On my '08 Elantra, the doors lock by themselves whenever I leave the car. I almost locked myself out in a gas station when I left my keys in the car but luckily the window was down. This feaure is spectacularly annoying. Is there any way to disarm this feature?

In Long Beach California, or anywhere in Southern California, you should not leave your Keys in the Car,

and with the Windows down. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif) It is probably RF (Radio Waves)

Your Alarm could be set to lock all Doors after your exit your Car? Active vs Passive.

Sheees, I sure wisn my Sonata had the auto lock feature.

No it doesn't. I have the top of the line Model, and the Alarm system is a Joke. No Microphone

or shock sensors that came standard in the $79 Alarm of the Eighties. You should have seen my Excel

during an Earthquake. Really heard it, but when the quake moves your Car, that is something worth seeing!

I have not been able to figure this out on my 08 Elantra GLS. It is not consistent. I never lock the doors when parked in my garage. Often, but not always, I find them locked when I try to open the door. At first I thought it was accidental engagement of the fob ... similar to the trunk opening problem discussed in another thread. But if that was the case, I think it would be equally likely to find the car unlocked in the parking lot when it is supposed to be locked. I often check the lock before opening the door and have never found the doors unlocked when they are supposed to be locked.

So when do the doors auto lock? Is there a specific sequence that causes it ... like opening the door before removing the key from the ignitio? Or opening and closing the doors multiple times? If auto-lock is supposed to be a feature, it is pretty much worthless because you couldn't depend on it. It has me baffled.

This post has been edited by alanb: Oct 20 2009, 11:16 AM

On our 99 Camry the doors will relock automatically if the doors are locked then one unlocks the doors with the key fob but does not start the car in 60 seconds. If the car has been driven and the driver turns off the car and does not lock the doors the doors will not relock. I suspect similar logic on the Elantra. I'll check the next time my son stops by.

Thanks for the post jeff3820. I think you have hit on the right answer to this. I just tested it with my Elantra ... it had been sitting in the garage for a few hours and the doors were still unlocked. I locked them with the fob, then one hour later unlocked them with the fob. I didn't open the doors or start the car. I checked a few minutes later and sure enough, the doors were locked again.

I think your explanation also confirms the theory of accidental engagement of the fob. If you left the car unlocked, then accidentally engaged the lock button, the doors would of course be locked. On the other hand if you leave the doors locked and accidentally engage the unlock button, the doors will re-lock automatically after a few minutes. So accidental fob engagement could cause an open trunk lid and unexpected locked doors, but not unexpected unlocked doors.

Edit: I am still experimenting with this, but I have discovered that if you unlock the doors, then press the unlock again on the fob with the door open, the doors do not auto re-lock. There may be other combinations that cause or prevent the auto-lock. If anyone knows of them, please post. The owners manual says this "After depressing this button [unlock], the doors will be locked automatically unless you
open any door within 30 seconds."

This post has been edited by alanb: Oct 21 2009, 03:08 PM

Jeff is correct. If the doors are locked, and you press the unlock button on the fob, but then don't open any doors or start the car, the doors will automatically re-lock themselves within about 60 seconds. I believe this is documented somewhere in the manual......I'm at work so I can't confirm this at the moment. But I have tested this and it definitely does this as part of the "security system." It can be a little nerve-racking if you do leave your keys in the car or in the house and it relocks. Just something you have to get used to as far as I know. I doubt it can be disabled by the dealership. Course I could be wrong on that. I've gotten used to it, and actually it's a pretty nice feature that makes sure the doors are locked, even when you forget to re-lock them.

Read in the owners manual. It tells about the automatic locking of doors. Also if you go in the trunk and then leave, the car doors will lock.

Yup. Had the dealer program mine to not unlock when sitting at a stop with the engine running and the transmission in park. Love it !

But what happens if you start your engine then get out to scrape your windsheild? You could lock yourself out of the car and the house.

I don't think the doors will autolock when the key is in the ignition. But just to be safe, you might want to crank a window down a bit or leave the door ajar. The other idea is to get the type of key chain where you can easily separate the fob from the key when necessary.

The doors will not lock with the engine running until the transmission is placed into the D or R position. Thus, I can start the car, close the door to allow it to warm up if I choose and scrape the frost off the windshield without fear of the doors self locking with the fob inside the car.