Wondering if anyone has seen any 'weird behavior' with comfort access. What I've seen so far is that:
After parking, exiting, and closing the door, sometimes I need to press the button 4 times or so before it actually locks the door.

Unlocking is no problem, it works every time.

Is there some timer I'm not waiting long enough for when I'm trying to lock the door after closing it?

 

Battery or charge in the remote key? Some types take a new battery cell and others get charged when in the ignition. I replaced my batteries and it works a lot better than when I got the car (used).

 

Hmm, I wouldn't think it should be a battery issue, the car is brand new, just took delivery Monday.

 

Grasping at straws since I can't duplicate it...

Is your other key somehow in the car?

(I tried sitting in the car to see if the MINI doesn't let you lock the doors with the key inside [like my Toyota]...but no, it happily does.)

 

Yes, let me try to explain this quirky and aggravating situation.


If you have your MINI set to auto lock, or if all doors are locked in the vehicle and you stop and exit, only the driver door unlocks to let you out (if you are alone, obviously). When you close the door and push the CA button, the vehicle programming is set to unlock the remaining doors. Then there is a programmed delay of 2 full seconds before pushing the CA button again will do anything. Therefore, if you push it again immediately nothing happens until that 2-second delay occurs, which explains pushing the button 3 or 4 times to get it to lock.


SOOOOOOO, the process is: Close the door, press the CA button (unlocking the remaining doors), wait 2 full seconds, press the CA again to lock. ABSOLUTELY ABSURD.


The work around is this: Open the driver door, push the unlock button on the door, close the door and push the CA button to lock all doors.


If you have a passenger exit the vehicle from the passenger front door, then this extra step is not necessary.


Another work around is to disable auto lock, which I do not want to do.


I have investigated options for re-programming and have not found any so far and I have communicated this issue with the MINI Corporate reps that I know.


The Comfort Access system in ALL BMWs and previous R5x/R6x MINIs DOES NOT work this way. BIZARRE. Not sure why they programmed the F5x models to be different than all their other products.

 

MINIwuff, this was SUPREMELY helpful and exactly the type of explanation that I was looking for: thank you! I agree it's bizarre behavior and hopefully they will fix it in some sort of software update, but for now at least I know the workaround. I wasn't even looking at the passenger door to see if it was unlocking that one, but it makes total sense now (although the behavior should be different in my opinion).

 

EDIT: after re-reading previous replies it's obvious I was describing 'normal' behavior.

 

Just by way of tying this thread up, I wanted to let everyone know I was able to change this behavior through coding! I also posted this in the coding thread, but if anyone else is bothered by this behavior, there's a way to code the car to unlock all the doors when you turn the ignition off. This, in turn, allows the comfort access button to behave as you'd expect it to (the way it behaves with every other brand of car).

To code it, for those that are familiar with how to do it, this is the key you need to change:
With auto lock enabled, all doors unlock with ignition shutoff
BDC
3040>VAM_UNLOCK_KL15OFF_AFTER_PIA_AUTO_LOCK>Aktiv

For those unfamiliar with coding, I would check out the coding thread here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ogramming.html

I also noted this behavior in the survey that MINI sent to me. Hopefully they'll change it in future revisions.

 

Great info. I've been having this same thing and its good to see it explained.

 

Quote: The work around is this: Open the driver door, push the unlock button on the door, close the door and push the CA button to lock all doors.

You don't need to open the door first. Press the unlock button before you exit, then when you get out the CA button will lock the doors. We shouldn't have to go through this, BMWs don't require this rigmarole.

 

Yep that's the workaround; I chose to spend the $20 on a cable and change the behavior myself rather than go through this silly workaround every time. I also made the radio turn off when I exit the car too and various other tweaks/fixes. For anyone who doesn't mind reading through a technical guide and doing a little work (about an hour, not counting downloading/installing the ESYS application), coding is the way to go.