Strange Door Locking

Water/moisture will affect the system.

 

OK, as long as "water/moisture" won't unlock the car.

 

Maybe the sensor is an IR sensor and the water because of a temp difference activated the lock sensor like the presence of your hand would?
Anybody know how the sensor works?

 

Water running over the touch sensor in the door handle makes it think your fingers are touching it. To lock or unlock, you have to be in close proximity to the door with your fob on the outside of the car. Obviously water can't make it lock or unlock if you aren't standing there with the fob.

Tom

 

I noticed similar and just assumed that the sensor is a conductivity/resistivity (don't know the proper term) type where your skin, or water in this case, bridges the 2 terminals. But I forget if it worked both ways. And actually it was more reproducible if I pointed the spray directly at the handle, rather than the water just dripping on it.

Maybe your locking was the auto-locking feature?

 

When you touch the sensor pad, you carry the static charges away accumulated on it. It senses the drop in voltage, and interprets the "touching". (try wearing a latex grove and to unlock it ....)

When water contains detergent (ions), it becomes a better conductor than, say, rains.
Try that with clean tap water. It won't happen as readily.
My educated guess, of course.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/68138-rinsing-car-set-off-alert.html

From post 10 in the thread above:
The Owners Manual does address this problem on page 50 and 51:
- The doors may unlock or lock if a large amount of water splashes on the door handle, such as in the rain or in a car wash when the electronic key is in the effective range. (The doors will automatically be locked after approximately 60 seconds if the doors are not opened and closed.)
- If the key is kept near the vehicle while it is being washed, water appplied to a door handle mahy cause the door to lock and unlock repeatedly. In this event, place the key in a location 6 ft. or more from the vehicle taking care not to lost the key.
- If the key is inside the vehicle whle it is being washed, water applied to a door handle may cause a buzzer to sound. In this event, locking the doors will cause the buzzer to stop sounding.

 

So, in other words, this is a "feature", not a "bug" since Toyota's manual already covers it in details.

 

I prefer to think of it as a mystery explained, a non-issue. :spy:

 

I noticed that the car doors automatically locks ~1-2 minutes after unlocking them w/o opening (not sure what happens if doors are opened/closed). This happened to me last night when I unlocked the doors for my wife using the remote button so that she could access the inside. But right when she was about to open one of the doors, the car beeped once and the doors locked. Goes w/o saying that she wasn't too happy with me after that.

 

G2 and G3 Prii will relock the doors if they have been unlocked but then not opened within a certain amount of time.

If you unlock them, open them, and then shut them, they will stay unlocked.

My Sienna does the same thing.

 

My finding is that if you leave the key in the car(cup holder), the alert will sound but will not lock(which implies not unlock) when the water hits the sensor.

This is really good for those times when the carwash people send your car through the wash since there is no body in it. Wouldn't ya just love it. They put your car in neutral, shut the door, send it through and if it were to lock(keys in it) and they couldn't get in to move it?

I do wish there was a way to disable the locks temporarily as it is an annoying feature.

--Mickey

 

It just occurred to me I can't use the little under-car magnetic key holder anymore or my car will just open for anyone and everyone.

Kind of like the way my dog guards my house.

"Hi badguys! welcome... let me show you were she keeps the silver."...

 

Others in other threads have discovered that you can wrap a fob in aluminum foil to prevent it from activating the car sensors.