I think Iv'e gone a month without ever locking my car...

Moreover, had someone bothered to press the start button, they could've driven my car away!

Yesterday, I noticed another spare key under my owners manual in my glove. I always thought my car was unlocked and starting because of my main key in my pocket but in actuality the car had always had a key in its proximity.

Now when I re-approach my car, for the first time my mirrors are retracted letting me know the car had locked itself as I walked away the night before. I'm assuming, like in most cars this car automatically stays in unlock mode when it detects a key within itself so one can't accidentally lock their key in the car, right? That's how my Mercedes behaved.

I'm lucky I still have a Jag, let alone my laptop and cell.

 

Lucky guy!

 

You went a month before reading the Owners Manual. Shame on you.

Graham

 

You aren't dumb, just preoccupied with other things, like the mods you are making on your Jag, and probably a gazillion other things. But thanks for sharing so that the rest of us hopefully won't expose ourselves to the same risks. So-called modern conveniences are often a two-edged sword.

 

But more about not knowing there was a secondary key in my glove

 

I thought the outside mirrors retract only when you lock the car either using the key fob or hit the door handle to lock it, otherwise, the car remains unlocked if one of these procedures is not used. I have my owner's manual right by my "lazy man" chair so I guess I will look this up.

 

The car, also, "complains" with 2 "tweets" when it can't perform the command you are trying to use to say I'm terribly sorry old chap something is amiss and must be corrected before I can do that task.

 

How did the key get there?!

I probably wouldn't have realized it either, unless I was only given one key when I bought the car and was left wondering what happened to the other one!

 

Well since both my keys look the same (My Mercedes secondary key was more a valet key with a different look) it's sometimes hard to tell because It's not a primary/secondary key situation. So giving my car to a body shop or whatever I may have given them two keys over the month my car was in the shop not being sure what key they had. Apparently, I provided two keys and they put one in the glove for me for safekeeping.

Stuff happens.

So there is no "Autolock" mode anyways as I'm finding out. Our cars don't lock themselves when walking away with the key in your pocket, like just about any other car. Even my Nissan has this feature, although it has an aftermarket alarm.

 

I'm glad you pointed this out. When one owns multiple cars it is easy to be confused and attribute the capabilities of one of them to another.

My '09 Corvette locks itself when I walk away with the key fob in my pocket, so it was easy to assume my '11 Jaguar XJL, a newer and supposedly more sophisticated car, would have equal capabilities. Not so.

I had to learn to push the little button in a door handle, or on the fob, before walking away to keep my car's rather expensive contents secure.

 

I think it's a serious failing that the XJ doesn't auto-lock when the key moves more than a certain distance away. Even my 2006 Renault does that!

All I can say to the OP is that I'm happy you move around in safe neighbourhoods!

 

A serious failing? Really? Maybe it's because I've never had a car that auto locks, but I don't consider this a problem at all. In fact, I wasn't even aware that some cars had this feature. How difficult is it to press a button on the door handle before you walk away from the car?

 

IMHO we are getting to the point where there is too much technology and as we come to rely on it so much that we become less aware of our surroundings and become complaisant to the point where we are lulled into a false sense of security. I think it's good to have to lock your car manually that way you know it's locked. Likewise some of these new driving aids that take your concentration away from actually driving allows for more opportunity to have an accident, because you don't have to pay attention to what's going on. Just my 02 cents.

 

I may have overstated the seriousness! But I have one car that auto-locks when I move more than about 6 feet away, and one that doesn't...

So it's a pretty salient issue for me,

 

What he said!

The issue arises most when you already own another car with this feature. One would also assume any luxury marque, especially a new Jag XJ loaded with so many other conveniences, would include this rather basic feature.

But remember as to the point of this post, regardless of how you lock the car, if there is a key in the glove, the car will unlock again.