Chiehman

Does anybody know if its possible to leave my car running and lock my doors and leave. I know my infiniti could lock itself via door botton while its running. But i have not figured out how to on my e350. Sometimes I like leaving my car running for my cat or just the fact that I dont like always starting my car after a brief drive to the store. I just dont want somebody to steal it.

Abrown3mtg

I just sorted this out for myself due to the temperature drop lately.... With car running, open driver's front and driver side rear door. Press the lock all doors button on the driver's door. Close it. Reach through the rear door and lock the driver's door. Close the back door.

You will need to use the miniature key that comes out of the main key to unlock it upon your return.

The other options are the mid city engineering module or compustar setup (remote start).

Chiehman

I like that more than my most recent try (Leaving a gap in my driver window just enough for my hand to reach in).
Thanks

iridium7777

lol, i see you're from mpls. i was wondering the same thing this AM, i tried to warm up the car before i put my kid into his seat in the back, in the end i just left it running unlocked.

btw, a while ago someone told me it was illegal in mpls to run your car without being in it and that you could get ticketed for it.

El Cid

It is illegal in many places to leave an unattended car running. But like many traffic laws, seldom enforced.
Regardless, you should never leave an animal or a human in an unattended car, much less one that is running. That also is illegal in many places.

cetialpha5

I remember years ago when I had a car stolen and I had to fill out a police report, there were check boxes for whether the doors were unlocked and whether the keys were in the ignition or not.

Technically if there's a human in the car, it's not unattended. Although I think you probably meant don't leave a baby in the car.

thephantom

If your car is stolen and you had the key in the car/ignition, insurance won't cover your loss. That's what I've been told.

cetialpha5

They probably shouldn't but then again, that's the whole point of insurance. That means that if you have a loan on the car and it doesn't get recovered, the bank loses their money? I think not. It's kind of a mind blowing questions, but at a previous job, it was a family run business and the owners would always leave their keys in the car with the doors unlocked. Never knew they did that til one day I came in and didn't have the car due to the theft and they just told me to take their car, as they were about to hang up, I asked where the keys were and they said it was in the ignition like it should have been obvious. It was in a suburb so I guess they considered it safe enough. Or they didn't care. I use to look once in a while and they always did that.

Chiehman

I have a habit of either leaving my cars unlocked and sometime keys still in it. And if its very brief then I normally leave it running. Just something I'm use to. I did the manual key lock and it worked today. Guess this is the way to go for now on.

Abrown3mtg

it was -8F here this morning.... I started the car 10 minutes before departure.... It certainly made the drive far less miserable. Leaving the heated garage at work with the car at 66F was a treat tonight thought

iridium7777

you've never met minneapolis traffic patrol then. i've been ticketed infront of my house (single home residential area) at least 3 times that i can recall off the top of my head in the 4 years that i lived here.

the one time when i actually needed them was when my car got broken into and i called in to ask if they'll come out and do some finger prints or whatever i was told i watch too much CSI and to fill out a report online.

blegthbloo

lol gotta love that... my Civic was broken into once, as were 5 others in the neighborhood (one of which was actually started and driven down the block), and their fingerprints up to the second sections were on my passenger window that they pried open, clear as day, and the officer on scene said "We don't take fingerprints unless we have a suspect already" oh my bad, I forgot you can't look these things up in databases nowadays and find your suspect that way...

beejAMG

to each his own, but id like to give car thieves a bit of a challenge.
this might be a VERY painful lesson for you to learn someday. and given the times now, id say it might be a lesson learned soon.

Chiehman

I guess its a city thing. But Typically where I am from, you can leave a car running unlocked outside of any neighborhood and it would not be touched. Not saying its ok for me to do this but its just not dangerous around my part of the state. Also cops would probably just look at it unattended while engine on and go on with thier business.
But I only do this if i fill up for fuel, stop at my business or swing by a store to pick something up. Normally will be back in less than 5 minutes.

beejAMG

its your funeral.

MB Marko

you shouldn't own a car if your this stupid....give your head a shake OP

Chiehman

Thats ridicoulous. Sometimes I even leave my brand new lotus evora running and unlocked. Anyways the whole reason I started this thread was to see if there was infact a way to lock it while I perform this dumb task. So the criminal cannot get inside my car.

The G Man

Next time when you brand new lotus evora running and unlocked when you go inside a store, please let us know and we will be glad to take it off your hands

blegthbloo

It's easy with Keyless-GO... I just turn the car on and get out, then lock the door by tapping on the handle. Never have to take the key out of my pocket... and on my old car without Keyless-GO, I left the fob in the ignition and released the valet key, so I could lock it with that from the outside. You actually can lock these cars with the engine running... for Keyless-GO, the trick is to not have the fob inside the vehicle (cabin or trunk) when you try to lock it, because it senses its proximity and won't lock it (to keep you from locking your keys inside the car).

belarus27

never really had need to do so , but thanks for some useful info , i might just try what you have said , just to know it does it.

iridium7777

you should have paid attention in school and learned the differences between "your"es before you start calling people stupid, never mind your philosophy on what is a pre-requirement for car ownership.

beejAMG

i wouldnt call it stupid. just prolly a "not-so-wise choice". also, i dont think OP has the keyless go.

MB designers spent time to think of ways to avoid yourself from getting locked out especially whilst the engine is running (look back a couple of decades when this was a common problem for car owners) and here you are trying to find ways on how to do it.

but like I said, its your funeral.

btw, im just curious, do you fill up whilst your engine is running? this wasnt so clear with your post.

pamiboy

I believe I've tried this in the past. As far as i know when you try this method, the driver door won't lock.

PatrixUSA

There's no audible alarm or sound when you remove the fob from the running car?

Abrown3mtg

Crazy. I have tried this multiple times on my vehicle with Keyless-GO and it does not work (key in pocket, not in car). Perhaps they updated this feature on newer firmware releases/models or perhaps it can be enabled via star/engineering mode.... I'll definitely be exploring this option.

As for any flaming to the OP for leaving his car running, I'm with him. When I lived full time in Breckenridge, I'd leave my Range Rover running when I stopped or ran into the store during the winter. It's all about where you live and the demographics/stats of your community. Now that I live in Uptown Minneapolis, there is no way in hell I would take that chance!

I'm really hoping there is a way to enable locking the car from the exterior with the keyless go function, but my hopes are not set too high. I'm still kicking myself for letting myself get outbid on the mid city module that sold on ebay a few months ago .