Well then I'll specifically test mine without pushing the start button to see if it does that too.

But not tonight

 

Cee Jay -

I am not asking my question on this forum to generate a discussion of whether the described problem is a plus or minus. I am simply trying to find the cause and/or the fix.

I certainly do not mind the car door locking itself when the spare fob is upstairs in the bedroom a few steps away. But I do not feel the same when I pull up to the office in San Diego, park the car, turn off the engine and get out to open the trunk and take out my laptop (closing the driver's side door behind me) and find that the car has locked me out - with the fob sitting inside in the well of the console - and the spare fob some 90 miles away.

This problem is happening two or three times a week and after seven years of driving the car, one forms a pattern of behavior that takes time to re-engineer.

 

AHH!!! I must have misread... Mine doesn't do it when the fob is around, only when it isn't near. I get it now, that really sucks. I think maybe your interior sensor is bad??? The door sensor probably works well enough to compensate sometimes, but not all the time. I never stick my Smartkey in the well, stays in my pocket.

 

As you have indicated, the failure of the system to detect the fob is inside the car, is the real problem you are experiencing. Everything else is secondary.
The auto lock may indeed be a feature, but the presence of a fob in the cabin should at all times override such a feature. Only manual intervention of a driver or passenger physically locking the doors should override the safety built into the system.

This still falls back to my original thought of a failed interior sensor, or a failure of the CLS unit itself. Personally, neither are something I would take on repairing myself, and feel your only real option is the get it to the dealership.

Another questionable area might be a faulty fob. I have had both mine replace because of a different issue (Intermittent function of the start button), so they do fail... Have you verified the car still auto-locks with the other fob?

 

The simple solution to this problem is to keep the fob in your pocket (presuming you have one) then the car cannot lock itself with the fob in the car. I had that problem once with my 08 at a car wash. Have never left the fob in the car since with the windows rolled all they way up.