Anyone experience the chatter the car makes when handwashing the car with the FOB in your pocket? Apparently the water acts as a conductor and as the water hits the car it repeatedly unlocks, locks, and does who knows what... just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.
Yep, I have too. Poke the SKS disable button under the steering column, then wash the car. Once you're done and it's dried off, enable the SKS again.
Thanks for the great tip! I just bathed my baby yesterday and had this happen. Turning off the SKS temporarily never occured to me, duh! Take care, Tisza
It's not the water, it's a combination of your moving around, and the timeouts programmed into the lock/unlock logic.
Just walking around the car shouldn't cause the power door locks to cycle. You have to touch the inside of either front door handle to unlock the door, and you have to touch the black button to lock. Of course, with a wash mitt you're going to be touching the inside of the door handle anyway. The first time this happened I opened the door, poked the SKS disable under the steering column, and never had that issue again. I think the manual also mentions if you go through a rainstorm or a car wash the SKS may not operate properly.
rain storm? do you sleep next to your car? hehe I've had this happen. kinda funny for the first little bit. it's like a bird taking a bath.. chirping.. she likes it
<wistfully> I used to hand wash my '04 a couple times a week. <sigh> I've NEVER hand washed my '05... it's kinda tough when the garden hose is frozen solid and has been since November. <best Napoleon Dynamite voice> you've got warm weather, decent winter mileage, lucky...
Per the 2005 Owner’s Manual, Page 31: “If a large amount of water is applied to the outside door handle . . . during heavy rain or car wash, and . . . smart key is near . . . the door(s) might be unlocked. However, if the outside front door handle is not pulled . . . the doors will lock automatically after about 30 seconds.†My Salsa baby chirps in delight too.
Actually, you don't have to touch the inside of the handle to activate the locks, just sliding your hand between the car and the inside of the handle will work. With that being said, if enough water was passing through this same space, it would make sense that it would unlock the doors. And of course they will then auto-lock if no door is opened.
