teedub21

Strange issue I've been having. On occasion I'll go out to the garage to get into the car (2011 50k miles) and the driver's door will be locked but the other doors are not. I'll have to get the key fob and unlock them to get into the driver's side. Mind you, I don't lock the doors when I get out in the garage, its left unlocked. Also, one day I stopped by my wife's office and was outside (key fob in my pocket) talking to her for about 10 minutes while the car idled. Went to get back in and the driver's door was locked. Key fob wouldn't unlock it. All the other doors were unlocked. Had to climb in on the passenger side and climb over to the driver's side. A bit embarrassing.

I put a new battery in the key fob when this started happening but that didn't seem to make the issue go away. Anyone experience anything similar?

greg3852

I had the opposite in which my drivers door wouldn't unlock randomly. It didn't lock itself though. I was planning on replacing the lock with one off ebay for like $50 prior to the crash. I tried lubing everything up, took the door off to look for obstructions. Nothing. Sometimes it would work and others it wouldn't.

jmcraney

teedub21 and greg3852,

I think both of you are experiencing the same problem. It is unlikely that it is related to a defective part or failure - instead the cause is likely a design weakness that is susceptible to certain drivers.

What is probably happening is that the door is not locking after you exit the car but instead fails to unlock when you exit the car. In most cars the doors are locked when the shift leaver is moved out of Park and unlocked when the shift is moved back to park (it is a configurable option and it can be different). But the point is that the doors get locked and unlocked when you operate your car. In addition the doors are unlocked through a mechanical linkage when they are opened with the lever on the inside of the door. And, if the ignition is on they are unlocked by a signal from the doorjamb switch when they are closed.

It seems that any interference with the lock-flipper on the inside of the door, when it operates, can leave it in a sort of in-between condition such that the door is locked and cannot be unlocked except by moving the flipper. Perhaps multiple lock/unlock operations of the wireless key could get you out of this but I don't know.

This problem seems to be known to Lexus and there is a mitigation for it.

It might be helpful for you the read this thread. It is just a couple of pages long. There is an explanation in post #16, although for a different model car, that may help you understand. This has also been mentioned in other threads in our forum.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-t-unlock.html