General Too easy to lock your keys in the car?

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General Too easy to lock your keys in the car?

honks123

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Hello,

I've noticed for a while a potential issue with the unlock boot feature on my 500x. My remote keyfob has a "2x unlock boot" and if I press that twice when the car is locked the boot only unlocks and opens slightly. If I then lift it open and close it, I get a single flash on the indicators and the boot is now once again locked.

With my spare set of keys in the house, I tried unlocking the boot and then placing the keys inside the boot and closing it. Hey presto - I'm locked out of the car! This seems a crazy design flaw to me. The manual suggests that the car checks for an interior key in the passenger department on locking, and if detected immediately unlocks the car again. That doesn't work on mine.

Enable passive locking and the situation is worse still.

1) Approach locked car with keys in briefcase.
2) Press boot release on car - boot opens
3) Place briefcase in boot
4) Close boot which auto re-locks

The keys are now inside the locked car and you are unable to get in.

Do other people's 500xs do this? Mine is a UK 2016 Pop Star model
 
The keys are now inside the locked car and you are unable to get in.

Do other people's 500xs do this? Mine is a UK 2016 Pop Star model

Yep, I got a phone call from my dealer once asking me to bring the second fob to the garage as the valeters had managed to lock the first one in the car, so yes, it is certainly possible.
 
I need to correct what I said. If Passive Entry is OFF the problem exists. But if Passive Entry is ON, then everything is OK.

With Passive Entry ON - this is what happens:

1) Approach locked car with keys in briefcase.
2) Press boot release on car - boot opens
3) Place briefcase in boot
4) Close boot

At this point the boot auto UNLOCKS. The car senses the keys are in the boot and won't let you lock the keys in the car.

The issue is only when Passive Entry is OFF. This must switch off the software that checks where keys are and then it is too easy to lock the keys in the car.

So if an owner wants to turn off Passive entry to avoid the potential threat of the car being easier to steal, they then increase the chances of a lock out.
 
I'm obviously missing something here! Am I being too obvious & ask why would anyone put their keys in the car after opening? Why would you carry keys in a brief case? most people like myself open car & generally keep keys on your person.:)
 
What about the older type cars that have a push down door button and if you lift the handle as you close the door it locks !...why... what is the point of having that function and why would anyone get in to the habit of locking the car using that method ...My truck is like that ... most of the time when it's parked up at home the key is left in the ignition, I only lock when I go into town .....
 
No one said anythng about a key being IN a briefcase. I think thr OP only metioned a briefcase as an example of why he would want to open the boot.
Easilly done, open boot or hatch with button on key, reach inside for item you want and drop key (or if item needs two hands put key down) then close boot with key inside.

Robert G8RPI.
 
fare enough......
Open front door key in hand
walk through front door key in hand
put key on inside door matt
shut front door (dead lock)
front door locked
There must be a problem with the lock as i cant open it!
Same but different situation
I have NEVER and would never leave the main keys to your life laying about in a car
I bet the owner of that 500 still had his phone in his hand though!
LUIGI
 
Last edited:
Brief case with keys inside WAS mentioned. For what ever reason..:confused:
Leaving keys in car, nah! that aint going to happen. Again I have never locked keys in a car ever. Embarrassingly I've been working on one of my cars & used the remote to lock car, then walked up to my house door & used the remote to open it....:D but that's a whole different story...;)
 
Isn't the whole point of keyless entry to allow you to open the doors without the keys in your hand? If you have the keys i your hand, you may as well just press the button.

I leave the house with the keys neatly in my briefcase. It's very useful - I simply need to approach the car the pull the handle. Briefcase on passenger seat. Start car off we go.

I HAD thought that if I instead went to the boot, opened it and put my briefcase in there and then closed the boot I would be locked out, but I was mistaken - this works okay. The car senses the keys in the car and auto unlocks the boot.

I think I need to delete this post if that's possible, as the original concern I had was unfounded!!
 
Don't take it too seriously, I for one had a bit of a laugh:D Bit of entertainment on here is a good thing in my book. It's lacking most of the time, some on here take this car milarky thing way too seriously.....;)
 
Of bitter concern is locking the wife in the car. I've done this twice over 4 years.

I've reported the problem to Fiat and raised it as a safety issue but nothing has been done about it.

When I got my 500X in 2015 you could only apply the deadlocks with a key fob double button press. With key less entry/exit on then pressing the button on the door handle would only apply the normal do locks. After a service campaign I found that pressing the button on the doors or boot would automatically apply the deadlocks.

This is a huge safety risk. How many times have you seen parents at shops / petrol stations with kids in the car lock the car whilst they go to pay the bill etc. They would never knowingly apply the deadlocks for obvious safety issues.

If you are a regular leyless entry user and often travel alone then it becomes second nature to close the door and push the button. Clunk - Cluck and no way out for anybody else in the car.
 
The deadlock from the doorhandle update was never done on my car, fortunately. A few years ago I locked my Renault Megane with my wife in it a few times at petrol stations. I would go off to pay with my key/card in my pocket, and the car would auto-lock when I got 5m away. No deadlocks but the alarm was armed so she had to sit very still till I returned! As you can imagine, she didn't complain at all!
 
I locked my parents-in-law in my VW Bora a decade ago and still haven't forgotten. It was just a normal key fob remote lock, but force of habit in a rush I left them outside a Comet store and locked the car as a dashed away to collect an order. 20mins later I returned to my car completely steamed up inside as my mother in law had got steadily more panic stricken that they would run out of air. I'm afraid I got a bad case of the giggles as I couldn't get the image of my in-laws trying to remain still as people walked by with the car gradually steaming up! I did discover afterwards that there was an emergency handle to unwind the sunroof.

A few years later when I had a Renault Megane a couple of people had the same car at work and a competition was launched to see who could lock their keys in the car. It was nigh-on impossible as the car was pretty clever at knowing the key was in the car and wouldn't allow you to lock it. In the end someone won by using the global window close feature. They opened the driver's window, locked the car with the key card from outside but kept the lock button pressed. This started the auto window close feature and as the window was rising he chucked the keys through the rapidly decreasing opening. Hey presto - keys locked inside!
 
Regarding the 500X deadlock issue I pointed out today I've asked my dealer to follow up with Fiat UK. I'm hoping there is a patch, e.g. custom proxi data byte change that can be made that will disable the deadlocks for keyless exit door button press.

Only other alternative is to turn keyless entry off altogether which thankfully we can on the 500X.
 
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