Locked OUT!

Yesterday afternoon I finished my workout at the gym, came out to my i3 which was charging, opened the door and tossed my gym bag, with my keys and phone in it, onto the passenger seat. Then I closed the driver’s door and walked around with my ChargeNow card, turned off the charger and walked back to unplug the cable. Someone who was interested in the i3 approached me and we chatted about the car for a minute or two. While we were chatting, the i3 emitted two loud “beeps”, then locked all the doors!

My keys and phone were locked inside and I was locked out! Fortunately I could go back into the gym and use their phone to call my wife who was only about 5 miles away, to drive over with another key and unlock the car.

Why is the i3 locking me out? This is obviously a huge problem. In another setting, like late a night, this could have been a very serious problem since both my keys and my phone were locked inside the car.

Yes, it is set to lock if "no doors are opened", but obviously the door was opened.

Is BMW aware of this? What possible situation could BMW of conceive of that would cause the i3 to lock out the owner?

I have a 4 year old Mercedes that absolutely refuses to lock the car if a key is anywhere inside, including the trunk. And Toyota, Mazda and Lexus also refuse to lock the doors if there is a key inside. This is the first BMW I've owned in a long time, do all BMW's willingly lock up while a key is still inside?

Now annoying, glad you managed to get the spare key without too much trouble.

It does seems a little over enthusiastic to lock the doors with the keys inside. A literal interpretation of 'lock if no doors are open' rather than 'no doors have been opened'

FWIW, if you call BMW, they can unlock the car for you. YOu need to remember your security word, though. Do you have comfort access? I'm not sure if it matters, but in theory, with CA, I didn't think it would autolock if the fob was in the car...I know it works that way on other BMW's.

I know that my car does not lock if the keys are inside - it just beeps to warn me. I do have comfort access.

Regardless of whether the key is inside and detected (or not) by the car it should not relock once a door has been opened after unlocking anyway.

jadnashuanh said:

FWIW, if you call BMW, they can unlock the car for you. YOu need to remember your security word, though. Do you have comfort access? I'm not sure if it matters, but in theory, with CA, I didn't think it would autolock if the fob was in the car...I know it works that way on other BMW's.

Click to expand...

With my phone locked in the car I didn't have access to any BMW information.

Yes, it does have the comfort access, and yes the car will lock the fob inside. After this incident I put my my wife's fob on the passenger seat, closed the doors and used my fob to lock the car, no problem. Something my Mercedes refuses to do. And I agree, something that BMW should not do.

MikeS said:

I know that my car does not lock if the keys are inside - it just beeps to warn me. I do have comfort access.

Click to expand...

Interesting since I also have comfort access and mine will definitely lock the key inside by using the other fob. I'm going to test all the various combinations of manual and automatic lock and report back.

Boatguy said:

jadnashuanh said:

FWIW, if you call BMW, they can unlock the car for you. YOu need to remember your security word, though. Do you have comfort access? I'm not sure if it matters, but in theory, with CA, I didn't think it would autolock if the fob was in the car...I know it works that way on other BMW's.

Click to expand...

With my phone locked in the car I didn't have access to any BMW information.

Yes, it does have the comfort access, and yes the car will lock the fob inside. After this incident I put my my wife's fob on the passenger seat, closed the doors and used my fob to lock the car, no problem. Something my Mercedes refuses to do. And I agree, something that BMW should not do.

Click to expand...

Getting the phone number isn't hard, but whatever...you did call your wife so you had access to a phone.

Have you tried to lock the car with the comfort access on the door handle with the fob inside (and not having another outside nearby)? If you have a fob outside, locking one inside wouldn't seem to be a major problem! The opposite condition would.

Boatguy said:

MikeS said:

I know that my car does not lock if the keys are inside - it just beeps to warn me. I do have comfort access.

Click to expand...

Interesting since I also have comfort access and mine will definitely lock the key inside by using the other fob. I'm going to test all the various combinations of manual and automatic lock and report back.

Click to expand...

It would seem that if the car can sense the other key it will lock with one key in the car. However, my car will not lock if the key is inside and the other key is not close. I know because I ‘tried it’ by accident!

Official response from BMW:

"When the Automatic locking feature is activated, the doors will automatically lock if the doors are closed. This feature will engage a short period of time after the doors are closed, even if a set of keys are in the vehicle. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

And BMW considers this to be a "feature"?

I don't know how they twisted "lock door if no door is opened" into "lock doors if doors are closed, even if they have been opened", but apparently BMW is quite comfortable with this interpretation, though it's clearly not documented as such.

The bottom line is that this feature should never be enabled.

Where is the Automatic locking feature, and is it on by default?

I33t said:

Where is the Automatic locking feature, and is it on by default?

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On the I-drive menu, you can select some locking options.

I33t said:

Where is the Automatic locking feature, and is it on by default?

Click to expand...

Menu > Settings > Doors / Keys

Boatguy said:

I33t said:

Where is the Automatic locking feature, and is it on by default?

Click to expand...

Menu > Settings > Doors / Keys

Click to expand...

Aha. now I get what this is about, and it is a common feature on cars with remote locking.

P43 of the print manual, under 'Controls' 'Opening and closing'

Settings ->
Automatic Locking.
Settings are saved in active profile, see page 35.

1. "Settings"
2. "Doors/key"
3. Select the desired function:

--> "Automatic relock"
The vehicle is locked automatically after a short while if no door is opened.

--> "Lock after driving away"
On driving off, the vehicle is locked automatically.

Click to expand...

If we are talking about "Automatic relock", how do the keys get into the vehicle without opening a door? Or does the timer reset once a door is closed and it locks after the 'short while'?

There is a warning on the previous page not to lay the key in the tailgate as it may become locked inside the vehicle. I can see that, as the tailgate is openable leaving the rest of the doors locked. Drop the key in there and close the tailgate and you may find yourself outside with no way in.

I33t said:

Boatguy said:

I33t said:

Where is the Automatic locking feature, and is it on by default?

Click to expand...

Menu > Settings > Doors / Keys

Click to expand...

Aha. now I get what this is about, and it is a common feature on cars with remote locking.

P43 of the print manual, under 'Controls' 'Opening and closing'

Settings ->
Automatic Locking.
Settings are saved in active profile, see page 35.

1. "Settings"
2. "Doors/key"
3. Select the desired function:

--> "Automatic relock"
The vehicle is locked automatically after a short while if no door is opened.

--> "Lock after driving away"
On driving off, the vehicle is locked automatically.

Click to expand...

If we are talking about "Automatic relock", how do the keys get into the vehicle without opening a door? Or does the timer reset once a door is closed and it locks after the 'short while'?

There is a warning on the previous page not to lay the key in the tailgate as it may become locked inside the vehicle. I can see that, as the tailgate is openable leaving the rest of the doors locked. Drop the key in there and close the tailgate and you may find yourself outside with no way in.

Click to expand...

My incident had nothing to do with the tailgate. I opened the driver's door and put my gym bag with keys and phone on the passenger seat.

The only thing I can think of is if the door sensor didn't actually detect that the door was opened, it is programmed to autolock after a delay. The actual switch may go to multiple places, and it may not be apparent not all of them are working properly. Don't have my second key handy, so not inclined to try it at the moment!

The only thing I can think of is that the phone somehow blocked the signal from the key, so the car didn't know the key was inside.

I have two BMW's. If I happen to have both remote fobs in the same pocket, the i3's will not be recognized by the car, but the GT's will. So, it could be rf interference. I have had one instance where I needed to use the actual key to unlock the car. It was parked about 1/4-mile from a big set of TV transmitting towers. It would start the car, but wouldn't open the door.

I have discovered the keyless entry will only work with the key outside the vehicle and relatively near the door. If my key is in my bag on the front floor, I cannot unlock the door.

peteinlongbeach said:

I have discovered the keyless entry will only work with the key outside the vehicle and relatively near the door. If my key is in my bag on the front floor, I cannot unlock the door.

Click to expand...

I would expect that...think about that you might be driving in a less than ideal location...you wouldn't want anyone to be able to open your locked door from outside.