I have my 2014 LS 460 set to automatically lock the doors at 30 seconds in the vehicle settings, but when I get home and turn off the car, the doors never lock. Do you guys have automatic door locking set? Does it work?

 

Thanks for your question. I have monitored this forum for 10 years and this is the first time that I can recall anyone asking about this.

I don't think you have a good understanding of this feature.

This feature automatically re-locks the doors, if they are unlocked from the outside using the touch feature or the wireless remote key, but not opened within the customizable interval.

To demonstrate this to yourself, stand outside your car and, with all the doors closed, lock the doors by pressing the lock button on one of the door handles. Wait a minute or so and then unlock the doors by touching one of the door handles but do not open any of the doors. After the customized interval - 30 seconds in your case - you will hear the doors automatically relock. You can do the same demonstration using the wireless remote key, or a combination of the wireless remote key and door handle.

I think a better name for this feature would be "Auto Re-Lock" instead of "Auto Lock."

 

I will second jmcraney's explanation...

 

Ok, that makes much more sense. Thank you for explaining how that works. Now that I am clear on this feature, is there anything that locks the doors automatically when you walk away or is that just a manual process?

 

No, no way to accomplish that.

 

I wish there was. My last car would lock about 10 seconds after walking away with the fob. Hard to get back into the habit of manually locking each time.

 

I wonder if there is some sort of risk to auto locking that they are trying to avoid.

 

My 2017 MDX Advance has a "Walk Away Auto Lock" feature that I have never really paid any attention to, as out of habit I lock the car by touching the button on the exterior door handle.

 

Yes, like if there is child left behind inside the car and car locks itself. Remember the golden rule - lawyers have the final say

 

With the MDX system you have to have your remote outside the car with all doors & windows closed for it to work (and no remote left in the car). You wait a second, hear a beep and walk away. After you get six feet away, the vehicle locks itself and beeps again. So if a child is locked in the vehicle, you have the remote handy.

I find it easier to just touch the button on the door handle rather than wait for the beep, and pause again when away from the car to make sure it is locked. The only time it would be beneficial to me is when my hands were full and not able to push the button. Problem is, this generally only happens when I am unloading car in the garage at home, and I don't want the car locked in the garage. So I just leave this setting off.

 

I looked at the settings again and the name for this setting is actually Auto Relock in the system. So, it makes sense.