Chancer Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Someone said please dont experiment and get locked in, well I am afraid my curiosity always gets the better of me!I simulated being locked in by a jealous sibling, doors deadlocked, horn inoperative, the hazard flashers did work (good suggestion whovere it was) but the alarm did not go off with my movements, perhaps it is not fitted on my model or has been disabled, a good thing as it never has false alarmed.Unlike my previous VAG vehicles this one does not close the windows and sunroof (global closing) if i hold down the keyfob button.For Another, my car being a year older than yours but the same model, it doesnt automatically lock the doors when I drive off, it does detect the key in the ignition as you say and will not auto lock in those circumstances, in fact the only time that it does auto-lock is like you described, if it is remotely unlocked and a door is not opened, then it will lock after 30 seconds and be completely deadlocked no matter how many times you pull on the handles, all in all pretty safe unless you are trying to get rid of your brother or it has a dodgy courtesy light switch like mine.If anyone ever does become locked in a vehicle, and it could happen then the hazard flashers will be the first thing to use, you will probably find that if you have a sunroof you can prise the trim off around the courtesy light/sunroof controls and find an emergency crank handle/tool, failing that as Théière said (got the è accent correct for the first time) it is very easy to push out the drivers door frame and glass by wedging your back against the other door and pushing with your legs, in many cases it can be bent back again with only a little paint cracking as temoign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 It was me who said not to try, but I had a feeling you would anyway[:)]Audi were clear and said 'nothing would work', so I took it to mean the hazard warning lights too. So your next curiosity call is to go in and see an Audi dealer and say that you are thinking about buying one, but are worried about this happening to you. And then you can let us all know if the hazards work in those conditions.If there was an Audi dealer near here, I might be tempted to go in myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 [quote user="Chancer"] If anyone ever does become locked in a vehicle, and it could happen then the hazard flashers will be the first thing to use, you will probably find that if you have a sunroof you can prise the trim off around the courtesy light/sunroof controls and find an emergency crank handle/tool, failing that as Théière said (got the è accent correct for the first time) it is very easy to push out the drivers door frame and glass by wedging your back against the other door and pushing with your legs, in many cases it can be bent back again with only a little paint cracking as temoign.[/quote]Rather than have to partially destroy a car in order to escape from it if it decides to self-incapacitate (which could also happen due to an electronic fault), I think I'll just stick to my "dangerous" old 1994 car, which, well maintained, has not yet played any such silly tricks on me.Beats me why people seem to want all the electronics and other brain-baffling bulldust, but it's good for creating work for the garage industry. Not that most garages seem able to repair rather than simply change parts nowadays.Long live King Ludd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 ANO, "mains libres" is the Renault "hands free" system. The car is keyless, there is simply a remote fob which you only need to have in your pocket. The fob is sensed when you are near or in the car, the doors unlock when you put your hand on the door handle. There is no ignition lock, you simply press a "start" button to run the engine. In all other respects it operates like a normal remote fob. Christine's point about locking animals in the car is not a problem if you want to leave the windows slightly open; you just lock the car normally, one click. The deadlocking facility, 2 clicks, is meant for when you are leaving the car somewhere unsafe, or perhaps for overnight, and in this case the windows are closed automatically too and the doors are locked and deadlocked which means they can't be opened from inside the car if for example the windows are broken by a car thief.So it's all fairly workable. No need for changes to the system in my opinion, you just need to know how it works. Cars are dangerous in many respects without worrying about the locks.Anyone who comes home and locks his brother in the car obviously can't have been fully sober, so shouldn't have been driving in the first place.I still intend to do a test of this, just for my own interest, but I'll get someone else there on the outside just in case! (Edit; in fact it needs someone on the outside to lock me in in the first place. Perhaps I should get p*55*d first too?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Nomoss, two of the things which I really miss from my Micra are the 1) the fact that it was keyless because I didn't have to put stuff down or try to remember which pocket I'd put the damned things in to get into my car - plus it was impossible to lock the sensor in the thing - something which in my less sophisticated car I have done, locking my wheelchair, handbag, phone, coat etc etc inside. It did, happily, open from the inside, regardless of whether it was locked (to prevent those outside getting in) or not and 2) the automatic wipers. A real tedious bore to get used to doing without once you've had a car with them. Sometimes modern up-to-date technology can be good. It just has to be well thought out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 [quote user="sid"] I still intend to do a test of this, just for my own interest, but I'll get someone else there on the outside just in case! (Edit; in fact it needs someone on the outside to lock me in in the first place. Perhaps I should get p*55*d first too?) [/quote] [:D] [:P]Be careful though, we don't want to lose you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crossy67 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 If you own a VAG vehicle I would not advise leaving your keys in the car when you get out. The central locking will be activated even if the keys are in the ignition if for some reason the BSI unit has not sensed a door being opened. Door opening is sensed by the door catch and they do go faulty, more often that you would think, I have had it happen to me a couple of times on customers cars and I have replaced windows that were broken to get the keys on several cars this has happened to. I used to service 2 VW main dealers who also new it was a common fault. Wind a window down, get out the car and lock it (leaving the window up) then unlock it and turn on the ignition by reaching through the open window, don't open the door. These cars are a nightmare for doing this.One thing with Audis you might not have taken into account when it comes to bending the door. They don't have a steel door glass frame like most cars, they have an aluminum cassette that holds the glass and all it's gubbins. This is bolted into the steel door by 4 big bolts (there are a few smaller ones that do little) , two at the top and two at the bottom. This frame is very strong and the way it's bolted to the door would, in my opinion make it very difficult to bend the top of the door out. The glass would have been hard to break too, it's toughened and the only way to break it is to either propagate a crack by hitting it with something harder than glass or to bend it so the out side exceeds it's ultimate tensile strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I'm still not entirely sure why you need to have the car locked automatically for you when you're in it. I don't see the logic. Yes, I can see the need to be able to choose to do this - for instance if you are stopped in a lay-by on a lonely road on your own but apart from that - what's the point?[8-)] My friend's Mini always locks about 3 minutes after he's got in it - I just don't get why anybody would want this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 I'll tell you why I lock my car doors sometimes, as once when my kids were small and in the back, at traffic lights someone jumped into my car and sat in the passenger seat, a stranger incidentally. It was quite scarey. So I prefer to not give anyone the opportunity to do this. That is how I feel about it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 [quote user="cooperlola"] Sometimes modern up-to-date technology can be good. It just has to be well thought out.[/quote]1) Yes 2) It rarely is.I'd sooner have all this carp as options if I were buying (unlikely) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 [quote user="nomoss"]I'd sooner have all this carp as options if I were buying (unlikely)[/quote]Yes, I agree. Then at least one could take an informed view.Idun, I can see that that kind of experience would make you think twice. But I can lock my car from inside and still open it myself from the inside though nobody can get in. Far better than the non-option option which seems to have killed this lad, n'est-ce pas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 I would never lock myself in if I couldn't get out when I wanted, that would be freaky. But I wouldn't have a car where I couldn't lock my self in.I have odd things that happen to me in this life. I don't know how or why it happens, but things just do happen. I sometimes feel like I am a magnet to the weird and unusual and sometimes wonderful, because it isn't all bad, even if it is more than often weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Lots of unknowns and of course we will have to wait for the autopsy, I presume that the gendarmes will be doing a forensic examination of the vehicle or perhaps they will just put it down to Darwinian population control.However if what the reports are saying is true and there would appear to be a consensus on here on how the VAG system works, then his brother not only locked him in the car but pressed the fob twice sealing his fate.I do hope that they get to the bottom of this for no better reason than to quell the fears of anxious owners of modern cars with children, animals etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Experiment: sorry about the delay, I got locked in!! [:D]I sat in the passenger seat, not that it makes any difference, and my wife locked the car remotely. Single click, normal locking, everything still works, lights, hazards, (but not the horn), windows stay in same position, and internal door handles work, so I can simply open the door and get out. Double-click and the car is deadlocked, I can't open the doors from inside. No-one in their right mind would lock the car like this with someone in it, and that's the crunch - it's the driver's responsibility! What's happened to responsibility? I like the French pragmatic view of health and safety, "be careful, or else it's your fault". As for automatic locking when the car gets above a certain speed, usually about 10mph-ish, this is to prevent carjackings or theft of valuables at traffic lights. Unheard of in deepest Deux-Sevres, but not exactly uncommon in Manchester where I used to work!I think these features are OK but it would be nice to be able to turn them off if you wish. They are not options on my car, they're just there, take it or leave it! On the Renault it can be done via the CLIP system, that's the dealer plug-in diagnostics computer, but there is generally a charge for any changes made.QED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote user="Chancer"] Lots of unknowns and of course we will have to wait for the autopsy, I presume that the gendarmes will be doing a forensic examination of the vehicle or perhaps they will just put it down to Darwinian population control.[/quote]Vorsprung Dork Technik [;-)]There is a difference between trying to get out non destructively and getting out in an emergency, call it survival instinct I pressume you can get from the passenger area to the boot and to the tool kit and jack etc? Not that Sid would pop down and try the latter [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Well I could, destructively of course but then I am known as McGyver around here, as well as other surnoms which are not repeatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 A jack, so modern cars have them? In fact do all very modern cars have a spare tyre? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote user="Chancer"]Well I could, destructively of course but then I am known as McGyver around here, as well as other surnoms which are not repeatable.[/quote] But could you if you had been blind drunk and woken up very dehydrated and very weak in the heat? Would your brain function properly and your hands. I imagined it was a little like hypothermia when a person couldn't do normal tasks or think straight? My husband would still say that he would manage, but I'm not going to lock him in a car blind drunk to find out[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote user="sid"] As for automatic locking when the car gets above a certain speed, usually about 10mph-ish, this is to prevent carjackings or theft of valuables at traffic lights. Unheard of in deepest Deux-Sevres, but not exactly uncommon in Manchester where I used to work![/quote]Years ago, when we used to travel about in the holiday period, we'd often see cars with the small rear triangular window smashed and temporarily replaced with plastic and tape. They'd come up at the lights on a motorbike, smash and grab. This must surely be going on now. (Unless with the more modern cars you can no longer smash the window? [8-)] ).Could you go and have a try please Sid. We need to know these things.Once on the way back from Spain in our CX break with several cats and dogs the electric windows blocked in the closed position on a very hot day. It was a pretty awful experience. Here again you'd think there would be a way of winding at least one window down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote user="idun"]A jack, so modern cars have them? In fact do all very modern cars have a spare tyre?[/quote]Yes, still required I believe and from the spec a lot more besideshttp://www.audi.co.uk/content/dam/audi/production/PDF/PriceAndSpecGuides/a6-s6.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just john Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I seem to recall two items of kit from days of marshalling were a stanley knife for cutting through belts and harnesses and a MIG-ARC-WELDING-HAMMER with a pointed tip for breaking side glass (windscreens were laminated) for access if neccessary, for those worried about being trapped they could be easily stored beneath the seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Ahh! Don't mention windscreens and sharp instruments!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 Theiere, new Vauxall Corsa's don't have spare wheels so why would they need a jack? Seems odd to me. I know my friends son asked his Dad where they had hid the spare and he told him that there wasn't one.Do those cans to blow the tyre up only work if the tyre isn't badly ripped? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The Audi TT (well at least the first model) had a spacesaver spare wheel and jack, wheelbrace etc.Then and probably now the Audi breakdown emergency service was second to none and contactable 24/7, they got a call from a motorist with a puncture who said that he had changed the wheel OK could not fit the punctured wheel in the well provided for the spacesaver because he could not then close the tailgate, it was raining and they were on their way to a posh frock and tuxedo soiréé so no question of driving with the tailgate open.Dont worry sir you will find with the toolkit a zipped plastic cover for the punctured wheel, you put the wheel in that and put it on the passenger seat that way your clothes and the seat wont get soiled.And where is my wife going to sit? We are on our way to the theatre.Leave the wheel at the side of the road sir, give me your location and I will send out a mobile unit to hopefully recover it, we will repair/replace it and bring it to your home tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote user="Chancer"]owners of modern cars with children,[/quote]Blimey. I've heard of optional extras, Chance, but that's ridiculous.[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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