Locked out!

[Rolfe]

OK, I suppose it's funny now....

This morning I had to go up to the farm to teach some students to wrestle sheep (don't ask).  I had some gear in the boot of the car, and after I'd parked up I took the stuff out and went over to the sheep pens.  Knowing the place was otherwise pretty deserted I just left the key in the ignition, as I didn't want to stuff the whole keyring into my pocket.  An hour or so later I came back, gear and all, and tried to open the boot to put the stuff back in.

No dice.  Boot locked.

I opened the door, and found I had to remove the key from the ignition to press the fob to let me into the boot.  Did that, but by now my keyring is in my (tiny frozen) hand.  I opened the boot and tossed the keyring on the floor of the boot before turning to pick up the stuff I had to load, and wash my wellies to keep the inside of the car clean.  Having done that, I slammed the boot shut, and went to get back into the car and drive off.

Oops, left keyring in boot.

Double-oops, boot has relocked itself!

The only bit of the car that would open was the driver's door.  I couldn't even get into the back seat.  Bloody five-door!  I had to take of the wet and still a bit dirty wellies, then in my stocking feet crawl between the two front seats on to the back seat, and dislodge the parcel shelf.  I was then able, with some difficulty, to reach into the boot and retrieve the keyring.

Now I can't get the rear passenger courtesy light to switch off.

I'm not entirely enchanted by this episode.  If I'd been even slightly disabled, or fatter, I probably couldn't have done it.  I'd have had to go and beg one of the students to have a go, I suppose.  If it had been a saloon car, I'd have been screwed.

It's a long time since I was locked out of a car.  One of the things I liked about my last car was that it was impossible to lock yourself out.  The car had to be actively locked from outside, no exceptions.  Is there any way to alter the settings on the Golf so that it doesn't do this?  I don't want to have to keep taking the key out of the ignition every time I happen to want to get into the boot, and I especially don't want the boot to lock itself if there is even the slightest possibility that the keys might be inside it.

Rolfe.

[topher]

It's possible, but messing with the factory security systems isn't good for your warranty or your insurance cover.

You can enable auto unlock though, which pops all the locks open when you take the key out of the ignition. Usually used alongside autolock (deadlocks all doors when vehicle reaches 10mph)

[gossa]

Rolfe, why didn't you just pop all your doors open via the switch on the drivers door and get in the back seats that way?

Ask your dealer to get out the VAG.COM and set all the doors so that they don't auto lock, i'm sure it can be done? I had mine set so that one click unlocks all doors and when I drive off all the doors lock.

[Rolfe]

I didn't realise there was a way to unlock all the doors from the driver's door.  I've never had a 5-door before.  That would have made it a fair bit easier, right enough.  I'd still have had to crawl over the back seat and through the parcel shelf though, unless there's a switch that opens the boot as well.

I'm getting quite hacked off by the way the boot never seems to be unlocked when I arrive with an armful of stuff.  I'm used to a car with central locking, one click of the fob unlocked the lot, and another click of the same button locked them.  So the boot was always unlocked unless the entire car was locked up, and it was impossible to leave one's only key inside a locked car.  But now, even though my doors are open, and my key might even be in the ignition, the bloody boot always seems to be locked and then I have to go and find the key just to get the boot open.  Then it goes and locks itself again the minute I shut it!

I appreciate the way VW seems to offer more options, and the idea of having door unlock once you're going over 10mph is logical, but I have to say I'm not a happy camper with the default setting.  I'd be quite happy to go back to all open (including boot) and please stay like that till I lock them again.

Anybody know exactly what options are actually available?

Rolfe.

[Jimble]

i agree with gossa, it's easy to say in hindsight but if you'd have pressed the button on the drivers door you could have got in the back doors, and i would have probably gone through the armrest opening instead of moving the parcel shelf. come to think of it, doesn't the button on the drivers door unock the boot too? oh and what's withteaching students to wrestle sheep? sorry i couldn't help it!

[topher]

I still dont get the parcel shelf thing, dont you have folding rear seats?

some coding options for the convenience control unit (ill probably miss some) which can be coded by any monkey with vcds-

Autolock - deadlock on all doors/boot once the car goes over 10mph (15kmh) - interior triggers need a double pull to unlock in this state

Auto unlock - all locks pop open when key is removed from ignition barrel (including boot)

Alarm chirp on lock/unlock (2 chirps for unlock, 1 chirp for lock)

single click lock/unlock - locks/unlocks all doors/boot with one press of fob

Daylight running light enable/disable

there are other things you can do with the mfa and some things are still being discovered.. there are probably some new toys in the mk6 noone has found yet! I'm looking at ways of displaying realtime engine data on the mfa.. that will allow all sorts of fancy things - including boost gauge and AFR

[Jimble]

Topher you've touched on a question i have, can you set the alarm to chirp when you lock/unlock the car in the mfd?

[topher]

Not that I'm aware of. Your location says midlands though so just give me a shout when your car arrives if you want any of that stuff done.

[Jimble]

Cool beans! i take it your in Tamworth jugding by your location, i'm not far from j9 m6, i'll def be givin you a pm cheers.

[mac7]

Great story Rolfe!

single click lock/unlock - locks/unlocks all doors/boot with one press of fob

I've had all my VW's changed to this over the last 10 years. Avoids Rolfe's issue too.