New owner; door lock question
 

Hi! I got a 2012 ES350 a week ago and noticed something annoying about the way the door locks work: say I'm in the driver's seat, key fob in my pocket, car started, and doors locked. I get out, which unlocks the driver door. The car beeps and complains that the key isn't found (since it's no longer inside the car). Now I'm unable to unlock any of the other doors using either the handle or the button on the key fob. It seems that the only way I can unlock the other doors is to go back to the driver's door and use the switch on the inside of the door. (Or I assume the mechanical key would work too, but I haven't tried that).

I ran into this when I wanted to get something from the rear passenger seat, and found that after walking around the car to the other side, there was no way for me to open the door without going back to the driver's side. Kinda annoying :)

Am I doing something wrong, or is this just how it works? Is there a setting that I or the dealer can change to allow unlocking the doors? I did look through the manual and didn't spot anything about this... While maybe there's a good reason to disable the door handle, I don't get why the key fob buttons would be blocked at all... I have the key; if I want to unlock the doors, they should unlock!

i beleive the problem all lies in the car being started. On my 2010 if car is on....then basically fob becomes void. In my case veh being very quiet many times i have stepped out to leave veh and try to lock veh with fob, but nothing happens. At this point I relize its because car is still running. I wiuld assume this was done so you wouldnt lock doors ( like ive tried ) and not realize car is still running. Someone else may jave different opinion or reason to your situation or I could have misinterpeted the issue. good luck.

I think if you look again you'll find the info under "locks" and/or "customization" in the Owner's Manual. The operation of the door locks on your car appear to have been changed from the default settings. Depending on whether you have Nav or not can determine if you or the dealer can make certain changes in the operation of the locks, and other things. On my 2011 (which should be the same as your 2012) unlocking the driver's door with the outside handle unlocks all the doors and the doors will not lock until the gearshift is moved out of Park, and they unlock when the gearshift is moved into Park. This is the default setting but there are many options available under "customization".

Yeah, I only have the problem if the ignition switch is in ACC or ON... it works as expected when OFF. But I think the remote buttons should work even when the engine's started :)

I see other lock-related settings in the manual, but nothing for what I want to change. The settings I can change are whether the doors lock when the gearshift is moved out of P, whether the doors unlock when the gearshift is moved to P, whether the doors lock when the car is going over 12mph, and whether all the doors unlock when the driver's door is opened within 10 seconds after turning the engine off. However, what I'm looking for is a setting for whether the unlock button on the key fob works when the ignition is on.

That does sound unusual.

I just tried my wifes' ES350 and it is the same.

The preferences are all at the default settings still.

Here's an idea.

I wish they would do, roll up the windows when the rain sensor that turns wipers on detects rain.

Or did they do that already?........... I'm off to find the owners manual.

Should be possible, right?

Nope I guess not.

Sorry I don't mean to take the OPs' post off topic.

As you were Gentlemen. ( and Ladies if applicable)

[QUOTE=QuantmMech;7471241
Am I doing something wrong, or is this just how it works? [/QUOTE]

That's just the way it works. My 2007 operates exactly as your 2012

If I were the OP I would just have the locks changed to the default setting which would make his issue a non-issue. I tried to simulate what was happening with the OP (without changing my car's settings of course) and with the start button in Ignition On mode I could not even lock the doors with the inside lock switch.......the switch locked the doors only momentarily, then they unlocked automatically. I guess it's LL (Lexus Logic)

How would it make my issue a non-issue? I park my car and lock all the doors. The next day, I grab the driver's door handle, which unlocks only that door (as the default is to only unlock the drivers door, rather than all doors). I get in and start the car. I remember I want something from the other side of the car. I get out of the car, from the driver's seat, of course--so the driver's door is unlocked, but all other doors remain locked. I'm unable to unlock any of the other doors, either by grabbing the handle, or by pressing the unlock button on the remote. This is with all settings at default. I guess a custom setting would help--I could set it so when I grabbed any door handle, all doors would unlock. I prefer the default behavior though.

Bottom line is that the unlock button on the wireless remote should unlock the doors.

I apologize......my car had the "unlock all doors on opening the driver's door" ON (not the default setting, like I had thought). I played around with different locks customizable settings, and with the Start button in the Ignition ON mode (engine running or not) the remote key fob (including the trunk unlock.......but the unlock button on the trunk is still enabled??), and the outside door handles are disabled. I don't think that can be overridden but you can check with the dealer. For security reasons, or whatever, you may not like having all the doors unlock when you unlock the driver's door, but I think that's your only option for your scenario.

Yeah, I'll ask the dealer about it when I go in for the 1000 mile checkup... it's just a minor annoyance; if it doesn't work, it doesn't work and I'll deal with it :) (but I'll send an email to Lexus about it expressing my annoyance :)