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be careful of the auto venting feature on the XTS

12K views 36 replies 20 participants last post by  meniisoc 
#1 · (Edited)
The new XTS has a feature not in the owners manual and the dealers are not even aware of. I found out by accident. I locked my car with the windows up and went inside . When I went out later it was raining and all four windows on my new car were down. I of course started the car an rolled up the windows and then called the dealer. They had no clue why that happened . I brought in the car to the dealer and the next day they called to tell me it is a feature of the car called automatic venting. By holding the key fob unlock button down for three to five seconds all windows will open. The key fob is senitive and has a long range .We think it was in my wifes pocketbook and when she set it down some how it was enough to open the windows. It could happen just as easy in your pocket. Besides the weather it could also open up your car in an area where it needs to be locked up for safety etc.
 
#2 ·
This happened to me when I tried to remote start the car from the key fob back in July when I first got my XTS. Never did figure out what happened and the dealer was clueless.

Thanks for the heads up.

As an aside, it would have been a nice feature to include windows up by holding the lock button for 5 seconds.
 
#4 ·
I didn't know about that feature but that does explain why sometimes I walk to my car from work only to find the trunk open. The key does have a very long range and the buttons can be pushed by accident while in your pocket. I'm probably going to get some sort of a cover for the key to avoid this.
 
#7 ·
I had the same problem with the trunk wide open one morning while visiting friends. I now make sure I have nothing else in the pocket with the Fob. The range of the fob is over 2000 ft., Twice as far as previous STS. What I do now is use the valet option whenever I leave the car some where other than my garage. The valet mod locks all functions. Fob should have long range or short range setting. This long range to me is a negative not a positive. I cannot think of any situation where its an advantage to use the Fob two blocks away.
 
#10 ·
After much ado with Cadillac found out that the feature can be disabled by the dealer. Most people at Cadillac not aware of the feature. Dealer can reprogram the key fob to remove the feature. I suggest you do it before the windows go down in a rain storm or in a bad area .be aware that most dealers do not even know this feature exists.
good luck Rich
 
#12 ·
Not aware of it on my '08 DTS. But I have popped the trunk or locked/unlocked the doors by having the button pressed while the fob was in my jeans.

I think before I'd disable the feature (seems pretty practical to me, at least would have been in my prior location--Tulsa) I'd buy one of those stupid leather cases for the fob.
 
#13 ·
TulsaVic said:
Not aware of it on my '08 DTS. But I have popped the trunk or locked/unlocked the doors by having the button pressed while the fob was in my jeans.

I think before I'd disable the feature (seems pretty practical to me, at least would have been in my prior location--Tulsa) I'd buy one of those stupid leather cases for the fob.
If I remember right, the DTS does not have the keyless system does it? It uses the mechanical key to start the car still. No push button start. If that's the case, I believe only the keyless Cadillacs have this feature. I could be wrong, but I believe that's the case.
 
#22 ·
big rich said:
Just heard from Cadillac this feature can not be changed by the dealer an can not be removed or deleted . so be careful where you park the car an treat the key fob with kid gloves
You have to press it for a LONG time for the windows to open. At least that's how it was in my Acura. It would be difficult for it to happen by accident.
 
#25 ·
Several friend's Lexus have done this. Worst was on one's LS460 as he left it parked outside. He said he locked it, walked inside, hung his key in its usual place and didn't touch it until next morning. Walked outside to open windows/sunroof. Unfortunately, it had rained quite heavily overnight.
 
#30 ·
docjay said:
The worst is the trunk button. Happens at least once a week where I'll find the trunk open in a public street or parking lot. Can't leave anything valuable in it. Dealer can't disable the trunk open button on the key fob.
The dealer may not want to, but you can.

Open the key fob by removing the key from its bottom edge and then gently prying it apart with a small flathead screwdriver (open from the side, bottom edge, working your way up).

Once you get inside you'll find that the buttons work by way of a magnet pressing a circuit board. Put a sticker or two over the magnet you want to disable (trunk release or door unlock), then put the fob back together.

Problem solved.
 
#32 ·
Thank you - I had not thought of this and just tried it. I used heavy duty tape but it's not actually a magnet. So that did not work, but it did make it much less sensitive (have to push pretty hard to pop open the trunk) so hopefully it won't happen as often. Thank you again for the tip!
 
#33 ·
I solved my problem (for now) by buying a leather business card holder. It has two pockets and is 4x2.75x0.5 thick. The thickness is expandable to 0.5. The flap folds over and closes the leather case. I made sure that the closing cover did not have a magnet - one never knows how it would affect the remote. I haven't had any issues since, but the inconveniences are obvious if you need to press on a function. You have to pull the remote from the case. The other issue is that you have something extra to drag along with you. I must say that I can open the doors and trunk with the case in my pocket. When in the car, the case is in the center arm-rest box close to the pocket where the remote is normally inserted. So far, all seems to work. I'm now trying to find something smaller like 3" instead of 4" long.

Hope that helps someone.
 
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