STRANGE Happenings????

[Bolly]

The car is a AU2 XR8..... 1 month ago i parked and locked the car in a shopping centre using the remote, 2 hours later i noticed as i was walking towards the left side of the car that the left front door was slightly open and the rest of the doors were in the unlocked position..Instantly i thought i was broken into. But strangely no damage to the door and nothing was taken, i even left the GPS on the window and couldnt believe it was still there.
So i figured i forgot to alarm the car and the person who opened the door saw me coming and ran off...So i left it at that..
Well it happened again?? Today!! This time i went to see the Doc and parked the car, this time I know i used the remote to lock the car, went to the boot to get something out, as i walked passed the car ( Driver side ) i pulled on the door handles on the rear and front drivers side doors just to make sure the car was locked.. Came back to the car half hour later and noticed the driver door lock button was up and the driver rear door was slightly opened, checked inside and nothing was taken, GPS was still in the glove box plus around $20 of change,nothing taken? and no forced damage anywhere.
I now have locked the car in the garage for 2 hours and is stilled locked, thinking some sort of electronic problem with the Alarm system..
My other way of thinking is that someone is using some type of decoding device and iv`e been lucky and came back in time to the car before they went through it.. : Has anyone come across this problem???
Cheers

[bodes-sh]

can't say i've heard of that happening before....apparently with the smartshield system, they use rolling codes, basically the code changes every time you press the button so theoretically nobody could "copy" it...but stranger things have happened....

[howesy]

Go through the retraining procedure for your remotes as this will also delete any other remotes that may have been put on the system by previous owners or dishonest service persons.

Procedure-:
Sitting in the car with all doors shut and all fobs to be retrained with you.
Begin with ign in the off (0) pos. turn to acc (1) position
press rear window demister button 3 times within 5 seconds. The door locks should cycle to indicate the system is in learning mode and at this point all fobs have now been erased from the system.
Press the unlock button on each of the fobs you wish to train to the system and then turn the ign to the off(0) position and the door locks should cycle to indicate that the fobs have been trained to the system.

A maximum of 4 fobs can be trained to the system at once.

[Night]

I had something simular that happen on my series 1 Fairmont a few weeks back. I was rotating the wheels and the car would arm itself after about 3 minutes, I would disarm it and after 3 minutes it armed itself again. At first I thought that maybe my daughter might have found the spare keys and was playing with the remote but she wasn't. I didn't do anything other than get the jack and spare out of the boot and this started happening. I started thinking it was a option in the alarm and somehow I must have activated it but as I said I didn't do anything to the car. Anyhow after about an hour everything went back to normal and it stopped arming itself. Had me miffed anyway.

[blackers10]

they self lock if you do not open a door within X time...

[falconboy]

It may be something with the smartshield, but that doesn't explain the doors being open, surely you haven't been unlucky enough that on the 2 occasions its unlocked itself that you were also unlucky enough to get someone come along, open the door and be scared off......sounds more like you have a stalker to me. Or Alzheimers.

[Bolly]

Thanks Howesy, will try it but one thing..what do you mean by FOBS?

It is Falconboy,how luck can i be to scare them off! Or did I!! Sound like X Files...
Went out to the garage and the car is still locked...
I thinking of taking the car to a populated car park, hide in some corner and just wait and see...see if i have got some type of stalker!

[mattp]

Yeah, even if it was a glitch and was somehow unlocking itself, that doesn't explain the doors being ajar. Seems to be too much of a coincidence if someone has opened a door both times and not taken anything. Very strange.

[Bobman]

While we're on the topic.

Never press the unlock button on the dash at the same time that someone grabs the passenger door (to get in).

That will jam the actuator, resulting in a door which won't close

We had that plenty of times with taxis and the odd occy strap around both LH doors to keep it semi-shut.

[BIGJB]

umm.... ya ever watched Christine???

[honer]

Very odd however I'd be following howesy's advice for now

[Abacus]

I recall, on one occassion, simultaneously unlocking my AU and another AU parked next to it with one press on my remote. It does happen.

But having it happen twice is freaky, and doesn't explain the doors physically opening.

Do you know the full history of this car? Was anybody ever murdered in it.......may be it's haunted.

[Mont5.0]

If you bought it locally maybe the old owner is trying to freak you out?

[Bolly]

It is scary...Its got to a stage where i wont use the car if im going to park it for more than 10 mins.. I checked the car this morning and its still locked..?? I hate the feeling when you get to your car and the door is open and your heart starts beating faster..once was bad but twice within a month, and i use a motor bike to go most places...

[howesy]

Originally Posted by Bolly

..what do you mean by FOBS?

Just another name for the electronic opener upper key thingamajiggy.

[broken_suave]

Still having this problem?

My mother had what sounds to be the same problem with her AUIII Fairmont. Turns out the front passenger door latch was loose but sticky, so it felt like it was closed properly, and when you checked the handle, it pretended to be locked, but it would slowly release the door.

So this, combined with the door ajar feature (when you try to lock the car, but one of the doors isnt closed properly), after 30 mins the door would release enough to set off the door ajar system. So the car would beep its horn and unlock all the doors. Leaving the door with the loose latch, slightly ajar.

Make any sense? Maybe check to make sure its not anything like this.

[Bolly]

Thanks for that..
No probs lately, but always worried leaving the car anywhere..
Cheers
Bolly

[autickfordfairmont]

I was in a ford dealer years ago when the AU's were still new (series 3 at least) and wen to test drive one of the cars, salesman went inside to get the key, pressed unlock and the car unlocked, along with the one sitting next to it. Pressed again, both locked, pressed again, both unlocked. I said "great security feature, so this means that you guys will throw in an aftermarket alarm for free right", he couldn't explain it.
I have done it myself in a shopping car park at night, no one around, walked to my car pressed the button and another 3 cars up flashed aswell, I looked around and no one was there. Sat there and waited and after the 3 mins it locked itself again and off i drove. I also now have an alarm fitted aswell.
I quite often walk out to my car and find it unlocked, i simply put it down to me being an idiot and forgetting to lock it. Im in real estate so im in and out all day, so it tends to happen a bit.

[Bolly]

Thats a worry, i`m going to use my remote next time i`m walking in a car park and see what happens!!

[sly]

Originally Posted by broken_suave

Still having this problem?

My mother had what sounds to be the same problem with her AUIII Fairmont. Turns out the front passenger door latch was loose but sticky, so it felt like it was closed properly, and when you checked the handle, it pretended to be locked, but it would slowly release the door.

So this, combined with the door ajar feature (when you try to lock the car, but one of the doors isnt closed properly), after 30 mins the door would release enough to set off the door ajar system. So the car would beep its horn and unlock all the doors. Leaving the door with the loose latch, slightly ajar.

Make any sense? Maybe check to make sure its not anything like this.

I've had exactly this happen too. Found the car unlocked with the rear passenger side door open a couple of times. After a while the door latch started playing up properly... not catching at all when closing the door, then not opening with the outside handle. It's still only intermittent, but I'll have to stick my head in there sometime and try to work out what needs replacing.

[Bolly]

Thanks Sly
Am i better off getting a after market alarm system?

[broken_suave]

Talk to someone like Stav for alarms, he knows his stuff and he drives an AU.