Mystery to me......

[jlindh]

Hopefully, someone can give me an explanation for a door lock mystery. This afternoon, my wife and I went to visit a neighbor. My wife drove our Genesis and I used another vehicle. When my wife arrived at our friend's, she left her purse and remote in the car. Subsequently, I needed something from the car and proceeded to retrieve it. I don't remember locking the car when I left, but may have.

I left before my wife, but had to return to unlock the car when she was unable to open the door, even though her remote was inside the car.

I have a hard time believing that the car can differentiate that a remote might be inside the car instead of outside. My impression was that you could not lock a remote inside the car. Any ideas?

P.S. I'm aware that leaving a remote inside the car keeps certain electronic circuits powered on and so is my wife, but you know how that goes...

 

[tshile]

i just tested it with mine. with the wife's keys in the car I could lock the doors with my key fob, but I couldn't lock them using the button on the handle.

the key fobs probably have unique id's associated with them so the car see's it's coming from a fob that's not in the car so it accepts the lock signal.

 

[jlindh]

But why couldn't she unlock it?

 

[Jbo]

Proximate distance to door handle?

 

[jlindh]

Guess that's possible. She says neither door would unlock.

 

[tshile]

But why couldn't she unlock it?

Because I think there is a use case you're missing. If she could unlock the door then that means you could never leave a set of keys in the car. Anyone could open the door and steal it. What if you and your wife go somewhere and when you get there she doesn't want to take her purse (with her keys) ? You should be able to lock the door with your key and not have just anyone open the door because her key is inside.

You can't lock the door using the button if a set of keys is inside the car to prevent you from locking yourself out. But you can take a different set of keys and press the lock button on the keys to lock it. That sort of override makes sense to me.

But, I'm just guessing here, so...

 

[jlindh]

I think you've found the reason! Makes sense when you think about it.

 

[Polen]

I'll have to test this more, but we always have to dig the keys out of the wife's purse when she leave it in the car. She always wants her purse in the truck so not to be visible. I tested this on vacation and with her keys in the truck away from the latch and locking with my key fob the truck could still be opened.

 

[Mark63021]

This thread is a good lesson in the logic behind the security engineered into the car. I've found the proximity detection to be very sensitive btw. For instance, if I exit the car with the fob in my right front pocket and attempt to lock the car via the interior lock button, the car immediately declines and unlocks all doors. However with the fob in my left pocket (or just by standing a few inches further from the car, it will lock -very sensitive.
Regardless, I do wish we could set the car to lock automatically as we walk away.

 

[PMCErnie]

I'll have to test this more, but we always have to dig the keys out of the wife's purse when she leave it in the car. She always wants her purse in the truck so not to be visible. I tested this on vacation and with her keys in the truck away from the latch and locking with my key fob the truck could still be opened.

You Texans sure have a lot of trucks.

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[snork]

I believe tshile is correct. The proximity detection is pretty sensitive and knows when the keys are in and out of the vehicle. Since you (may have) used the other key, it allowed the car to lock with the other still inside.

 

[jlindh]

Upon further reflection, the car HAS to know whether the fob is inside or outside the car in order to prevent someone from locking the fob inside the car by using the door button and vice versa.

 

[Polen]

You Texans sure have a lot of trucks.

LOL, spell check didn't help me here. and true, many trucks, not many trunks.