We just got our first Prius - 2003 (via a dealer from a trade-in the night before we first saw it!). We're generally quite pleased with it! I'm having a problem with driver door lock. When I use the door lock button on the door arm rest (by the window buttons), it locks all the other three doors, but not the driver door. It locks when I manually turn the lock right by door handle, and it locks using the key. And now I have a fob programmed (didn't come with the car, but is an OEM one that I programmed). Everything works except the driver's door won't lock. It locks the other side, and the door behind the driver, and then in a moment, the door behind the driver unlocks again. It also won't unlock via the fob... Am I missing something?? Also, I can't find the Gen 1 forum to post this in.... Thanks!
Welcome to the club! Use the search function for 'door lock' as the subject was covered extensively in the recent past. You might also read some of the 'stickies'. Bob Wilson
It sounds you need a new/used actuator for the driver's door lock and have a fault in the door closed sensor / wiring on the other door that auto unlocks itself. But that's just my best guess.
+1 on replacing the actuator. The re-unlocking a moment after locking is not a second fault of any kind, it's just the system working as it is programmed to. When you tell it to lock, it tries to lock all the doors, a moment later, if it still sees the state of one of the doors as unlocked (which is correct: the driver's door has not locked) it does a re-unlock, in the hope that you will notice and check out the problem. You can get new, no-name actuators on eBay for a tenth the price at the dealer. I have one in my driver's door now, it's been working fine since June. The first one I bought back in March was built wrong, so at that price you takes your chances. But it's no big deal if you just bench test it when it's delivered, and if it isn't right, get a refund and get another. It's a lot less frustrating to test on the bench than to go through the whole exercise of putting it in the door and then notice the problem. My posts about it from back in March and June explain how to test before you put it in the car. I also included a link to the seller I got the working one from in June. I didn't include a link to the other seller. (In fairness to the first seller, they did have a chat with their offshore supplier, and then remove their eBay listing for the product, after I showed them the issue.) -Chap
