Hello, I have an 09 Elantra SE. I of course got the key fobs that have the Trunk Lid Pop button. You are to hold it for like a second and the trunk pops. Has anyone else noticed that their trunk either randomly pops, or can pop from a long distance away?

Reason for asking is I live in the 2nd floor of an apt complex. This is a rather decent distance away from the parked cars, and no where near line of sight. One night, I went outside, and my trunk was popped open. Now, just last night, I was at work. I work in a large two story building, and again, am very far away from the car, and no line of sight or anything, and when I went out after work to leave, my trunk was again popped.

Now this is starting to get a little annoying. I had an 08 Elantra that was totaled in a wreck, and the trunk on that only popped when you were like 30 feet away or closer with the fob, but this one seems to either just pop for no reason, or pops from very very long distances. I keep my keys in my pocket, and can't help if a button is pressed in there. Anyone else experience this wierd issue?

I'm goin to the dealer next week for my first oil change, and will ask them, but figured I'd check for ideas on here too.

Thanks for any info.

At work we would go outside and find trunks open on Elantra's. My friend at work has an 08 SE and it pops all the time.

Off topic: I like your avatar, gotta love evil monkey (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grin.gif)

Interesting that they woul just pop like that. My fear is that it does it some day when it's raining or something. Oh well, I will see what the dealership has to say.....which I figure will be that they can't do anything about it. We'll see.

PS, Yeah, evil monkey rocks!

I am glad you posted this. I have an 08 GLS and it happens to me often ... 2 or 3 times a month I walk out in my garage or into the parking lot and find my trunk open. I thought it was just me ... maybe the button was getting accidentally pushed when I threw the key chain into my desk drawer or put it in my pocket, although I have never had this problem with my other two cars (Dodge and Buick) that have key fobs. One time the trunk came open while I was driving after 20 minutes into the trip. On that occsasion, the fob was simply hanging from the key in the ignition and there was no way it could have been accidentally engaged. The other thing I might add to this is that I don't lock my Elantra when I park in my garage at home. Yet I often (but not always) find the door locked when I go to open it. I thought that was perhaps a security feature, but if it is, it isn't consistent. It locks itself maybe once out of every 8 or 10 times.

This post has been edited by alanb: Aug 13 2009, 08:00 PM

Very interesting.....I do know the car has a security feature that causes the car to auto-lock, but that's usually under different circumstances than what you are describing. I know if the car is locked, and you press the unlock, but then don't do anything.....don't open any doors and dont press any buttons, the car will re-lock after approx 1 minute.

As far as the trunk, I sure hope mine doesn't pop open while I'm driving. If it does, the dealership will definitely know then! Well, I will be asking them about this next Tuesday when I go in for an oil change. If they tell me anything productive, I'll post on here.

I am aware of this feature as well, but as you said, this is different. I suspect that it might have something to do with the sequence of events when I stop ... whether I open the door before or after I pull the key out of the ignition. I will try to pay more attention to that and post back if I figure out the pattern. I did have the dealer turn on the auto-lock feature when driving so the doors automatically lock when you reach a certain speed. This feature was turned off by default when the car was new and I asked them to enable it. So my unintended autolocking may be related to having that feature turned on. It happens often enough that I NEVER leave my keys in the car even if it is in my locked garage. I don't want to be caught with the keys accidentally locked inside the car.

This post has been edited by alanb: Aug 14 2009, 11:48 AM

FYI... my Elantra did not come with factory alarm/security system. BUT...
The fact that the trunk lid open while driving should not be happen. In my car, if I'm over 5kms/hr... the trunk will not open no matter how many times I press the trunk switch on the drivers door panel, I MUST, come to almost complete stop then the car let me open it. So what is happening to you is not normal at all and you should ask the dealer by sure.

I did ask the dealer about it. Since the incident of the trunk opening while driving only happened once, the dealer speculated that somehow the latch wasn't fully engaged and a bump or vibration jarred it open. That seems plausible and it has not happened again. As for the other problem where I often find the trunk open in the garage or parking lot, the dealer had no explanation other than accidentally engaging the button on the fob. I don't think that is happening as often as I find my trunk lid up, but I have no way to prove it.

I purchased an 09 Elantra GLS about a month ago and have walked outside to find my trunk wide open twice already. I am not happy about this at all! My dealer will definitely be hearing about it. There's no way I have somehow held the button down inside my pocket.

something is wrong there... to many cases... maybe a factory bug in the security system?

OK, went to the dealer this morning for my first oil change......mentioned the trunk popping issue, and got the usual response that my fob button was likely depressed long enough to pop the lid. My solution to that is, I now have just my fob, and car key on the ring, and that is all that I am putting in my one pocket. I figure if it pops again, then that excuse is crap. I don't see how it could happen several times, and also to several other people. I know plenty of other people with trunk pop buttons on their fobs, and they don't seem to have this problem. Oh well, we'll see what the near empty pocket does for the issue.


Oh and PS....I checked the price of a factory Spoiler for the Elantra that has the integrated 3rd brake light. They want $299 for it at the dealer, plus install and labor costs. I can find the same spoiler online at many places, pre-painted to factory color, basically the same exact thing, for under $200 with shipping......so if anyone is looking at a spoiler for the Elantra, I would almost recommend buying elsewheres and then if you want, have the dealer install. Seems to be way more cost effective!

Count me in also in the mysterious trunk release keyfob victims... It's already been a few times I find it open in the morning. Someday, there will be things missing inside!

Most likely it is caused by me keeping the keyfob in my pockets, but I don't think this is acceptable to have it pop out so easily, once the alarm is armed. A quick software fix would be to disable it when the car is armed...

I'm beginning to consider surgery on the keyfob itself to disable that *?&?% button. Covering switch contacts with clear tape on the PCB would probably do the trick.

Has any of you got a better response from the dealer than "keep it out of your pockets"?

'09 Elantra GL (Canadian version)

I was having the same thing happen. We traced it back to an item we had in the trunk that would randomly push the emergency switch to open the trunk (the one inside the trunk, in case somebody get trapped in there). Since we moved the item out of the trunk, we have not had the issue again.

I'm 99.9% sure this can't be my case... nothing currently in the trunk could touch it. Plus I don't know if '07 was the same, but there's a 3 inches yellow shroud around the switch to avoid accidental movement of the switch.

Keyfob lobotomy might be happening soon.

GAAAAAHHH! Well, my trunk was again popped when I went outside this morning. Now who knows when it popped.....could have been this morning, or last night when I got home. This is starting to get aggrevating! Guess since Hyundai isn't willing to do anything for this issue, the main rule is, never keep anything in your trunk as it could get ruined or stolen due to the trunk always popping open at random.

If it is truly just the fob in my pocket.......which I have never had this issue with other fobs in the past.......then what am I supposed to do?? Put the fob in a titanium tube so no buttons are somehow accidentally pressed by random change? Seems a little stupid to me. Oh well. Guess it's the price we pay for modern technology.

I gave up and "protected" my keyfob against accidental trunk opening.

Once opened (follow the procedure to replace battery) I got a good look at it and used a small plastic cap to cover the PCB Switch. Once reassembled, everything works like I need. If it pops again, I'll do the same to the second keyfob... after that, it better not happen again, otherwise the dealer will have to do something.

What I really wonder is why trunk opening is so easy, but I never get a false panic button??? They're placed the same, just different side!

Yeah, I'm with you. I may end up doing the same thing to mine. And I also agree with you on the panic button. The fact it's placed basically the same as the trunk button, and it's even rubber-like, and yet, I've never had the panic mode go off before. Plus I've had fobs before with a trunk button, as well as some family members, and I've never seen this problem with other vehicles. Oh well, guess there's not much we can do other than mod our fobs!

It is too bad Hyundai doesn't acknowledge this problem and correct it with a software fix ... for example requiring 2 presses of the trunk button within a certain time (2 or 3 seconds) instead of opening with a single press.

Mine has also popped a third time. I came out one morning to go to work and it was wide open. I NEVER leave anything in my truck, which is unfortunate since why else do you have one anyway? I could almost see the first two times being caused by the keys in my pocket while I was at work, but I always leave my keys in my jacket at home. The dealer says the button is sensitive. So I'm going to try to deactivate mine as well. What a joke!

The trunk monkey has opened mine a few times as well. The last time I also lost all the XM presets on my radio, which leads me to believe there is something electronic going on.