Locked keys in van

[Anthony1]

This weekend we stayed at Lydford Caravan and Camping Park. Very nice it is too, for walking around Dartmoor. It is a Caravan and Motorhome affiliated site.

While there a couple with a long wheel base T5 conversion locked their keys in the van. Apparently, the van kept locking itself!.

After trying everyone's VW keys, without success (no surprise there), they called the RAC. He had this implement that wedged the door open (no damage) and then with a long piece of stiff wire he lifted the small lock on the door sill and pulled the door handle, without success. It had been deadlocked.

After a lot of faffing about they unpicked the stitching on one of the raised roof windows and with the long wire hooked up the keys.

They were lucky the roof was up. And if they keys had been out of reach they would have been stuffed.

I recommended cutting the raised roof material which could then be patched.

Has this happened to anyone else? And how was it resolved?

Thank you.

 

[TripleBee]

I have not had this on my California.
But VW tends to have some locking issues since the VW Golf 4. If your door lock is faulty and does not recognise the door being opened, the car will close itself within 30 seconds.
My guess is that there is a faulty door lock (could be any door) that does not recognise the door being opened.
If every door was opened and the car still locks itself, it must be that every door lock is faulty or another, bigger problem.

 

[trix1975]

The same thing happened to me in . I keep the keys in the sun glasses compartment and had to cut at the base of the netting of the front window of the roof. Then reached in to get the key. Luckily the panel was unzipped.

 

[Hotel California]

You can pull the canvas out at the bottem , or break the sliding window open witch so my dealer said pretty easy as it are just two plastic pins keeping it locked.
Or have a surfkey hidden ....as i do (never had to use it doh)

 

[westfalia]

I have a surf key hidden in a better place than HC, he needs screwdriver
to get his key out.

 

[Meoncoast]

Lock the door on the keypad or push the drivers' door with a door open. Shut the open door and the van locks. Easy done when camping and nipping to the toilet block. I keep the keys on a lanyard around the gear stick and we have a rule last one out takes the key.

 

[Ting Tong]

You can pull the canvas out at the bottem , or break the sliding window open witch so my dealer said pretty easy as it are just two plastic pins keeping it locked.
Or have a surfkey hidden ....as i do (never had to use it doh)

The black rubber seal around the bottom of the canvas bellows is just pressed vertically down in the factory into a channel by 2 blokes with a crude block of ptfe and a mallet each... can’t be difficult to pull it out.

You get locked out if you lock from the driver’s door front buttons, then exit via the sliding door without pressing the unlock button at the front then close the sliding door.

 

[GillianC]

Timely thread for me.
My husband was telling me this weekend how ‘clever’ his flashy Mercedes is and how it was impossible for him to lock the keys inside it.
WRONG!! Today it locked his keys, coat and phones inside and him outside
No canvas for him to cut so had to call Merc assist and they picked the lock!

 

[andyinluton]

Timely thread for me.
My husband was telling me this weekend how ‘clever’ his flashy Mercedes is and how it was impossible for him to lock the keys inside it.
WRONG!! Today it locked his keys, coat and phones inside and him outside
No canvas for him to cut so had to call Merc assist and they picked the lock!

The Mercedes Me app if enabled on the car would have allowed remote unlocking by Mercedes HQ. Based on my experience it would have taken an hour or so to verify your ID prior to them doing it.

 

[GillianC]

The Mercedes Me app if enabled on the car would have allowed remote unlocking by Mercedes HQ. Based on my experience it would have taken an hour or so to verify your ID prior to them doing it.

Don’t know if he has the Me enabled. Suspect not as he is a bit of a dinosaur! He doesn’t know how he did it and can’t recreate it.
Off to the dealership tomorrow to shed some light on it. Suspect handler error

 

[jts46]

I was told “if you unlock vehicle AND do not open drivers door it will lock itself after 30 secs”

 

[ArunAlec]

I was told “if you unlock vehicle AND do not open drivers door it will lock itself after 30 secs”

With the Cali I think it’s not just the drivers door, opening the side door definitely stops it relocking.

 

[Loz]

Properly working side door locks shouldn’t lock you out but the popup lock on the slider can be an issue.
The tailgate single unlock feature is the risky one for locking your keys in the boot of the cali.

 

[Sp0_0k]

Yes it locks if unlocked via remote and no open door registered. We take the keys almost always even when leaving van open. Too bad VW has no option to completely remove autolocking which causes more major issues than helps.
Thats how AI will start to mess with us, without any evil plans or intentions, just following the safety procedure locking a car while you pee outside at -20'c

 

[Joker 1299]

All these useful tips on how to break into Californias - good job no-one dishonest reads this forum.

 

[Loz]

Too bad VW has no option to completely remove autolocking which causes more major issues than helps.

You can disable this with VCDS;


Edit: and you can do it with Carista

 

[NZCol]

Managed to do this on my old Cali in NZ when I went out on my surf ski. Got up on the bonnet and pulled the roof canvas out then climbed in. I was in a car park and nobody even asked what I was doing ? Once I’d sorted it out and got back in I got a bit of stiff plastic and a rock and put the roof canvas back in. Then I bought a surf key and put it in a magnetic holder underneath !

 

[ArunAlec]

With the Cali I think it’s not just the drivers door, opening the side door definitely stops it relocking.

Passenger door also!

 

[Loz]

BTW if anyone attending the Slimbridge meet wants the auto re-arm disabled, come and find me as I'll have my VCDS with me.

 

[PeteS]

When my wife locked the both keys in my Audi I called Audi Assistance. They offered two options 1) they would send the RAC within an hour but they may damage the car which they were not liable for or 2) wait for an Audi Technician to arrive from Audi Assistance.
The car was safe in a works car park so I opted for the wait for Audi Assistance. The guy drive from Swindon to Bristol. He used a special key that opened the door within about 30 seconds. The alarm did go off but slightly worrying was that you could buy the same type of key on the internet for £15.
If you have VW Assistance then it is worth giving them a call and seeing if they have someone in the area.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Elizabeth Silman]

I have not had this on my California.
But VW tends to have some locking issues since the VW Golf 4. If your door lock is faulty and does not recognise the door being opened, the car will close itself within 30 seconds.
My guess is that there is a faulty door lock (could be any door) that does not recognise the door being opened.
If every door was opened and the car still locks itself, it must be that every door lock is faulty or another, bigger problem.

My garage did this once - had to take me home for the spare. They did a lot of grovelling.

 

[DavidofHook]

This happened to us in Spain with our old T4 California. A man came from VW (but in a van apparently from a Toyota Garage!) and proceeded to bash the door open using a mallet and a plastic wedge. Horrible so I stopped him and a friend then helped by pushing a coat hanger through the side of the window and we got it open.
However, later having a key in a magnetic box did not work as there is no metal under the mudguards and we lost the key and the box when we drove off!

 

[2008 fresco]

Yes it locks if unlocked via remote and no open door registered. We take the keys almost always even when leaving van open. Too bad VW has no option to completely remove autolocking which causes more major issues than helps.
Thats how AI will start to mess with us, without any evil plans or intentions, just following the safety procedure locking a car while you pee outside at -20'c

Almost learnt the hard way, we had experienced our 08 Cali locking itself with keys in ignition so always travel with second set. Did it miles from anywhere up a gravel road so we were fortunate to have second set

 

[MattBW]

Likewise I always carry Carista and a VAGCOM device to meets

I recently saw a belt where the pin was a spare key for the van. It was not electronic so would only open the door but enough to get inside. Great idea but I can't find where to get one.

 

[Fast Freddie]

Where can I get a surf key and get it cut?