BMW door locks (Funny story/Serious situation) (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

This past weekend I found out something quite interesting about my BMW. The following story was funny at the time, but now that I think about it, it's pretty serious.

After leaving a wedding with a few friends, we stopped at a bar on the way home. My friend "Lenny" (who had been drinking a lot) fell asleep in the back seat. When we got to the bar, I tried to get him out but his wife said he was fine and to just leave him in the car.

After about 20 minutes in the bar, the bartender came over to our table and told Lennys wife that Lenny called and wanted her. At first we didn't believe him, but after going back and forth, we figured he wasn't joking.

I gave Lennys wife the keys and she went out to see what he wanted (we figured he was sick and puking).

When they came back into the bar, Lenny was as white as a ghost and drenched with sweat. I guess he woke up and tried to get out of the car, but the doors didn't open. He even tried the front doors and they didn't open either. Since I originally was planning on getting him out of the car when we got to the bar, I didn't leave a window cracked and Lenny got very panicky and hot.

It was actually quite an amusing story (especially since no one got really hurt), but I just checked and realized that when you lock the doors from the key (the button that locks all the doors), you can't open the doors at all. The only way is to hit the unlock door button which is on the console near the shifter.

If you didn't know the car (as Lenny did), you'd never know where this button is and you'd be stuck in the car.


Now I know that locking someone in the car isn't something I normally do, but the .001% chance of this happening DID happen to me and my friend. Has anyone else run into this before? Is there a way to disable it? Why do they do it that way?

Pretty scary for Lenny, but for the rest of us it was hysterical.

 

[David Preston]

Pretty funny story I bet he will think twice before passing out in a car again. My wife falls asleep easily when riding in a car. ONe day we were going down the highway and a wrecker was towing a tractor(18 wheeeler) and it was backwards so the front is facing you while driving. She was actually awake this time or I would have gotten right behind it and slammed on the brakes and yelled. Imagine the look on her face if she woke up to that.

 

[Nathan*W]

My first thought after reading your story, was why didn't he read in the owner's manual how to unlock the doors? It's right there in the glove box, right? (unless he couldn't figure out how to get that open, either)

 

[David-S]

yeah, but if you're stuck in the backseat, and a lot of cars don't have a ton of room to climb into the front anymore... could be tough to get up there...

You can't unlock it at the individual doors? That would seem like a safety hazard... (How do you get out of the backseat in an accident?!?!)

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

I believe BMW calls this the 'double lock' feature. Not sure that there's a way to disable it, as the double locking basically engages a starter kill as well as locking the doors (as far as I know). Given that it does basically activate the car's built in anti-theft features, why would you want to disable it?

I can see it freaking somebody out though..

Andrej
'97 M3

 

[Nathan*W]

yeah, but if you're stuck in the backseat, and a lot of cars don't have a ton of room to climb into the front anymore... could be tough to get up there...

Who is this guy, Shamu?! It's not like you'd actually have to climb from the back to the front, just reach with your arms with your torso between the front seats.

 

[Jay H]

Who is this guy, Shamu?

Brings a whole new meaning to "Free Willy"

BMW has the double lock feature if you use the key to lock the cyclinder in the door. For emergencies, at least major ones like roll over, the car is supposed to automatically unlock the doors and engage the hazard blinkers.

My BMW has an aftermarket alarm but if I use the keyfob to remotely activa the lock, the alarm only single locks, which doesn't lock the gascap door and doesn't disable the little lock knobs. So typically, if I'm out and about, I'll lock the door with the key and let my alarm passively engage.

Wait til you get people who can't figure out where the window opener is...

Jay

 

[David-S]

Who is this guy, Shamu?! It's not like you'd actually have to climb from the back to the front, just reach with your arms with your torso between the front seats.

I was actually talking about the "getting the owner's manual out of the glove box"... :b

 

[MarkHastings]

How do you get out of the backseat in an accident?!?!

Once you've started the car and take off, the doors automatically lock, but you can still open the back doors. This is why I had no idea that Lenny would be trapped because his wife was in the back seat and she got out of the locked car with no problem.

The "double lock" (which Andrej mentioned) is only engaged when you lock the doors from the remote control button - which I only use when everyone is out of the car and I am locking it to go somewhere. When you are driving, you don't usually lock the doors with the key remote, so you'd be able to get out of the car if you got into an accident. The only way you'd be trapped is if you were driving and hit the lock button on the remote control (or passed out and got locked in ) - Then the "double lock" would engage and you wouldn't be able to open the doors.

 

[Nathan*W]

Actually, I was reading up on an unrelated thing in the manual and I left it in my garage, so it wasn't in the car.

Ah-HA! The truth come out!

 

[MarkHastings]

Ah-HA! The truth come out!

LOL

and considering the drunken stupor and panic mode he was in, I doubt if he was in any shape to thumb through a manual.

 

[Hunter P]

the same exact thing happened on one of those clip shows on tv. you know the ones, "most dangerous car chases," "world's dumbest criminals," etc.

Well this one was about "stupid behavior" or something. Anyhoo, this guy was drunk and fell asleep in his BMW. Since he recently got the car, he was not familiar with the locking feature. He had his cell phone so he called the cops to help him out. The cops tried to use a slimjim to open it but with no success.

The guy tried to read about it in the manual then gave up and let the cops read it through the window. Finally they gave up and busted the back window so that he could climb through it.

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

I believe locking with the key will also double lock the car. That's how I lock my car - no alarm. All they do is beep and people ignore them. So I got lojack instead.

Andrej

 

[MarkHastings]

Andrej, I don't have an alarm either. I still lock the car with the button on the remote, but it's also good to know that the same thing happens by locking the doors with the key.

Finally they gave up and busted the back window so that he could climb through it.

Lenny said he was considering this as a "Final" option. Thank god he got through to the bartender at the bar on his cell phone.

 

[JasonMC]

My BMW has a factory alarm with an internal sensor. When locked with the key, it activates a sensor inside the cabin. If it senses any movement, it sounds the alarm. Imagine if you were passed out the alarm woke you up only find out you can't get out of the car!

 

[Brian Perry]

That's what surprised me about the story--on my car, the motion sensor would have gone off if someone was climbing around in the car.

Do the 3-series not come with alarms, or are they an option?

 

[MarkHastings]

The alarm was an option. The motion sensor is installed (so if I ever want an alarm, it'd be easy to install without having to rewire for the sensor). Even the red light under the mirror is there, they're both just inactive.

 

[JasonMC]

I have a 540i and all my alarms are active. It came standard with the car.

 

[MarkHastings]

I'm sure it's easier to bury the cost of the alarm in the more expensive models, but when you get down to the $30,000-$35,000 models, the extra expense is probably something they leave off to entice people who can only afford the bare minimum car.

Kinda like HT equipment used to be - You'd find DTS built in to more of the high-end models than the low-end ones because if someone was spending $1,000 on a reciever, what's another $100 whereas if you were buying a $200 reciever, the extra $100 would be a lot.

 

[TerryS]

What amuses me more about this story is how did Lenny know the phone number of the bar? Me thinks he goes there a bit too much.