Benz-O-Rama

Got a call from wife this afternoon saying she locked the keys in our E500 at the grocery store. I told her that was impossible and she assured me over and over that the keys are in her purse sitting on the passenger seat with all 4 doors and the trunk locked.

I called MBUSA to try to have them open the car remotely. I chose the appropriate options in their voice operator system. They connected me to the Tele-Aid dept and the phone just rang and rang and rang and rang. After 3 minutes of continuous ringing I hung up the phone, grabbed my spare key and left to the rescue.

Sure enough, I get to the car and all 4 doors locked and her purse is sitting on the passenger seat. Unlocked the car with the spare remote, opened her purse and there lies the key. I tried for 10 minutes to lock the keys back in the car. I tried all kinds of stuff and no matter what I did, I couldn't get the key locked in the car. I did find one thing out though. If you lock all 4 doors, open the trunk, put the key in the trunk and close it, the trunk will just pop back open on its own 2 seconds later. Pretty neat.

Anyway, how the hell did she do this? And has anyone else locked themselves out of a keyless-go W211?

And what the hell is Tele-Aid for if nobody answers the damn phone? Of course, I'm not a Tele-Aid subscriber and I wondered if they would've even unlocked it for me. I could've always lied and said my 2 year old son was in the car. Seems pointless to have tele-aid, especially after today.

UK Texan

Goodness! You sound almost English.


My 03 E500 is not keyless, so I don't know quite what the system is like, but I do know what it's like to be locked out of my car. The Caddy SLS had an emergency key. When my wife called to say that her bag had been stolen in a Texas store, I reminded her that there was a key hidden in the car...use the emergency key. They got that as well!!!...and she's not even blond.

MB charged me $8 for a spare door key. The second fob is again hidden in the car. Now all we have to do is not have both fob and emergency key stolen again.

W211 Ryda

Wow...that's a first. Do you have your locks set on "selective setting", where only the driver's door locks/unlocks when you hit the Smartkey? I'm wondering if the wifey may have accidentally pushed down on the door lock pin before shutting the door. I can't think of any other way.

FormerC32Owner

Yes - I was experimenting with what would happen if I left my keyfob in the car and trunk. In the car, I couldn't lock the car with the buttons on the door handles. No response. And yes, when trying to close the trunk lid down with the key in the trunk - it just pops back open.

But that's weird about being able to lock the keyfob in the car. As for TeleAid - I'm glad I didn't subscribe to that useless thing.


Glad it ultimately worked out for you.

pinebaron

When I left my car at MB one evening for an oil change at 800 miles, I had to leave the key in a drop off box. That bit was easy. The next day I had to pick the car up in the evening (after the service dept closed) and I was at loss how they would lock the car with the key inside; the SA was also puzzled and convinced me there was a security guard on the premises and that my car was safe even if left open. At 3pm he called me to say they figured it out; I was too busy to ask how. In any case, that evening I took my spare key to unlock the vehicle to drive it home. Before I drove off I searched almost everywhere in the vehicle and I could not find the key I dropped off the previous evening. I was angry I would have to return the next day to collect it.

When I arrived home, I realized there was bump under the driver side mat; the key was in an envelop with the invoice; proves it can be done. No I have not tried to repeat this yet. I think if the key is covered with something that prevents it from communicating with the vehicle security, it is possible to lock the key inside. If I remember, I will try out various possibilities after work tomorrow.

Benz-O-Rama

Hmmmmm,

Interesting. Her blackberry was sitting on top of the key when I looked in her purse. I wonder....

j_belll

really!?! i wanna try!!

i wonder how all ur doors locked automatically?

pinebaron

Two things. One: If the car thinks the key is not inside (due to it being covered, one can lock it with any door button. Two: Though this does not apply to this particular situation, but if one opens the car with Keyless Go but if one does not physically open any door, the car locks itself in 40 seconds. I cannot think how one would lock the key inside with this feature. I am still finding out things about this car's electronics, I have had the car for two weeks now.
By the way, the manual clearly says, not to leave the Keyless Go key with your cell phone. I keep my blackberry on my belt on the left and leave the KG key in my right pocket. I usually never take the key out of my pocket, unless I use it to lower all windows before entering the car; I only discovered this function yesterday, pity it does not start the vehicle & AC at the same time with remote.

AsianML

Dang, that's one fancy purse. Some kind of "forcefield" and whatnot.

Benz-O-Rama

It is a Coach purse, after all.

Benz-O-Rama

Don't know if you know or not but you can actually roll down the windows and open the sunroof with the key still in your pocket. It will also turn on your ventilated seats, if equipped. Here's a vid of me demo-ing that feature. It's called "Summer Opening"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsDlzx7cArw

AsianML

Dork.

AsianML

Really. That could also explain why I get crappy gas mileage and quick tire wear. It feels like I'm carrying a boulder when my mom needs her purse. They probably have some sort of lining made out of lead like the x-ray "aprons".

pinebaron

I realized that too, but it can take several seconds to open the windows and to open the sunroof, one needs to press the button a second time (especailly with Pano roof which I have), it is not all one shot open, the key open or door button need to be held down while the windows roll down; rather than stand at the vehicle door waiting for windows to roll down, it is easier to hit the key Open button from several feet away and hold it down while approaching the vehicle.

Miguk_Saram

I second that.

That's what must have caused your problem. The Blackberry must have interfered with the signal from the Key FOB. Whenever I carry my key and phone in the same pocket I am unable to lock my doors via the handle buttons.

Also, here's a bit of useful information; I read this somewhere: next time you lock a key in your car, instead of meeting the person at the scene of the crime, try this:

• have the person borrow a cell phone
• call that cell number from any other phone
• once your connected, have the person point the cell phone toward the car
• point your key FOB at the mic on YOUR phone and press the unlock button
• The car will unlock!

I am told that that should work over any distance -- New York to L.A. or even Paris!

I haven't tried it, but hey.. it's worth a shot.

emilner

I wonder if that really works, it sounds like an urban legend.

If that happens again maybe try shaking the car, it might move the bag. Have you tried to duplicate it with the cell phone/bag yet?

One time I walked up to the car and it would not unlock, I had to shake the key to get it to work. One other time I could not start the car with the start button, I had to manually turn the key ignition- It said "key not recognized" or something like that. Other that those two instances I love the keyless go feature, I think it is one of the best on the car.

cyclerider

emilner

If you can't get the bag to move by shaking it, have someone ram the back of the car with an SUV or something...

cyclerider

Now that might work! I was laughing out loud imagining Benz-O-Rama telling his wife to shake the car hard enough to move her purse.

Benz-O-Rama

Something doesn't add up here. I spoke with her about it again and according t o her, this was the order of events:

1. Walked up to locked car with purse on shoulder and key in purse
2. Pulled passenger door handle and opened door
3. Went to trunk to put groceries in but it was locked
4. Went to driver door to get in and start the car (to get the A/C running)
5. Driver door was locked too.
6. So went back to passenger side but it was now locked

So according to this, the car must have locked itself after she put her purse in the car. When she opened the passenger door, all doors and trunk should've been unlocked. Even if she manually pushed down the locking pin on the door, the remaining 3 doors and trunk would've been unlocked. The only thing that could've happened is when she threw her purse in the front the seat, the blackberry landed on the key and depressed the lock button on the remote.

Benz-O-Rama

Nah man,

All doors set to lock and unlock with the key.

cyclerider

To prove this theory, sit in the passenger seat with the doors closed, and press the lock button on the key. Will the car lock itself with the key inside? (I would try it right now, but my wife has the car today at work.)

fergml

I just had a key go bad and was having issues with the car intermittently losing communication with the key. It got to the point where I could unlock with keyless go but by the time I sat down and went to start the car it lost communication... 10 seconds later it would recognize the key... and so on.

So... maybe your key is going bad and the car lost communication with the key therefore allowing your wife to lock the car with it inside.

edspider

I used Tele-Aid last week. It did take over 3 minutes for someone to come to the phone, but they did respond.

sosh

I can't believe that you are complaining about teleaid and you are not even a subscriber. In addition you admit that you were prepared to lie to them. That says lots about your character. What most likely happened was that your wife unlocked the car put her purse in it thru the pass door, shut the door and then went to the trunk. By this time, no key was inserted in the ignition or keyless go activated so the doors relocked as they should.