can never get in without me standing next to them.

Anyone else experiencing this problem?

Respectfully,
Kay R. Fisher

 

All I know is it is supposed to cost about $40 to have the feature enabled because it is supposed to be hooked to a computer while being programmed. Maybe that is the issue with yours?

 

I'd had the same problem at first.

When you close the door, the remote MUST be less then 3' away from your door for it to work.
Also I found that if I exit the car too quickly it doesn't lock either.
Usually I pause for a moment (after I close the door) and wait until I hear the 1st beep.

Like everything else about our car, the autolock is also finicky.

 

Doorlock works fine but has some interesting quirks. If the passanger door is locked, then the driver door needs two clicks - the first locks it the second makes it beep and turns everything off. If the passenger door is not locked, it know it - a single click will lock the drivers door - but no beep even with multiple clicks - have to go to passenger side, click it twice then get the beep. It just wants to make sure all doors are locked before the safety goes on. Beware of putting your hand through an open window to lock the car - it hates that and will scream bloody murder. There is also a way to set off the security alarm from the inside, especially if the car is parked. Have to go outside and unlock the door to turn it off - turning the ignition back on just sort of insults it. Can be upsetting if it happens at a filling station - had to lie and say "it just got scared of the pump price!".

 

================================================== =====

I can stand by that door till the sun sets.
It works about 1/3 of the time.
If it is something I'm doing wrong I still can't figure it out.
Does yours ALWAYS work?

Respectfully,
Kay R. Fisher

 

Mine works most of the time and only fails when I get out of the car too fast.
If the remote is outside the 3' range when the door actually closes, it won't "see"
the remote and won't auto-lock.
You have 3 choices now:
1. Push the lock button on your remote.
2. Re-open and Re-close your door keeping the remote close enough to the door.
3. Check your trunk... If it's open the auto-lock feature won't work.

I have noticed when I have the remote in my left hand and reach over to close
my door, the ignition button won't turn with my right hand... that's less then a 4' range.

 

The first time I took the car in they ordered some lock control module.
It was mounted behind the glove box and wasn't easy for them to get at it.

It took a couple days for the part to come in.
The first time it was the wrong part so they had to re-order.

Then they installed it and it didn't help.

So they had me schedule the car for service when they could put a good tech on it for a while.

So the car went in for two weeks and they were constantly on the phone waiting for support from California to tell them what to try.

After two weeks then they had logged 21 days against the car and over $1500 of parts and still no progress.

So next they increased the priority and waited for the support group to make a decision.

A few weeks later they scheduled an appointment in sync with the airline ticket for an engineer to fly out.

The service manager was sorry it was taking so long and asked me if I wanted a couple of accessories for my trouble!

After thinking about it for a few days I figured I'd ask for a PhatNoise system and after they said no to that I would ask for the RX-8 wheel caps!

Well - he said no problem to the PhatNoise system - How cool is that!

Anyway the expert arrived and isolated the problem to the shock sensor.
The techs adjusted the sensitivity down on the shock sensor and the auto lock works now every time.

Apparently the problem was when you shut the door the shock sensor would detect the vibration and blank out the auto lock for a few seconds. It didn't set off any alarm because the car wasn't locked yet!

So now I have the car back and everything works fine.
Also I think the PhatNoise is really nice. They mounted it in the trunk up high in front of the spare tire. When you open the rear hatch in the back seat it is right there on the top.

Respectfully
Kay R. Fisher

 

I think technology is moving too fast. This shouldn't even be a feature, how hard is it to click "lock"? The more stuff they have, the easier it can fail.

 

Why dont u guys just keep the key in your wallet/pocket and press the little button on the handle. This would save you time, and insure your car is locked.

 

Call me ol' fashioned but i dont trust these here gadgets much. I just use that there button by the handle whenever i exit my auto-mobile. Guess ya can't teach an old dog new tricks. Now if ya'll would excuse me, I gotta finish fixin this darn quirky wifi network...damn lynksys pos....

 

I guess I thought the same things about power windows and power door locks and air conditioning when they first came out.

Respectfully,
Kay R. Fisher

 

Kay,
I really appreciate your detailed post. I too wanted to use this feature that I BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. Yeah I remember my grand father telling me how the telephone was never going to amount to anything useful.