I have noticed that most of the new German cars I have been in recently automatically lock their doors when the car is in motion and then unlock again when stationary. Whilst I see this is a safety feature, it must surely put a lot of wear on the door lock actuators compatred to 'normal' use. Does anyone know if this can be turned off ?
I have a new A4 Avant coming soon and I dont like the look of this feature.
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I'm thinking of snipping the brake pipes as I've noticed how much the pads wear down when the brakes are applied.
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BMWs can e programmed to do it or not depending on your levels of paranoia.
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Your Audi will probably come with them activiated - if you don't want it doing tell your dealer now as it needs to be programmed. I've had drive lock activated on both Audis and had no problems with the locks. I always lock doors in cars which don't have the feature anyway.
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I have it on my A4 Avant and everybody in the car finds it gives peace of mind. It locks and the beginning of a journey and unlocks at the end, so maybe puts twice the wear on the system. However I have never had a central locking motor fail in many 100k's of miles, most of the failures on the forum are due to broken wires, not clapped out motors.
It is not the same as system fitted to London cabs which lock and unlock every time the cab starts and stops.
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Trouble is if you're driving round town and the thing is constantly locking and unlocking the doors. Anyway we as a family have never been prone to jumping out of moving cars ! And I think London cabs do it more to stop people from not paying !
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It doesn't constantly lock and unlock. You start the car and drive off, at 10 mph ish the doors lock. They remain locked until you either open a door, press the unlock button on the driver's door or stop the car and remove the ignition key. The system also locks the boot - scams involving distraction techniques at traffic lights to empty the boot are not unheard of.
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Japanese cars had it for years as did most American ones.
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A lot of the multiplexed PSA stuff can also do this if its running the latest BSI software & the owner activates the feature.
Doors lock over 6mph & stay locked until, you pull the interior door handle to open the door, you activate the central locking button on the dash, you crash & trigger the SRS control unit into deploying an airbag / seatbelt pretensioner.
Pretty sure Mk3 Mondeo can if you want.
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My younger offspring's '03 Focus has the feature, whilst my VW Bora, whilst not featuring automatic locking, can be unlocked in two stages, first being the driver's door and then the other doors if required with a second push of the remote control button.
Again, it's supposed to be a dealer programmed feature but my local VW dealership's staff were taken aback when asked about how it can be programmed.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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A lot of the multiplexed PSA stuff can also do this if its running the latest BSI software & the owner activates the feature.
When you say the latest, might you mean "at least as far back as 2002"? My Peugeot Partner did it then and still does. Doors unlock when the airbag is activated too.
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Japanese cars had it for years as did most American ones.
I'm quite miffed our Honda Jazz doesn't do this, and neither does daughters brand new Mitsubishi Colt.
However other daughters Seat Ibiza does auto lock so it must be a VAG thing. Pain with hers is that it unlocks by pulling open the drivers door handle, but that doesn't unlock the boot - she has to remember to press the button on the door or else lock and unlock the car with the remote.
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Anyway we as a family have never been prone to jumping out of moving cars !
I think the system is primarily designed to stop other people getting in without your permission, not to stop people jumping out.
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My 2002 Focus has this feature as well but I had to manually enable it - its handy when you're driving through a city centre and some either thinks you're a taxi, or takes a fancy to the jacket on the back seat!
Scares the life out of passengers though as the doors lock automatically above 5/6 mph - they must think they're being kidnapped.
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I enabled this on my 53 plate Mondeo too. It does not unlock when you stop but pulling a door handle opens that door and opening the driver's door unlocks all the doors. I very much doubt it would wear out the locks any faster as I'd manually lock the car before driving off if this feature was not available.
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The most sensible locking option I found on a car ( whilst knowing that my 3 series could be programmed to do it by asking and paying the nice man in a tie) was our Discovery's single door opening trick, press once the driver's door unlocked, press again and the other three did. Mind you you sometimes pressed and nothing happened - don't think it was meant to do that though :-(
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The most sensible locking option I found on a car ( whilst knowing that my 3 series could be programmed to do it by asking and paying the nice man in a tie) was our Discovery's single door opening trick, press once the driver's door unlocked, press again and the other three did. Mind you you sometimes pressed and nothing happened - don't think it was meant to do that though :-(
The Jag can be set to this & is. Also the jag auto locks above 3MPH and only unlocks when you open the door from within. Made me jump for a few days after buying it but now used to it.
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single door opening trick, press once the driver's door unlocked, press again and the other three did.
That how daughter Ibiza came, so I assume all VAG cars do it, too.
It's a bit of a nuisance if you're not used to it as I always forget to press the button twice so leaving passengers in the rain for longer than is necessary.
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>>It's a bit of a nuisance if you're not used to it as I always forget to press the button twice>>
How long does it have to be before you are used to it....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>>It's a bit of a nuisance if you're not used to it as I always forget to press the button twice>> How long does it have to be before you are used to it....:-)
Until the day before it gets sold!
It's more problem of remembering - it's the only car (of 4) we've got that needs it's remote pressing twice to open all the doors.
However pressing it twice to lock it disables the red flashing light on the door! Whereas the Jazz has to be pressed twice to enage the deadlocks. It's all too complicated.
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However pressing it twice to lock it disables the red flashing light on the door!
If it's the same system as on my Fabia (almost certainly is), pressing the button twice does more than disable the flashing LED: it enables the doors to be unlocked from the inside.
As others have mentioned, on VAG cars, the automatic locking is programmed by the dealer. I believe it can also be set using a laptop and a program called VAG-COM. On a Peugeot 207 I drove recently, it could be set by the driver, and a reminder that it was active popped up when starting the engine.
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Or mud - even more annoying. Don't think the DIsco was programmable - you were stuck with what you had, i wasn't a bad old beast though. (dons rose tinted specs)
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We have two Honda IMAs in work as pool cars. One (the newest) has a "feature" of autolocking which I hate and can find no way to override it. It came close to thrashing the other day on a trip into London - the only up side was avoiding the damned congestion charge !
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Rover 75 had the feature from launch in 1998 inc. drivers door only open on first push of the remote. Unlock is via the console or door switch, or automatically in an accident. Family have always appreciated it. Can be de-programmed if required.
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Later mk2 Mondeos with 3 button RF fob & Mk 3 Mondeo can also have the 2 stage unlocking set up, takes less then 30 seconds to switch the feature on following the directions in the owners manual.
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