What does long BEEP mean when locking car?

If any door is open you'll get a single long beep when you try locking the door. If the hatch is open, you'll get an extra long, single long beep. If it happens even when all of your doors are shut, I'm not sure what the problem is.

-m.

 

I had this problem too when I first got my car...it has something to do with the key/fob being too close to the door handle. Did you have the fob in your hand when you pushed the button?

Earthlovergrrl

 

It happens to me when I try to lock the door before it's closed, or when my wife and I go somewhere and she leaves her purse with her extra key fob in the car.

 

Maybe an extra SE/SS fob has been left in JillN2's car? In the glove compartment?

 

I thought about that, but if it doesn't do it all the time, it's probably not the case.

 

I've found that when I get the long beep, it's because one of the doors (usually the hatchback) is not closed properly.

 

I think I sometimes get the long beep if I grab the handle like you do for opening it while I touch the black button. Now I just touch the black button. I think it is trying to tell me that I am doing two contradicting things.

 

You also get the long beep if you forgot to turn off the car!

I didn't really imagine this would be a problem, but I've done it twice now (while out of town and with a lot of other things on my mind!).

Something to check ...

 

I got the long beep once while trying to use the black button to lock it. Using the key fob button worked. I turned the power on and off trying to reset it. Nothing I did made any difference. I even walked away and left my keys laying on the ground 30 feet away. Eventually I just locked it with the fob and went about my business. The next time I tried it (after driving a few miles) all was back to normal. Maybe the spirit of Bill Gates invaded the Prius programs for a while?

 

I've found that if you get out and lock the door quickly, the car doesn't know that you're outside yet and won't lock the doors. Waiting a few seconds and pressing the lock button again will lock the doors. If my wife ever leaves her purse in the car with the other keyfob, using the buttons on the car won't lock it and will just give me the long beep. Using the lock button on the fob will lock the doors even when the other key is still in the car.

 

This happens to me occasionally for no apparent reason at all (no door ajar, no key fob in my hand, no having forgotten to turn off the power button). But I always go back in and check, turning the power button on then off again, then closing the door, and having the lock work correctly (short beep). I equate it to a brief CPU glitch, just like those I get on my PC now and then.

As one poster stated, the lock button on the key fob provides the short beep and lock even after the long beep using the button on the handle, but generally I'd rather just go back in and make sure I didn't forget something.