Yep, the swipe is very unreliable. I would simply press with light pressure at the center of the handle, and that works every time. There is a little bit of delay, and sometimes a longer delay, but if you hold pressure, it will work.

 

I think the simple scenario is the most likely: If the car does have a fob in proximity, and then the fob leaves that proximity, and it is not running, it locks itself on a timer. In other words the car couldn't see the fob when it was next to the phone, it wasn't running, it timed out and locked the doors.

 

In no way should this have happened. I'm so sorry you went through this.

 

I'm with you @crabman , your analysis seems to be the most likely, and as @superswiss said, this was likely an anomaly that will likely never occur again. Let's hope so. A number of us have tried to recreate the issue with no success. Many of us work, or have worked in the technology field, and we know all too well that troubleshooting things like this can be tough. I'll rack this one up to a fluke and move on: That is until it happens to one of us or another forum member in the future.

Aside note: I want to believe that management, code developers and others at Mercedes monitor this site and others like it to see how their systems are working in the wild. Unofficially of course! But that's likely a pipe dream. I choose to believe that Mercedes cares about their products and want to improve them through a number of channels; including ones like this where people discuss their issue and seek guidance from others. Again, likely a pipe dream.

 

The car does not lock doors itself on a timer. That part should read something like "it locks itself because of a bug of some kind".

 

Agreed. The car never automatically locks itself. It ONLY locks itself under 2 scenarios...

1. The car was unlocked with the key/app/handle and no doors or trunk were opened within a minute or so.
2. You put the car in drive and exceed ~10mph or so (AND have this enabled).

That is IT. There are ZERO other circumstances in which these vehicles are programmed to lock themselves on their own.

 

The gas station is actually the best example because I've done it several times. Shut down, leave the fob in the car, get out, and pump your gas. Depending on how long it takes you, you're going to find the car locked when you go to get back in. I never leave the fob in the car when I'm alone, and this would happen with my wife in the car. She was locked in a car once back in the day of power locks that had malfunctioned, and she doesn't like to be left in a car without a key or fob. In any event, in these cases, I couldn't get in unless she unlocked the doors which neither she, nor I, had locked. It is definitely on a timer: shorter time, no lockie, longer time, lock. It's a thing, and it's repeatable. What you see inside the car is a staged shutdown, things turn off one by one, just as they do if the fob is not in proximity.

Do agree on the trunk locking, ran into that one early on. I usually pack all the groceries and had my hands full, told her to go ahead and hit the close and lock button but had walked far enough a way the fob wasn't in range and the button refused to work. Walked closer and had her do it, worked. Gotta have the fob in range to push the button and get a lock.

To go back to the locking, I had it go on in my garage. With the car unlocked, it stayed unlocked if I just walked away without the fob coming into range again. But if I left it unlocked, and later come back into proximity with the fob, then left proximity again without getting into the car, it would lock itself and it was a timed event. I could repeat it over and over. I played with the locks quite a bit, trying to understand why the handles weren't extending reliably. Turned out, you need to lock it and have the fob out of range if you want it to work correctly every time. But it took some playing around to sort that out. Everyone knows it now, but it wasn't known when I got the car, so I had to figure it out myself.

I took this as a commanded event because it was repeatable and occurred on a timer. My WAG was that some engineer decided the car should lock itself as a failsafe if it wasn't sure what state it was supposed to be in after repeated fob detections. I know that some of you gents are pretty sharp, and well-read on this stuff, but that was what I experienced.

 

Interesting experience that @crabman is describing, but there is no documented auto locking feature in the W223 or any other Mercedes, other than the auto locking when driving off faster than walking speed. Some other brands such as BMW have auto locking. The moment the fob goes out of range the vehicle locks and then unlocks when the fob comes back in range. Had a 330 rental a while back that did this. Was almost a bit annoying, because every time I walked past the car it unlocked and then locked again.

I've not experienced what @crabman describes with any Mercedes and I've had a few different loaners including the W223. I typically leave cars unlocked in my garage and I never found any of them locked, unless I manually locked them, even when left overnight. I keep the fobs two stories above the garage. With the auto folding mirrors turned on, it's pretty easy to tell if the car is actually locked or not. If I do lock the car in the garage, it's mainly to fold in the mirrors so I can get past it with the garbage and recycling bins for example. So all this sounds more like a bug than a feature.

 

Are you sure you're not just seeing the handles retract and are assuming its locked?

These cars (all MBs) simply do not have an auto locking timer function. They will stay unlocked indefinitely. The handles WILL RETRACT with the vehicle unlocked and just sitting there, but that doesn't mean it is locked. Tapping the handles will extend them back out.

Otherwise, your car has a major error/glitch. Auto-locking after x amount of time sitting standby is not a function or feature Mercedes has now or has ever had in the past.

 

No, I'm sure. I played with the handles and locking quite a bit after I got the car, trying to figure out how to get the handles working reliably. You have the forum wisdom now that can tell you exactly how to get the handles working correctly. It didn't exist then, I had to experiment over the first weeks to get the answers myself.

I think I figured out the auto retract the first day, and I had already seen videos of different methods to get them to pop out before it arrived. In one of those videos, the man recommended simply pressing instead of swiping, which did end up being the best way I found.

There's a reason I'm not in the car anymore. Too much weirdness, too many basic functions that worked poorly.

 

I suppose another data point that these cars are not meant to automatically lock is the notification one gets through the Mercedes me connect app if the car was left unlocked. MB opted for this route to send a notification if the car is unlocked and then it can be locked remotely through the app instead of automatically locking. Do/did you get this notification when the car is/was unlocked? To me all this still sounds like buggy software in the W223.

 

On the day at the gas pump when I got locked out, I never received the unlock notice on my phone or watch. I do get the updates other times and on occasion find them useful. I've locked my car a couple of times using the feature when I walked away and forgot to lock it. I get the notice on my Apple Watch too, but sadly I cannot lock from there, only from my phone.

I'm with you @superswiss , this has all the markings of an elusive bug that sadly bit me once a week ago. [Pun intended].

 

Sounds like an accurately described scenario, thanks, need to test soon if my car behaves the same way.

 

@crabman , did I do something wrong. My car was locked at the garage. I went to the car, unlocked it, opened the drivers door for some time, then closed the door but left doors unlocked.

I then waited 20 minutes, approached the car with the key, door handles did not pop up. I waited a bit, approached the car again with the key, door handles popped up (I was next to the car). I did not press any key button, left the garage and left doors unlocked. After another 20 minutes I visited the garage without the key with me. Obviously door handles did not pop up. I used a credit card to pull the handle, handles popped up and when I grabbed the handle, door opened.

So I could not make the car lock doors itself.

 

I think the moral of the story is, don’t leave the key in the car. I have never done this, I always keep the key on my person. If you don’t want it in your pocket, I actually have a little clip I use on the fob for each car and I clip it to my belt. You should never leave the key in the car when you’re not in the car or there is a possibility this can happen.

 

I agree with you @SW20S - and under different pretense, so did the lady at MBUSA Customer Service when I called her in a huff and explained what happened. She wrongly said that the car locks itself in this scenario to protect itself. Thankfully she was misguided in that response as many in this thread have commented that the car doesn't do this to protect itself; rather relies on the notification in the MercedesMe app to alert you that the car is unlocked and give you the opportunity to lock it. She too said "Always take your key with you", which in the heat of the moment sounded like a directive rather than a suggestion. But, after discussing with you all, it is clearly the correct choice. Also, living in Atlanta, leaving the key in the car opens me up to being the victim of carjacking and other things. So, point taken, and the key will go with me in the future.

What happened to me at the gas station was an anomaly and will likely never occur again.

 

Oh I get it, I would have been mad too...and from a Customer Service perspective saying that to you at that moment was a mistake lol

 

I've been following this thread and then had it happen to me just this past weekend. I was driving with my wife and I stopped by somewhere. She didn't want to go in so I left the keys in the car with her. After a while I get a call from her that the AC turned off so she came inside. When we got out to the car it was locked and we realized that she didn't know I had left my keys for her so it was still in the console. The car was actually still on, or at least the radio was still playing. Not sure why the AC turned off. I tried to use my phone app to unlock the door. It said it was unlocked but the door handles were still flush. My wife was able to pop open the trunk so I guess it was indeed unlocked. After locking and unlocking using the app again it thankfully opened.

 

This is similar to what happened to me, but I did try to open the trunk, but no luck. In my case, the car was locked up tight.

 

The "key" is (see what I did there?), when the fob is in the car, the car thinks you are in the car. Radio was still playing because the drivers door had not been open since it powered off. My wife carries her fob to both vehicles in her purse all the time, so she always has a key to whatever we're driving.

 

Yeah, I get that the car thinks I'm still there if the fob is still in the car. So should it have turned off the AC and locked the car door if I unlocked it?

 

I've been traveling. There is stuff going on with this car, and in a fundamental respect, that's the takeaway. Keep the doors locked, and the fob out of contact, everything works. You don't, things get interesting. I suppose it should also be said that leaving the fob in the car can make life interesting as well.

This was my first MB; I liked some things, others not so much. Now that it's gone, I walk out to a car that does what I expect when I push a button. Basics like windshield wipers work as expected. That's not a bar my 580 could get over. With it there were lots of glitches, lots of basics that work better in a random rental car.

I'm told they were better before, not going to argue it because I don't know. I'm interested enough to hang around and wait for the refresh, but at this point, MB needs to up their game if they want my business.

 

How’s the X5M Crab? Any need of a physiotherapist/Chiropractor or Massage therapist yet?

In all seriousness hope you’re enjoying the beast! Would love to get your initial impressions on the car.

Thanks!

 

I can say that 2020 S560 everything works as expected in every situation...