Car wouldn't unlock!

So today, I was sat waiting stationary in my car for an hour while my daughter was at one of her kid's clubs. I had the car in Ready mode to use the air con. When the time came to collect her, I got out of the car and used the button on the boot/trunk to lock the car. I heard the mechanical noise of it locking. There were no beeps or anything else odd. I then collected my daughter and returned to the car a few minutes later.

When I got to the car, I noticed that the side mirrors weren't retracted (as would normally happen when you lock the car). I put my hand behind the driver's door handle, but the car didn't unlock. I pressed the unlock button on the remote a few times and nothing happened. I pressed the lock button on the remote and nothing happened either.

With no other options remaining, I used the emergency key hidden in the remote to unlock the car. This unlocked the door. The alarm immediately sounded. I pressed the unlock button on the remote to stop the alarm, but nothing changed and it was still making a noise. So, I put my foot on the brake and pressed the Start button. The car entered Ready mode and the alarm stopped a couple of seconds later. It should be noted here that I was holding the remote in the same hand that I was using to press the Start button, so it may or may not have detected they key via the usual radio method, or it may have detected it via the near-field antenna in the Start button (that is normally used when the remote battery is flat).

I tried several times to reproduce the issue exactly as above, but everything has returned to normal. So I drove home. Tried a few times since then, but again everything is normal.

Any thoughts?

I figured it could have been something locally interfering with the radio transmission from the remote, but not only do I park there twice a week and it's never happened before, but the car worked fine an hour prior in the same location (when I dropped my daughter off), and fine immediately after the issue occurred. I also thought it could be a weak/flat battery in the remote - it's getting on for nearly 2 years old (unless it was changed at the last service), but it seems to be working fine, and locking/unlocking the car from its usual distances.

 

Yeah, just tested it. Mine's the same. If the car isn't completely off it makes a fuss when I close the door (long beep), and refuses to lock via the exterior buttons or remote.

I'll check the 12V battery tomorrow, but it's less than 2 years old, and would have been charging for an hour around 5 minutes before the issue occurred. It's had no problems been left for several days recently.

I think something went wrong during the locking, due to the mirrors not being filled in. I wonder if I pressed both the lock and unlock buttons within quick succession on the boot/trunk and that confused it. That's easy to do as the buttons are next to each other and not visible.

 

Good idea. No fault codes though, at least none that OBD2 shows that haven't been automatically cleared by starting the car three times. A TechStream may show more of course.

 

It's certainly possible that if I pressed the lock and unlock buttons on the boot in quick succession that some of those inputs might be in an unexpected state, such as the mirror position.

I also wonder if the automatic locking system has anything to do with it. If you press unlock, and no doors are opened in around 30 seconds then the doors automatically relock. Maybe I pressed lock then unlock really quickly.

I've tried really hard to reproduce it, but it's all still working fine today.

 

Gotta admit that I love Linux myself. Updates? If they take longer than 10 seconds I'd be worried, no reboots, computer is perfectly useable throughout. I allocate that many hours to do Windows updates, resigned to the fact the machine will be slow as hell during that time, and I'll have to close all my work for the inevitable reboot.