[SteveMD]

This AM, I went out to the car, threw my laptop bag and lunch on the front passenger seat with my keys. Closed the door and walked around to the trunk. Trunk was locked. Turns out so are all 4 doors.

I have CA, how did this happen? I checked in the Lock settings in iDrive and the box to lock the doors is unchecked.

I could not get in and had to grab my other keys.

The engine was not running if it makes any difference.

Thoughts?

[idspispopd]

Only thing I can guess (and I'm going to try it in a few minutes when I get into my car) is that you bumped the 'lock' button when you 'threw' the laptop in....and it did what it was told to: lock the car.

I've never tried that from inside the car though, but assume that if the control is in the car, and is told to lock, it will do so.

[SteveMD]

Originally Posted by taxbuster

Only thing I can guess (and I'm going to try it in a few minutes when I get into my car) is that you bumped the 'lock' button when you 'threw' the laptop in....and it did what it was told to: lock the car.

I've never tried that from inside the car though, but assume that if the control is in the car, and is told to lock, it will do so.

I would think though that if the key remains in range, the car would unlock. Maybe not. I'll have to go out and try .

[hmmcolor]

Originally Posted by SteveMD

I would think though that if the key remains in range, the car would unlock. Maybe not. I'll have to go out and try .

Won't unlock from the outside if the key is on the inside. That would mean if you were stopped at a light someone could walk up and unlock your car...

[SteveMD]

Originally Posted by hmmcolor

Won't unlock from the outside if the key is on the inside. That would mean if you were stopped at a light someone could walk up and unlock your car...

Makes sense. Clever, them Germans!

[carjon]

Had a GM car with the equivalent keyless. Sensors were on outside and not from inside. I once left keys in gym bag - through bag in trunk (sensor worked great) but then all was locked up inside and I had to get ride to get other key. You do it once and learn.

[Shane23]

The doors will not lock, if the key fob is inside the vehicle (same goes for the trunk).. My guess is the button may've been pressed but then it's signal was blocked by the laptop, so the car thought the key fob was not inside the vehicle hence why it locked..

It received the lock signal, but the CA didnt recieve the signal that the key was inside vehicle..

Originally Posted by hmmcolor

Won't unlock from the outside if the key is on the inside. That would mean if you were stopped at a light someone could walk up and unlock your car...

This is true, but only when the vehicle is started.. or the keyfob is active present inside the vehicle.. (signal not blocked)

I figured this out, because when I leave school, i'd have my key inside my bookbag and once or twice it allowed me to open the door, but once I got in and put my bag down, the car wouldnt start because it said the key was missing.. (turns out it fell behind the laptop in my bag when i put it down)

[Thunder Dump]

Originally Posted by Shane23

The doors will not lock, if the key fob is inside the vehicle

This is absolutely not true, even with CA. The fob can be locked in the interior passenger compartment (but not the trunk as you point out) so that if someone is in the car with the fob in their pocket and they want to lock themselves in the car for protection they can. Picture the scenario of you sitting in the vehicle alone at night and an attacker approaches. The key fob is in your pocket--do you really want the car to not be able to lock the doors because the key fob is inside?

[Thunder Dump]

Originally Posted by Shane23

I figured this out, because when I leave school, i'd have my key inside my bookbag and once or twice it allowed me to open the door, but once I got in and put my bag down, the car wouldnt start because it said the key was missing.. (turns out it fell behind the laptop in my bag when i put it down)

This is because there are different antennas for the ignition vs the doors. The key has to be in close proximity to the ignition for it to start (i.e. if it's in the back seat you'll get that error about the key missing).

[Shane23]

Originally Posted by Thunder Dump

This is absolutely not true, even with CA. The fob can be locked in the interior passenger compartment (but not the trunk as you point out) so that if someone is in the car with the fob in their pocket and they want to lock themselves in the car for protection they can. Picture the scenario of you sitting in the vehicle alone at night and an attacker approaches. The key fob is in your pocket--do you really want the car to not be able to lock the doors because the key fob is inside?

Ok, but i've never been able to lock my car from outside with the keyfob still inside..

I think i've figured this out...

The car will NOT lock with the keyfob inside the car if you are trying to lock it from the outside..(hence why i cant lock my key inside)

But your right if your inside and you press lock with the keyfob inside it will in fact lock the car..

Maybe his bag pressed the button during/after he closed the door...

[Thunder Dump]

Originally Posted by Shane23

Ok, but i've never been able to lock my car from outside with the keyfob still inside..

I think i've figured this out...

The car will NOT lock with the keyfob inside the car if you are trying to lock it from the outside..(hence why i cant lock my key inside)

But your right if your inside and you press lock with the keyfob inside it will in fact lock the car..

Correct. The antennas inside and outside the car for detecting the fob work independently. Think about it--if your keyfob was inside the car and it let you lock it standing *outside* the car, then someone standing outside the car could also *unlock* it. So if you were trying to get away from an attacker and locked yourself inside your car (with your fob in your pocket), you want the CA controls outside to ignore the fob inside the car, otherwise the attacker could just lift up on the handle and open the door, defeating the whole purpose of a locked door.

The way I've seen people get locked out is to leave the fob inside the car and then open the door and while the door is open, press the lock button on either the fob or the center console. Then get out and close the door.

[Yvette]

when key is in the vehicle, you can't lock the door by putting finger on your knob.

[VTECaddict]

Originally Posted by e90sexion

when key is in the vehicle, you can't lock the door by putting finger on your knob.

You can as long as there is another key outside.

What most likely happened is the lock button on the key got pressed as you tossed things in.

CA sensors don't come into play when you press the buttons on the key. It doesn't care where the key is because if the buttons are pressed, it's assuming that you have the key in your possession already.

To lock the car with CA, it has to detect a key outside of the car (it doesn't care about what's inside the car). If the key is detected in the trunk and you close it without a key outside, it will unlatch the trunk again. If a key is locked inside the car, that key will be disabled for CA functions until the car is unlocked again.