mpatton

I searched for this answer but I'm honestly too tired to find it and the owner's manual online didn't have the answer either.

Today, I had my son up at the park. I unlocked all of the doors with the remote, like I always do. While I had the drivers back door open, I was buckling my son into his booster seat the doors "re-locked." This panics me enough usually, that I am *sure* to have my keys outside of the car or a 2nd door open just in case.

Anyway, I buckled my son in, closed the door and as soon as it clicked, I remembered the re-lock.

I panicked. It's 90 degrees outside on the mountain at the park and my son is strapped into his booster seat, unaware of what just happened.

I run around the car, trying all of the doors (in vain, I know they're all locked).

I can hear my son in the car "haha Dad! you need your keys!"

I'm yelling through the window "DO YOU SEE MY KEYS IN THE SEAT??" He's saying "WHAT?" - he's 4. Totally unaware of why I'm about to poop my pants.

Just as I'm about to pick up a rock to smash out the passenger window, I feel my keys in my left pocket (they're almost always, always, always in my right pocket).

I don't know what angel was looking over us, but I'm grateful and my son got a lesson in how to unlock a car door if I ever need him to.

That story out of my shaking hands --- is there any way to deprogram that "safety feature" of my car? I'd prefer not to go to the dealer if I can, but after the heart attack today, there's no money I wouldn't spend to make sure I never go through that again.

It's a 2004, RX330.

Thanks everyone.

Carver

There are features of the lock system only the dealer has access to, sounds like you need to bite the bullet and go see them.

rxonmymind

I'm glad the story turned out for the better. Mpatton this is why I've always have gotten into the habit of leaving one window partially down even if I'm going to the other side of the vehicle. I've had this happen to me at work on my Sienna and luckily nobody was in the car. I also now have a spare tucked away underneath the car. Make a spare and put it on the car. It'll give you a piece of mind.

jakenbake

Im confused... I know that if you unlock the car with the remote and DO NOT open a door, it will automatically re-lock....But opening a door cancels the re-lock feature. So since you had the back door open it shouldn't have re-locked. Further more, if you press lock on the remote while a door is open, the car won't lock, it will only beep to let you know a door is open. So if you are standing there with a door open, strapping your son into a car seat, how can it lock itself???

There are other features of the alarm system that will passively lock and arm the alarm without you pressing the lock button, but for the feature to work all the doors have to be shut. The passive locking/arming feature isn't listed in the owner's manual and by default the feature is turned off from the factory. So the only way I can see the car re-locking itself is if the ECU is not reading that the back door is open which would be a wiring problem or an issue with the door switch.

draco

As Jakenbake suggested, an issue with the door switch. On a couple of occasions I have unlocked the car and opened the (in my case) rear left passenger door. I found that the car would lock itself while the door was open which was unusual behaviour. I found that the door switch looked to not be sitting proudly but instead looking crocked (almost like it had been "suqashed". I moved the door switch around a bit until it "popped" back into place and haven't had the issue since.

smassey321

A simple test is to see if the dome light goes on and off with the door in question. Auto lock should not work with door open, nor accidental push of lock button in you pocket. Broken door switch could cause both situations.

mpatton

This is exactly the scenario. I have the driver's rear door open so I can buckle my son into his booster seat and while the door is still open, the car locks the doors. Every..time...

I agree that I think it's odd behavior for the doors to lock when I have one open! - who would want that??

Anyway, what do you mean by squashed? You mean the door lock itself?

I appreciate everyone's help so far. I've had a death grip on my keys all day - the spare is in my office, that doesn't do me any good!

mpatton

I'll have to do some experiments without my son around one day, to see if I can determine if it's just that one door that isn't telling the car it's still open.

But, that's the scenario. I unlock all the doors from the key fob. I open the driver's rear door only, to put him in the car and buckle him into the booster seat. The car locks the doors automatically, even while the door is open. Usually that's a bell in my head to double check that my keys are in my pocket.

Odd, right? What's that movie? Christine?

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

Do you have the "Credit Card" key?

lex_rx

Mine relocks only if a door is not opened within 30 secs, I think. Check with dealer and also get a credit card key.

1koolfella

iTrader: (1)

Mine will lock all doors if the front driver door or the hatch is closed.

beefmc

My 2007 auto re-locked with the rear hatch open the other evening and the interior lights were on (it was night so I remember). It happened to me just the other and I did think it was kinda weird but forgot about it until I read this. Going to try to duplicate later today.

mpatton

Ok, so. I think it's only that door.

I've done some terribly unscientific tests when I've had time and it seems as though just the rear driver's door has an issue with the car not knowing it's open.

The interior lighting does dim while I'm buckling him in the booster seat and the door is open.

From my recollection, if I unlock with the remote and open any other door, it doesn't re-lock if the door is open.

Still, though, if I unlock with the remote and only open that door, the car will re-lock while I'm buckling him in.

Anyone have any idea where this switch might be so I can start tearing things apart to find out wth is wrong with that one door?

thx

Also, I do need that credit card key thing!

jakenbake

Definitely sounds like something is wrong with that particular door's switch. The switch is in the door jamb. It looks like this.

mpatton

Awesome. Thanks. I'll try to tear it down this weekend if I have some time and report back.