Our CM is equipped with the comfort access system. My GF had both keyless remotes in her pocketbook, opened the left rear door, threw her pocketbook on the back seat, closed the left rear door, went to get in the drivers door, and inadvertently touched the lock button and locked the car. Now it will not unlock using either door button or the trunk latch. I thought it was supposed to be impossible to lock the car if the keys were inside the car?

 

It's definitely not 100 percent. In an attempt to show my wife the cool feature the car has, we placed her purse with her key inside, into the trunk and shut it to show her it would pop open. It did the first time and since she was in dismay, we tried it again. Well the second time it didnt work, thankfully I had the second key hanging around. So it's definitely not 100%.

 

Perhaps it was because the two keys were so close together in her pocketbook? They canceled each other out?

 

I did think of that. Perhaps I'll try to duplicate the occurence. Thanks for replying.

 

If the keys were in close proximity to a cell phone in her purse it could easily have happened. If I walk up to my CM which also has the comfort access the button will not work until I take my cell-phone or key out of my pocket. I usually have them in the same pocket, but make sure to pull my phone out now when I approach the car. Also, since I put the phone in the holder and plug it in.

 

Yeah, if I have my key in the same pocket as my cell phone, comfort access does not work. The cell signal is enough to disrupt the key and for the car not to detect it.

 

Yes, but if it had to do with her cell, how was she able to lock the car?

 

I doubt it is not impossible to lock the car with the key inside... I have not really tested the feature this way, but how could you lock the door if you are in it then? If someone wanted they could just open the door. I would think if the key said to lock the car the car would stay unless you unlocked from inside or approached with another key since the last locking. But since there is no other key to approach it since there both in there I'd think you would need to manually unlock it.

Or also with the phone being close thing, I'd think the sensing the key thing would be a lot weaker and be more susceptible to interference than the remote sending a lock or unlock signal and could therefore be able to send a lock signal to lock the doors, but still possibly not be recognized by the close proximity comfort feature. I do not know for a fact, but it makes sense. If the signal was the same strength all the time as sending lock/unlock signals the battery would be dead in hours or days.

Edit- Personally I do not use the comfort access thing. My roadster has it because I got a car from the lot and did not order it as I wanted it. I am afraid of doing stuff exactly like this and don't 100% trust it like I do using the key normally. Also I know if I get in the habit of not using the key I'll be more likely to lose or forget it. LOL.

 

You can still lock the car when you are inside with the Comfort Access Key(but not with the Comfort Access System). Well, then again, I guess you could reach out through an open window and touch the button on the door handle, but I don't see anyone doing that when it would be far easier to just use the switch on the dashboard. But according to the owner's manual, you should not be able to successfully reach out and do so if you have the Comfort Access Key inside the car with you.

I want to play with it this weekend and see if I can duplicate what happened to my GF, and see if I can somehow isolate what the cause was.

Like you, my GF really did not want the Comfort Access Feature as one of her friends has it in a Nissan, and has inadvertently walked away from the car with the engine running several times. So she was sort of afraid of it. But when we ordered our '13 it came bundled with some other options, and if I recall correctly, with the option package it worked out to being free or nearly free, and I thought it would be good for resale value. Eventually my GF started using it and liked it, until what happened the other day. So now I'm hearing "I told you so" :-)

 

This being said if the key is inside when it locks, the keys should(according to that statement) be locked in. I don't think the "with you" part matters. I think it's just where the key is that matters.

Edit: O wait I get it. you mean she locked it with the button on the handle. Not the remote.

Maybe it was the remote though? Maybe something in her purse locked it with the remote from the inside as she threw it in there or it fell over when she shut the door or something and then she probably would not be unlock from the outside. Maybe after the fact she thought she may have inadvertently locked it by touching the button because as far as she knew the remotes were not being touched? Just another possibility. I would try and test that way because that seems more likely to me than her accidentally pushing the door handle button and locking it.

 

It's difficult to say as I was not there when it happened.

But I just spent more than 30 minutes trying to duplicate the problem, and I was unable to. I tried every scenario mentioned above, and I carefully reread the owners manual.

I am going to guess that it was some sort of malfunction due to local radio waves, perhaps her cell phone, although I did try putting her cell phone in the car with the comfort access remotes, and I even tried putting the cell phone on top of the comfort access remotes to try to create some interference.

The bottom line is that she is just going to be more careful in the future. Luckily, one of her friends was with her, and her friend has AAA advantage, and they were able to get AAA to come and get the car open for free. The tow truck driver said that this happens all the time with all brands of cars.

Thanks again to everyone who tried to offer a solution.

 

I guess I'm too paranoid to use my comfort access. I don't lock or unlock anything without a key in my hand.

I don't know how many times I've walked out of the house and my wife will turn the lock on the ****, pull it closed behind her and then ask me if I have my key (cause she left her purse inside).

 

Sometimes in these situations it is related to the car parked next to it, I would hazard a guess it could have been a BMW or some car designed by BMW like Rover. Airport car parks are really bad for RF interference too.

 

Isn't that a good thing though? If the car was locked with the keys in it, and you could unlock with the door button, then what prevents someone from carjacking you? It essentially means you couldn't lock your car with you in it. I am not sure this is a bug, but a safety design.

 

You are not wrong, but that's not the issue. The issue is that she should never have been able to lock the car while the keys were inside it, not that she was unable to unlock it after the malfunction.

 

but people lock their cars with them and the keys in it all of the time. Heck, I think the CA system auto-locks when you start moving. I turned that off, but that is the default I believe.

I get it sucks what happened, but it is comfort access, not a system to prevent locking the keys in.

 

As someone else suggested, I believe that something in the purse pushed the lock button on the remote. This happens to me all the time...I'm in the garage messing around with the remote in my pocket and I squat down, my pants pocket tightens up putting pressure on the button and I can here my car lock (or unlock).