Stupidity plus odd central locking = locked out

Only a matter of time before this happened. Returned to the car in a car park. Unlocked with the key fob then released the boot with the bottom button. Doors not opened. Put keys in overcoat pocket to lift boot lid and put bag in the boot. Take off coat and put it in too forgetting to take keys out of the pocket. Phone goes. Call ends. Car has auto centrally locked almost immediatly after the boot lid was closed. Cue bitterly cold walk plus bus journey home without overcoat to collect keys and bus journey back in. Copious swearing obviously. Very lucky I was comparatively close to home and in no major hurry. So a moments forgetfulness and stupidity is the central cause BUT why the hell do they need to centrally lock the entire car once the boot is closed???? Surely when most people close the boot they are only going to do one of two things. 1. Get into the car and drive it having filled it or 2. leave the car. Now if you forget to lock the car after closing the boot thats your own fault. Anyway, how is it different from not locking it once you get out of it? The car doesnt centrally lock once you close the drivers door so why when the boot is closed? And if its option 1 and you intend to drive it having filled up the boot why then have to reopen the cabin? Seems a bit mad to me but then Im the sort of person whos dumb enough to lock his keys in the boot.

I've heard that people have had this feature "enabled" on thier cars, so im assuming that you can have it disabled as well. Saying that im sure that once you've locked your keys in once your not likely to do it again. :?

I wouldn't be surprised if it can be disabled. Id also like to disable that annoying auto central locking above 5mph. Next time its in for servicing! It also seems that (like my Audi) if you unlock the car with the blipper but dont open a door it will relock itself after a short time. For God's sake why? If I unlock a door its because I want to open the bloody thing! There is a real element of nannying with this whole locking system. Im grown up enough to accept the consequences if I forget to lock the car. Thats within my control and also pretty rare for someone to approach a modern car expecting it to be unlocked. I really don't need or want my car to decide to lock itself when Ive opened it. Like I said above, when I unlock it its because I want it to be open! And breathe...

On mine, if you open the front with the key, the doors unlock as well. If you don't open the doors, the doors lock again after a short while. Fair point though, if you close the keys in the front, and don't open the doors in time, you will be locked out, and that's less than ideal.

Oh and yes, hopefully wont be so dim as to lock the keys in the boot again

I believe it's a Thatcham requirement, ie. auto-lock when the doors haven't been opened after 30s and auto-lock above 5mph. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'm fairly sure that is defined in one of the categories.

auto lock above 5mph can be enabled/disabled by opc. It can be either off completely, lock when above a certain speed and a third option, i think lock after a preset time, altough I cant remember. I had this feature enabled by the opc when in for a service as my wife feels more secure! (Our old slk did it and we got used to it)

Yes - your mistake was to not open the doors. The car will lock again if unlocked and not opened in 30-60 seconds.

Just to confirm that 'passive' locking is definitely a requirement of Thatcham category One (and hence required by insurers on high value cars) The logic behind it is that many many people accidentally unlock their cars as they walk away and put their keys in their pocket. I actually find it a useful feature as I'm getting old and frequently forget whether I've locked it or not - so I just press the button again to be sure If I had locked it it will just re-lock anyway! You can enable or disable the 'speed locking' using the PST2 diagnostics tool that all OPCs and most specialists have, and I think there are a couple of other locking options as well - one of which may well be changing the autolock on closing the bonnet. However, it is still possible to lock yourself out if you do what I did once (600 miles from home and the spare keys in another country) - I shut the bonnet after placing the key on top of the battery cover and it pressed the lock button on the way down! :evil: If you think you swore copiously, you should have heard that one! :wink:

Never tried this myself, but it could be a life saver! Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'