I am sitting in my vehicle right now. I rolled down the pass window for access. I stepped out of the vehicle, locked the doors with the remote, took the keys into the house and set them about 50’ away. I came back to the car, climbed into the pass seat through the open window. I attempted to open the door by pulling the door handle once then twice. Nothing happened; door did not unlock. I’m activated the unlock toggle switch. Nothing happened, not a sound. I am effectively locked into my vehicle except I rolled down the window prior. Windows will not operate. Nothing, car is dead as a hammer. No sounds nothing. I have a 2006 R52S.

I then attempted the same scenario this time I maintained the key in my hand. I sat in the vehicle and locked the doors. I then immediately attempted to open both doors by pulling the handles and nothing happened. I activated the toggle switch and nothing happened.

Next I put the key in the ignition, turned to on, then back off and removed the key. I then locked the doors with the remote. I was then able to unlock the door by pulling the handle twice. However when I relocked the doors with the remote they would not open from the inside. That’s strange.

So I decided to try this realistically. I placed a heavy weight on the passenger seat to simulate a person and verified that the pass air bag light was activated. I then drove the car until the self lock feature activated. I then parked the car, turned off the ignition, got out and locked the doors. I then attempted to unlock the door, through the open window by pulling the handle. Nothing happened the car remained locked. Same situation with the toggle switch, nothing.

At least with my vehicle you cannot open the doors from the inside once they have been locked with the remote. Also I cannot lock my vehicle with the toggle once the key has been removed from the ignition. I repeatedly got the same results when I repeated the scenario of driving the car with a simulated passenger and locking the car with the remote.

Why the door unlocked after turning the ignition on and off I have no idea. However, if I drive the vehicle, get out and lock the doors the vehicle cannot be opened from the inside without the remote.

 

I wonder if the convertibles have different programming for the locks?

Did you try the door handle again after trying the toggle switch?

Can you try this procedure? Lock yourself in the car but keep the key away from the ignition, like back seat with everything closed. Unlock using the toggle and listen if you hear an actuator activate. Then only try the pulling of the door handle twice.

The hard top "know" where the window is I believe, not sure about the convertible? When the window is fully closed and I go to open my door, the window moves down just a bit to clear the rain gutter. If the window is half way down, it does not move when I open the door. So maybe having the window open, has the car follow a different set of rules?


My truck does something similar, I think it notices a sequence of events and then determines what to do. Turning the ignition off and opening the door has different results that just turning off the ignition. Like my truck, if I turn the ignition off and leave the doors closed, the in cab electronics while stay active for 20 minutes before shutting off, IE radio. But if I open the door the electronics shut off immediately. Come to think of it, the MCS does it also, maybe the locks also ties into it somehow?

Not sure this would affect it, when AAA opened the car there was no weight on either of the front seats, dog was in the boot area.

Please keep us posted!

 

I’m not sure that y’all read my post carefully. Everything suggested was tried including having the key in the vehicle with me when I attempted to unlock the vehicle both with door handles AND toggle switch. As stated in the post there were no sounds when I attempted opening the vehicle.

The weight on the seat was relevant because that was the situation when my wife got locked into the car without being able to open the doors.

The lesson to be learned from this is don’t leave someone in your car without a remote and then lock the vehicle after you leave the car unless you are absolutely sure they can open the door without a remote. Your car may open but mine doesn’t. I now know how to prevent it from happening again.

 

It's my understanding that my '04 R53 is a pre-facelift car, made in October of 2003. It has the two spoke steering wheel, and the 5 piece plastic dash covers.

My '06 convertible's door windows drop a bit when opening the doors with the top up, just like my hardtop's windows do as well

Both my car's "chime" when the key is held close to the ignition switch

I'll try the scenario of getting out of the cars again over the next couple days, but I'm confident that I will still be able to exit without problems from both my cars as I did the other day. The only difference in my tests is that I do not have the luxury of locking the cars with the push button key fobs as most here do......I have to lock both cars with the keys in the drivers doors.....it may not make a difference, locked is locked in my book.....but we're talking about BMW & MINI's here.....

I'm wondering now if the OP has either a faulty toggle switch for the doors, or maybe it's a "programming" issue?

Bryan

 

Toggle switch works fine when the car is running.

 

I think you just found your problem, on both my cars, the toggle works when the engine is off and the keys are out of the ignition

Bryan

 

Well I need to replace the unit as I just broke the right window toggle button off while I was sitting there in the heat. What else?

 

These are what I am reading, let me know if I miss understand. You locked yourself in, and first tried the handle and then the toggle switch. Them stopped trying? Every time you stated you tried the door handle first and then the toggle. Our question was, did you try to unlock using the toggle switch first and then the door handle twice? If you did, then I am sorry I did not read it in your posts.

Maybe you do have a faulty toggle bank. FYI, I have on listed in the market place, not sure if it is what you might need. If it will work, just pay for the shipping and it is yours.

 

Just to add another comment here.....

I just went out to the garage where my '06 R52 is.....the top is down, and the keys are in the house, engine is not running, I reached into the car and was able to still operate the door locks with the toggle switch, both up & down......I never opened up either door, never tried to open up either door......the electric locks still work after sitting all day in the garage

Bryan

 

Yes I tried both ways and it did not open. But everyone seems to be missing the big picture in this situation. A truly safe vehicle should open from the inside when you pull the door handle once, twice or three times just like every American made vehicle I’ve owned. Faulty toggle or not this vehicle is a potential death trap!

 

To me it sounds like your car has electrical issues, owner operating issues, or programming issues, all I can tell you is that this "deadlocking" feature is not present on either my '04 R53 or my '06 R52.....so I will refrain from trying to help anymore on this thread except for this one last thing.......there's a guy on eBay that will make you a spare key for your car for under $30.....it will come cut and will work in your car door and the ignition....it just will not start the car because of no chip in the fob.....I suggest you get one and keep it in the glove box for future issues

Bryan

 

It’s an obvious programming issue. I started this thread to contribute and make others aware of a potential issue. It’s not operator issue, as you propose. I have solved my problem by not locking anyone in the vehicle UNLESS they have a key. Did you read the entire thread? Did you see the article about deadlocked BMWs? I’m not the only one with this situation it appears there are others and it is a normal condition in some vehicles. Thanks for the comments.

 

I agree with A383Wing, I am also done, We are trying to help and inform other/future Mini owners. Why don't you sell your death trap for a ford pinto( https://www.popularmechanics.com/car...to-fuel-tanks/) , 2000's ford explorer(https://www.fordexplorerrollover.com/) or a Chevrolet(http://www.chevroletproblems.com/ignition-switch/) seeing as American cars are so great?

The deadlocking feature is not on an 04, two of my 05's and one 06 cabriolet. You have an issue with your car and we are trying to help.
As I previously said, you have a miss understanding of how the system works and you are blaming someone else. As an engineer I take offense!

 

Wow! There are some touchy people on this forum. I wasn’t looking for help. I was informing everyone of a fact. I do not appreciate someone that automatically assumes I don’t know how to unlock a door in a vehicle via the, “operator error,” remark. If you’re going to dish it out you have to take it. Do me a favor, when you see me post asking for help don’t bother responding. Thx

 

A couple of points, perhaps in summary:

1 - it seems that 'deadlocking' may not exist on all cars in the US market. So, for safety, I suggest you find out exactly how your particular car is programmed - now.

2 - If you want a cheap spare key & happen to be going to the UK, take a key & a couple of eBay blanks with you. There's a company called Timpson's who have stores all over the country, many of whom can duplicate your key. I got 2 cut for under $20.They open the door & turn the ignition on but won't start the car because of the lack of immobilizer chip. I think we've established that the chip is only available through a MINI dealer $$$$.

There's no need for anyone to get upset over this! This has been a very informative discussion.
Allegedly, deadlocking has been a standard feature on BMW, MB, Audi & others since about 2000 but not necessarily applied to all cars in all markets.
Personally, I think it is extremely dangerous, evidenced by the reported fatalities.