how do I turn auto-lock back on?

pcpower

Member
noticed the car is not locking automatically after 30 seconds (or is it 60 seconds)? very annoying because I keep forgetting to lock my car,,,

I don't have the owner's manual handy, search button didn't find the right answer.

anyone know off the top of their head?

thx!
 
Only the '10s have speed-sensitive locking. Wish mine had it.

Is that the gadget that locks the doors when you hit 3 mph or something like that? If so, my wife's Focus ZX3 has it and after several years I've never really understood the benefit of it. I get in her car and drive it to pick her up and always forget the passanger door has locked itself until she tries to get in and it won't open. I suppose if I drove it more I'd get used to it but just out of curiosity, what is the benefit to having the doors lock themselves?
 
Is that the gadget that locks the doors when you hit 3 mph or something like that? If so, my wife's Focus ZX3 has it and after several years I've never really understood the benefit of it. I get in her car and drive it to pick her up and always forget the passanger door has locked itself until she tries to get in and it won't open. I suppose if I drove it more I'd get used to it but just out of curiosity, what is the benefit to having the doors lock themselves?

To prevent carhijacking or some crazy person jumping into your car. To keep your doors lock and secure. I don't know i'm just throwing stuff out there.
 
To prevent carhijacking or some crazy person jumping into your car. To keep your doors lock and secure. I don't know i'm just throwing stuff out there.

You've got a good idea there. I honestly didn't think about carjacking and I should have since it's not that uncommon here in Phoenix. I just had unpleasant memories of saying "I'll go get the car" when we lived in Seattle and it was pouring down rain, pulling up in front of my wife, and her finding the door locked although I had unlocked the car 2 minutes before. It happened more than once. I'm a slow learner. Now at least I know a good reason for building that feature into the car.
 
Is that the gadget that locks the doors when you hit 3 mph or something like that? If so, my wife's Focus ZX3 has it and after several years I've never really understood the benefit of it. I get in her car and drive it to pick her up and always forget the passanger door has locked itself until she tries to get in and it won't open. I suppose if I drove it more I'd get used to it but just out of curiosity, what is the benefit to having the doors lock themselves?
That's the one. My 300C and my Ram lock the doors at 15mph or so. The Ram unlocks all the doors if the driver's is opened first. The "C" unlocks all when either front door is opened. My daughter's Camry locks when put into Reverse. All of 'em unlock in a rollover or on airbag deployment.

I like the feature, especially on the girls' cars. Makes it harder for some useless sheepdip to carjack 'em.
 
OMG i cannot stand those speedo locks (i think it's mostly an american car thing)! there's nothing more inconvenient than riding to the store and trying to get out (not so much drivers side) and i have to unlock the door first.

i can't be the only one, i just can't
 
i like the camrys that have the lock sensitive key where if the key gets within like 5 feet from the car it unlocks itself. no button or anything.
 
Doesn't auto-lock only come into play if you unlock the car and then don't open a door within 30 seconds?

s***. I want this feature OFF. It annoys the hell out of me. Often I'll unlock my car from inside the house, then attempt to go grab something out of the car, and if I don't make it there fast enough the door is locked again. Then I go back in and this time I grab my keys with me.

Or I'll be working on the car, so I try to leave the damn thing unlocked cause I know I'll be in and out of it.

There have been a million different scenarios where something like this happens to me, and it annoys the hell out of me.
 
My last 3 new cars (2 MINIs and a VW Golf 1.8T) all had speed-sensitive door locks. If you live with them every day, you quickly get used to them and remember to hit the "unlock" button whenever you're picking up a passenger, etc. And of course, the driver's door would always open from the inside, overriding the lock, so you'd never go to get out & have to stop to pop the lock.

Oddly, in a year of driving the MS3, I still haven't trained myself to lock the doors after I get in.

One thing I like about Japanese cars that European carmakers don't seem to get- when I click the MS3 unlock button on the remote once, I unlock the driver's door only. Then a 2nd click opens the other doors. (Same was true of my Supra with the key- one twist/2 twists. That was before factory remote door locks.) On the MINI (and I think the VW, too), one click opened them all.

Best of all would be if carmakers would set up their ECU's with lots of electronic options that you could jack into with any laptop or PDA/smartphone and set on your own- without proprietary software. Or with proprietary, but free software. (Or maybe even with an in-car touch screen, a la Nissan GT-R) That way, you could "try out" daytime running lights, speed-sensitive locks, set rear windows to child safety/halfway down mode, etc. and change it all back if you don't like it. All without having to visit the dealer, and possibly pay for the privilege.
 
s***. I want this feature OFF. It annoys the hell out of me. Often I'll unlock my car from inside the house, then attempt to go grab something out of the car, and if I don't make it there fast enough the door is locked again. Then I go back in and this time I grab my keys with me.

Or I'll be working on the car, so I try to leave the damn thing unlocked cause I know I'll be in and out of it.

There have been a million different scenarios where something like this happens to me, and it annoys the hell out of me.

The benefit of this is if you accidentally hit the unlock button, your car won't stay unlocked in a parking lot or driveway, ready for someone to walk up and jack whatever you left in there.
 
OMG i cannot stand those speedo locks (i think it's mostly an american car thing)! there's nothing more inconvenient than riding to the store and trying to get out (not so much drivers side) and i have to unlock the door first.

i can't be the only one, i just can't

Most cars that do this (at least the Ford Focus does) have locks that automatically unlock when you open the door using the inside handle...meaning that you never have to unlock the door before opening it from the inside.

Also, regarding "once click to unlock all," the Focus (I'm mentioning it because it got picked on earlier in the thread and I also happened to own a couple) was programmable in that regard (as sort of an "Easter Egg"). I was able to program it so that one click unlocked all the doors...It'd be nice if the MS3 had a similar feature.

The Focus would also let you disable the seatbelt minder...
 
Last edited:
Best of all would be if carmakers would set up their ECU's with lots of electronic options that you could jack into with any laptop or PDA/smartphone and set on your own- without proprietary software. Or with proprietary, but free software. (Or maybe even with an in-car touch screen, a la Nissan GT-R) That way, you could "try out" daytime running lights, speed-sensitive locks, set rear windows to child safety/halfway down mode, etc. and change it all back if you don't like it. All without having to visit the dealer, and possibly pay for the privilege.

That would be cool but I do not see that ever happening because it would limit your dealer visits, meaning limited their money flow.

I would love to see it happen though.
 
One thing I like about Japanese cars that European carmakers don't seem to get- when I click the MS3 unlock button on the remote once, I unlock the driver's door only. Then a 2nd click opens the other doors. (Same was true of my Supra with the key- one twist/2 twists. That was before factory remote door locks.) On the MINI (and I think the VW, too), one click opened them all.

My 2004 Golf was the same as the Speed3- one push opens driver only, two presses open all doors and hatch. I had the car over 6 months before I ever knew that. I needs moar RTM! (confused)

I only ever had one vehicle with auto-lock at 8MPH (something back in the 90's, but I can't remember what), and I remember that it annoyed the s*** out of me, because I used to deliver pizza.
 
My wife's sienna locks all doors when you go into any gear and unlocks them when you go into park.
 
I like to have 100% control over my locks. Every time I get in the car, first thing I do is lock the doors. Before I get out, I unlock the door. It is really very, very difficult.
 
Sure is a good thing the doors lock. I mean would someone wanting to steal your car would really be put off it the door didnt open and had to break the window?
 
the one that annoys me is that you have to unlock the door when your trying to get out of the car. i still havent gotten used to that one and i look even more like an idiot when i go to open the door and cant.
 

New Threads and Articles

Back