So I use keyless entry 100% of the time and many times I have a passenger with me. It seems like 25% of the time, when I pull my drivers door handle it unlocks both front doors? The rest of the time I have to unlock the door manually on the door itself (inside the car).

Is there a trick to this?

 

Yes,


just touch the rear door handle like you touch the driver door handle to unlock and all doors will unlock at the same time.

 

im pretty sure its a setting on the dash to either have all doors open when you unlock the drivers or just your door.

 

From memory, the driver or all door unlock setting can be access from the dash computer.

As mentioned, touching any door other than the driver's door opens unlocks all doors. Also, double-clicking the unlock button the remote will do the same thing.

 

I keep mine set on driver door only. I've never had the passenger door unlock when I am alone.

But when I am standing next to the car and one of my passengers pulls a passenger door handle, it will allow all the doors to open. I do this with my kids since they are in a rush (always) and I forgot to touch the handle on the rear driver side door like Arrie suggested.

 

I might be mistaken but I believe the car doesn't know that the passenger doesn't actually the key on them so if you as the driver (with the key) are close enough to the door for the keyless entry to work then it works for the passenger as well. It works the other way too, a lot of times my wife will have the key in her purse but I am driving and I can touch the drivers handle to lock/unlock even though the key is on the passenger side with her.

 

I think the setting is with the remote key. Holding lock and unlock buttons at the same time for a few seconds will change the unlock function from just the driver's door to all doors.


Doing it again will change it back to just the driver's door.


But with the driver's door only setting in effect you can unlock all doors by just touching the passenger door handle (inside of it).

 

Thank you everyone! I sometimes put my laptop bag in the backseat before getting in... thinking back those are the times it had unlocked all the doors so it makes sense now

 

^^^this

when holding the two buttons, you'll see the little red light blink on the fob. then try to lock/unlock and see if all unlock when grabbing driver's door. all doors will unlock no matter what if you grab a door handle other than driver

 

Is the key setting on your car for driver's door only or for all the doors to open?

 

If you set the key to unlock the driver's door only that is what happens when you press the unlock key but if you press it again right after the first press all doors will unlock.


With this same setting touching the driver's door handle will unlock only the driver's door. Touching it again will NOT unlock the other doors. For that you either need to use the unlock button on inside of the door or on the key or touch any other door handle.


If the key is set to unlock all doors one push on the unlock button on the key will unlock all doors, which also happens when touching the driver's door handle.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I wanted to know about what thefisch said; what would happen while on driver door only setting and you are standing near the driver door (within range of key but not opened yet) and another person without key tries to open one of the passenger doors.

 

key has to be within 1-2 feet of whichever door handle is being touched. ie. if i have my key in my pocket by my driver's door and someone grabs passenger handle, it will not unlock...

 

I didn't realize the door setting affected how the remote works when you press the unlock button. I just thought it affected how the handle unlock worked. Good to know. Thanks Arrie.

EDIT: During my little experiment with my two keys, this appears to be specific to each key depending on how you set each one. Very cool.

Mine is set to driver door only and it works as Arrie described above. However, when the whole family is walking up to the car (me included with the only key), my kids have been able to unlock their door while I am standing close enough. These are just random recollections on my part. I haven't tested to see where I can exactly stand for it to work for them. But maybe I will...

EDIT: So I was bored and just tried a little experiment with my keyfob and keyless go on my car. Setting the keyfob on top of the driver door mirror (a proxy for me standing right next to the car with the key in hand or in my front pocket), I was able to unlock and lock the car using each of the four handles as I was walked around the car leaving the key in place on the drivers mirror. Then I moved the key to the passenger side mirror and again I could open and lock from each door handle as I walked around. Trunk too. Next I moved the key to the garage floor about 2-3 feet out from the car from the middle of the front passenger door. From this position, I could open/lock from both of the handles on passenger side doors, but not the trunk or the driver's side doors. Moving the key to the same floor position on the driver side near the driver front door, I could open/lock the driver side doors from their handles but NOT the trunk or passenger side doors. I wonder if setting the key on the side mirror is too close to the middle of the car for it to tell which side you are on.

 

If I stand at the trunk I know the doors can be opened by anybody on either side of the car but if I stand on the driver's side of the car the doors on the passenger side will not unlock unless I do it on the driver's side.


I guess this is to prevent car jacking, i.e. someone storming in the car at the time the driver enters in it.

 

I edited my post after you quoted it. I just tried a couple key positions on both sides on the car and I could unlock the passenger side while they key was on the driver door mirror. Granted I am doing this experiment alone so I could test how it would work if I was standing with the key in pocket next to the car. Good to know about the trunk though.

 

Just went and tested the locking / unlocking and my car will not unlock the doors from the opposite side from where the key is. Tried it in both single door and all doors "mode".


If the key is at the trunk doors unlock from both sides.

 

I think that is the expected behavior. I had a chance to test an hour ago with one of kids helping me out. With the key in my pocket standing by the driver door handle, they could not unlock the passenger side door. Perhaps the key on the driver door mirror is just too close for the car to figure out.

Incidentally, all this locking and unlocking testing I did earlier (at least two dozen attempts) really wore down my car battery. Car would not start and battery was down to 9 volts. It's on the charger now. This old battery of mine just seems to have no reserve power for electronics, but it still starts fine. Guess I need to start looking for a good deal on a replacement (but that's for another thread).

 

how do I just set the drivers side door to lock/unlock only, and leave the passenger side door locked all the time. I have e400 coupe (2 doors).

 

It should be the same procedures as mine - you hold the lock and unlock buttons on the keyfob for about 6 seconds. the indicator light on the keyfob will blink twice. doing it again should restore it to unlocking both doors. check page 74 of your manual.

 

should I unlock the doors first.... and then press the lock/unlock buttons together?

 

the lock status of the car doesn't matter. all you are doing is changing the setting of the keyfob. test it afterwards to make sure the change took effect.

 

I think you're close with your prediction; that the fob on the mirror is too close for it to know. But I think it's more likely that it thinks the keyfob is INSIDE the car at that point (as opposed to being confused which side it's on), because if there is a fob inside the car, you can't lock the doors. This prevents you from locking it inside if you forget it (or if you have the spare in the glove box, which I've seen comments on this forum about people forgetting that they have their spare in there and it not locking).

Very cool about the per-fob settings though... never thought about it. Mine is set to "all" doors mode. Works for me

 

I think it is designed behavior. Why would they have the driver door only unlocking if it wasn't?


Obviously the driver door only unlocking is put in place so that when you enter the car nobody can just jump in on the other side like doing car jacking or something... If the passenger door unlocks when you stand on the driver side why would you have the driver door only unlocking at all? It would not serve any purpose.

 

I'll give it a shot tonight, interesting info on the fob behavior