Car locks on it's own 30 seconds after unlocking

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Gutsy, Mar 13, 2013.

  1. Gutsy

    Gutsy Junior Member

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    I'm hoping someone can help me. I have a 2008 Prius (I am the original owner) and all was well this morning when I went to work (12 mile trip). I went to the car at noon for lunch and the car door wouldn't open when I touched the door handle, nor when I pressed the unlock button on the fob, so I used my key to get in. The car also wouldn't start, so I inserted my fob in the slot to get it started. I arrived at my destinationand locked the car. When returning to my car, the car door unlocked automatically this time when touching the handle, but I couldn't start the car so I inserted the fob in the slot.

    When I got home I replaced the battery in the fob and now the car recognizes the fob and the doors open automatically ... but now, after clicking the fob to Unlock the door ... just 30 seconds later, the doors lock by themselves automatically. At the time my wife was 12 miles away with the 2nd fob. When my wife returned, I used her fob to unlock the door, and it again locked on it's own again after 30 seconds (I timed it). So I decided to remove the new battery from my fob (in case the button was stuck), and I then used her fob and again ... the car locked on it's own again, 30 seconds later. I rarely use the fob buttons to lock and unlock the car.

    Any ideas? The car has 54,000 on it and this is the fiorst time this has happened.
    Thanks in advance for your help or advice.


     
    #1 Gutsy, Mar 13, 2013
  2. walterm

    walterm Active Member

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    Actually I think you'll find this is correct behavior - if you unlock the doors using the remote but don't open anything they will relock themselves after 30 seconds for security. In the Gen 3 I think that changed to 1 minute (by default, but is dealer-programmable to different timeout values), but it still relocks if you don't open a door or the hatch in time.
     
    #2 walterm, Mar 13, 2013
  3. Gutsy

    Gutsy Junior Member

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    Thank you Wlterm. I never realized that was the case. I don't believe I ever unlocked the car without opening the door to realize that it automatically locks after 30 seconds. Thanks for getting back to me.
     
    #3 Gutsy, Mar 13, 2013
  4. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    A few times, I unlocked the Prius with the key FOB inside my house and went out to the car to get something only to find out its still locked :mad:

    This all makes sense now - I took too long to get outside after unlocking Prius and not opening it, so it relocked. I thought I was going crazy (which still might be true but at least I know I can scratch this off the list) lol. :D
     
    #4 PriusGuy32, Mar 14, 2013
  5. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    I always press the unlock button on the arm rest as I get out of my 2004 Prius after parking in my garage. Then when I go back to it, the car is still unlocked.

    JeffD
     
    #5 jdenenberg, Mar 14, 2013
  6. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    I don't know about Gen 2, but I was able to have my car programmed to not do this (though it took the dealer half an hour to acknowledge that it was actually possible).
     
    #6 css28, Mar 14, 2013
  7. Rocket Man

    Rocket Man Junior Member

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    The 30 second re-lock function is a common feature in Toyota products. I believe the thinking is: what if the car is accidentally unlocked (by whatever means)?
     
    #7 Rocket Man, Mar 19, 2013
  8. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    ^^^
    Yep, the behavior is by design. It won't auto-relock itself if a door is opened before the auto-lock timeout.

    It should be mentioned in the manual somewhere.
     
    #8 cwerdna, Mar 19, 2013
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