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Pitfalls of Keyless Ignition

7K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  usslasalle 
#1 ·
Done it again - I must be more careful closing windows at night, open to prevent heat build up in the car. For some reason I find myself forgetting to turn the ignition off after closing the windows when putting my CTS to bed in the driveway. I get in with keys about me, turn ignition on, and close the windows. Then I usually hit the easy/exit button to return the seat to normal entry position. But w/o using a key to turn ignition on, I have forgotten to turn ignition off. I dont start the car but just turn ignition on while straddling the front seat. Then get out.
Only by sheer luck did I later notice my headlights on(now dark outside). Dont know how long lights were on. There doesnt appear to be an energy safeguard to turn them off after so many minutes if ignition is left on. Battery Saver Active was in the DIC indicating EPM was trying to do its thing.
Turned car on and ran a bit - voltage a little low just below 14.0.
Of course in the old days we would turn car off and remove keys. Done this twice now over the past couple of years.
 
#2 ·
jghiller said:
Done it again - I must be more careful closing windows at night, open to prevent heat build up in the car. For some reason I find myself forgetting to turn the ignition off after closing the windows when putting my CTS to bed in the driveway. I get in with keys about me, turn ignition on, and close the windows. Then I usually hit the easy/exit button to return the seat to normal entry position. But w/o using a key to turn ignition on, I have forgotten to turn ignition off. I dont start the car but just turn ignition on while straddling the front seat. Then get out.
Only by sheer luck did I later notice my headlights on(now dark outside). Dont know how long lights were on. There doesnt appear to be an energy safeguard to turn them off after so many minutes if ignition is left on. Battery Saver Active was in the DIC indicating EPM was trying to do its thing.
Turned car on and ran a bit - voltage a little low just below 14.0.
Of course in the old days we would turn car off and remove keys. Done this twice now over the past couple of years.
I thought it would still shut everything off. When I just got the car and I was transferring music to the HDD it would sit in the garage with the ignition set to ACC.

After a while the headlights would go off, the the interior lights would come on, and then everything would go off.

Now after typing all this I realize you probably had the key in the ON position.
 
#3 ·
According to manual:
To keep the lamps on for more than
10 minutes, the ignition must be in
the ACC/ACCESSORY or ON/RUN
position

So I based my comments on that info. But things may change if you are in car with door closed doing something versus turing on ignition and then exiting vehicle. It would seem logical that as part of all the power saving controls/features that at some point the lights would go off or at least change to parking lights. Not something I plan on checking.
 
#4 ·
Sadly or ironically, i just this yesterday and needed to get vehicle jump started.

My second time as well, so don't feel bad you have others that feel your pain.

I blame Caddy...they make the car too simple. I walk up the car and it unlocks...i walk away it locks, headlights and wipers turn on automatically, i just need to remember to steer the car, it does the rest. So i blame Caddy for making me forget to turn the ignition off...it should do this too :)
 
#5 ·
My Mom has a 2005 STS and when you leave the car on and walk away from the car with the key fob it sounds the horn with 3 quick blasts. The DIC also gives a message about no key fobs present. I don't recall if that happens in accy mode or only when it is running. It does shut down after 10 min. or so when just in accy. listening to radio. Drove me nuts, had to keep pushing the button to keep listening over the half hour I was waiting with the car. But in the end with all the little features you can change with a Tech 2 or MDI every car can be unique.
 
#19 ·
Had this happen he other day in a supermarket parking lot. Got out, walked away expecting to hear the beeps after about 7 seconds (BTW, is there any way to speed this up?) but heard nothing . I thought I just missed the beeps (I'm hard of hearing) so I took out the remote and pressed lock. Nothing happened. What the hell, now what? Kept pressing and pressing. Finally opened the door, got in expecting to see some sort of error message. Forgot to turn off the ignition "key". Duh. If I had left it, someone would have had an easy time driving away a new Cadillac. But once he stopped it, how would he have started i again?
 
#8 ·
On my STS, I can put up all the windows from outside the car using my FOB - I would bet you have that capability with your CTS also. That's a handy feature, especially when you leave your windows lowered some while at work - and a storm comes up, I can raise all the windows from inside my office.
 
#9 ·
I have had this issue as well on my 09 CTS-V. I turned it on long enough to get my current mileage. Shut the door and forgot to turn the ignition back. An hour or two later I saw my headlights were flashing. In addition, my locks were ticking like it was constantly trying to lock or unlock. When I got in my car it said the theft "whatever" was activated. Then the car shut down, I couldn't do anything, including pop the trunk in order to charge the battery. I had to reach through my back seat and pull the trunk release, charged it and all was back to normal.

I am also having a terrible time with the Fob not being recognized and my car locking even though the Fob is in the cup holder. I was so lucky, that on Easter Sunday, I had both sets of keys with me and it didn't recognize either set, and locked my car. First locksmith was unsuccessful and caused $300 damage to the trim around my windows. Second was better and got it unlocked for me. Of course the dealership cannot recreate the issue, for which it happens so often, I had to get OnStar activated so that they can unlock it for me Anyone else experiencing this?
 
#10 ·
Hello ctjaden,

I am sorry for the trouble you are experiencing with your 2009 CTS-V. I understand how it can be frustrating when dealing with key fob issues. I would like the opportunity to further discuss your situation with you. Please reach out to us via private message. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Laura M.
Cadillac Customer Care
 
#11 ·
Given the key doesn't work if you have an iPhone I think the whole idea is idiotic. How hard is it to put the key in the ignition or press the button to open the doors? I have been locked in the car when my wife took the keys and she has been locked out when she left her phone AND keys in the car. What a terrible idea. My Ducati. Does the same thing. Won't start if I have my key and IPhone on me. It's a joke. You still need the key for luggage or gas cap, so wtf do they come up with this for? My old Chevy works fine with a key. My VW is busted up to where the doors don't open or lock yet it still works fine to put the key in the ignition to start.

Please bring back keys.
 
#12 ·
Ramv said:
Given the key doesn't work if you have an iPhone I think the whole idea is idiotic. How hard is it to put the key in the ignition or press the button to open the doors? I have been locked in the car when my wife took the keys and she has been locked out when she left her phone AND keys in the car. What a terrible idea. My Ducati. Does the same thing. Won't start if I have my key and IPhone on me. It's a joke. You still need the key for luggage or gas cap, so wtf do they come up with this for? My old Chevy works fine with a key. My VW is busted up to where the doors don't open or lock yet it still works fine to put the key in the ignition to start.

Please bring back keys.
Huh? I have an iPhone and have never had an issue, and how did you get locked in?
 
#13 ·
ctjaden said:
I have had this issue as well on my 09 CTS-V. I turned it on long enough to get my current mileage. Shut the door and forgot to turn the ignition back. An hour or two later I saw my headlights were flashing. In addition, my locks were ticking like it was constantly trying to lock or unlock. When I got in my car it said the theft "whatever" was activated. Then the car shut down, I couldn't do anything, including pop the trunk in order to charge the battery. I had to reach through my back seat and pull the trunk release, charged it and all was back to normal.

I am also having a terrible time with the Fob not being recognized and my car locking even though the Fob is in the cup holder. I was so lucky, that on Easter Sunday, I had both sets of keys with me and it didn't recognize either set, and locked my car. First locksmith was unsuccessful and caused $300 damage to the trim around my windows. Second was better and got it unlocked for me. Of course the dealership cannot recreate the issue, for which it happens so often, I had to get OnStar activated so that they can unlock it for me Anyone else experiencing this?
My suggestion would be to replace your FOB batteries...never experienced that issue.
 
#14 ·
Ramv said:
Given the key doesn't work if you have an iPhone I think the whole idea is idiotic. How hard is it to put the key in the ignition or press the button to open the doors? I have been locked in the car when my wife took the keys and she has been locked out when she left her phone AND keys in the car. What a terrible idea. My Ducati. Does the same thing. Won't start if I have my key and IPhone on me. It's a joke. You still need the key for luggage or gas cap, so wtf do they come up with this for? My old Chevy works fine with a key. My VW is busted up to where the doors don't open or lock yet it still works fine to put the key in the ignition to start.

Please bring back keys.
Who ever told you that an iPhone had anything to do with these issues pulled one over on you. That's just ridiculous!!
 
#16 ·
No it's not. I hooked up a wireless mouse to one of my employee's computer when he upgraded his iPhone. That new iPhone wreaked havoc on his mouse for weeks...moving text, clicking buttons, locking the system forcing a password unlock. He was able to prove it was the iPhone because it stopped happening each time he moved the iPhone about 5 feet away, basically just out of arms reach of his chair. It can cause all sorts of stuff. 3 replacement mice later the fun wore off and the iPhone had no further effect on the computer. :shhh:
 
#17 ·
HurstGN said:
No it's not. I hooked up a wireless mouse to one of my employee's computer when he upgraded his iPhone. That new iPhone wreaked havoc on his mouse for weeks...moving text, clicking buttons, locking the system forcing a password unlock. He was able to prove it was the iPhone because it stopped happening each time he moved the iPhone about 5 feet away, basically just out of arms reach of his chair. It can cause all sorts of stuff. 3 replacement mice later the fun wore off and the iPhone had no further effect on the computer. :shhh:
Is anyone else having issues with their car key because they have an iPhone? I'm not, nor have I ever heard this being an issue....I have two iPhones actually (one personal and one for work). I'm planning on upgrading to the new 5S, so I'm curious if this is a known issue.
 
#23 ·
I've had an iPhone as long as I've had my CTS Coupe and no... I've never encountered the iPhone causing interference preventing the keyless entry from working.
(I do have a problem that just started with the keyfob not always being recognized, but pretty sure it's just a weak keyfob battery that's the culprit -- judging by a message thread I read here about the exact same symptoms.)

Now, I do have one theory .... Ever since I got this car, I've randomly had an issue where the radio won't power on. The whole center stack is essentially dead (no climate control functions, etc.) I have to shut off the engine and restart the car whenever this happens, to get it all to come back on.

With THAT issue, I'm beginning to suspect it may be correlated with my iPhone I usually attach to a USB charging cable that's plugged into the car and/or my iPod classic that I leave hooked up to the factory iPod cable in the center compartment. I need to do some more testing -- but I've noticed that sometimes, the radio initially acts like it doesn't want to come on, and then I hear a small relay click someplace in the dash, and the LCD pops up and it comes to life. This tends to coincide with my iPhone making its little "chirp" noise to confirm it sees it's plugged into a charger/power source. Could just be coincidence, but something about it makes me wonder if the stereo is getting confused trying to auto-detect the attached phone AND the iPod classic full of music as it's just booting up, and it occasionally hangs/freezes the whole thing?
 
#18 ·
mcneill8328 said:
Is anyone else having issues with their car key because they have an iPhone? I'm not, nor have I ever heard this being an issue....I have two iPhones actually (one personal and one for work). I'm planning on upgrading to the new 5S, so I'm curious if this is a known issue.
I have an iPhone 5 and have had no issues. I have also had the phone it he. Same pocket as my fob and I haven't had an issue.
 
#25 ·
Leonard said:
Actually in a suburb of Detroit. A common misconception about this area. Detroit is a disaster but the suburbs are thriving, with +$400,000 homes going up all over, low crime, good schools - two different worlds. .
I got the same misconception from my family when I took a job here, "you're moving to Detroit!"

Home prices where I live range from $400K to over $1M. Beautiful communities and great schools. Almost like they are compensating for what Detroit lacks.
 
#27 ·
I sometimes begin to exit and almost forget to turn ignition off because there is no direct connection to the car keys and the ignition. But as for leaving the car with it running - this is not an unusual series of events. Its when you're leaving the car and going a mile away down the road to shop is where there lies the rub. There is often the need to leave car running and get out - with or w/o keys - to do something local to the car. Am I misunderstanding this?
Of course if you are a reasonable distance from the car with your keys, the car wont open. Its locked. But I dont think anyone of us would fo too far and leave the car out of sight - would attract too many curious folks.
 
#28 ·
well, if you want to be clever about it (tm)
hook up a little beeper or something that starts beeping when the key is set to non-off positions and the keyless entry system has locked the doors because you walked away.

really you could just wait for a pulse on the door lock system, and if that happens while the key is in accessory mode, start beeping.
 
#29 ·
You can charge your battery by opening the hood and attaching the charger to the "Positive" post on the passenger side under the red cap. You don't need access to the battery in the trunk. You can unlock your car door manually using the key hdden inside of your key fob and avoid having to call a locksmith or OnStar.
 
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