2nd Lockout Incident 06 Sonata?

For the second time in 6 months or so my wife has stopped the car to
pick up the mail, and found herself locked out. Fortunately its
happened there, for an extra set of keys is just a quick walk away.
Our locks are set to lock at about 12 mph or so. Anybody offer up how
this might be happening and/or what she may be forgetting to do. She
knows she goes into "automatic mode" sometimes on her commute home (and
might be doing something she is not aware of), but none-the less are
there a series of actions that would allow you to open the door without
unlocking all four (or the drivers door) from within first, that would
cause this?............Doc

 

Why is she closing the door with the keys still in the car? That's a bad
habit to have.

 

In a perfect world..............Doc

 

Well - there's lots of times when leaving the keys in the car is perfectly
acceptable. It does not lead to habits.

That said, in my wife's Sonata ('04), if you leave the keys in the ignition
with the engine shut off, the DRL's stay on. You have to remove the keys to
shut them off. You can back them out to a point where the DRL's will shut
off, but at that point they fall out of the switch.

 

Millions of us do it every day. Do you really think it is necessary to take
the keys out while getting the mail? Clean a bug off the windshield?
Better would be to have it unable to lock with the key in place and not
running, as my Buick does. In 45 years, I've never locked my keys in the
car. OTOH, I never lock my car either.

 

There have been past posts regarding the speed sensitive autolock
feature on the 06 Sonata's, in that the locks unlock and lock over and
over in a period of a few seconds and suddenly stop.

I also own an 06 Sonata. If I leave the keys in the ignition, with the
engine running, and the drivers door is locked, - when it is closed it
*should* automatically unlock the driver's door. It's *possible* the
speed sensitive autolocks override this feature, but that doesn't make
sense to me whatsoever. Your best bet is to bring it back to the
dealer and insist they look into it.

 

Sorry for this obvious "everybody and their dog" has probably suggested
it. You could always get an extra key cut with the plastic part of the
key removed so you can easily store it in a wallet or such. Doesn't
have to be a chipped key or anything since it would be used just for
unlocking the door.
On the other hand... I'm not sure about Hyundai vehicles (newest one in
the driveway here is a 96 Accent so it doesn't have the auto door
locks) but on my F150 I found a procedure in my service manual that
allows me to turn the auto locking on or off with a series of "put the
key in this position, hit this button 3 times, turn the key off, hit
another button, etc... etc...". It will stay like that until the
battery ever gets disconnected. If I ever disconnect the battery the
computer will default back to the auto lock again so it would have to
be disabled again if desired but the option is there. Maybe someone
knows if something similar can be done for you.

Cheers,
Lawrence

 

This occurs frequently in the auto repair business on many different makes
and models of cars. Our solution: roll the window down when leaving the
keys in the ignition.

 

There are such things as cars of other makes that you can not lock the
driver door when exiting the car if the keys are in the ignition.
Scott

 

I don't have the auto-locks .... perhaps I will have the dealer turn
that on at my 7500 mile service next week... but I do have a solution
to the problem.

I operate the car with the key and alarm fob alone. In my other
pocket, I carry my house/work/etc keys including the valet key. The
two keyrings are almost never in the same pocket.


Two different sets of keys reduce the odds of losing "the key" and
ending up locked out of the car. At times, I have carried the valet
key in my wallet. It is rather unlikely that someone would lose keys
AND wallet at the same time.

Bonuses: Using the fob alone to drive also keeps the weight of a heavy
keyring away from the ignition -yes, heavy keyrings do cause wear and
tear on the tumblers as well as bashing the dash trim and making a lot
of stupid noise. Yes, I am talking to you people who carry 50
million keys and never put them in your pockets or handbags because you
can't actually stuff them in a pocket or handbag. Time for a key diet.
Carry only what you actually use.

More fun: Just to be even more consistent, I swap back and forth
between both fobs so each key gets similar wear. From time to time, I
also actually use the keys to unlock all the doors and trunk to keeps
the lock tumblers in working order.

 

I'm not arguing that automatic door locks are a good thing, in fact, I
can't stand them! If my car had automatic locks I'd find a way to
disable them. My girlfriend's Passat has them and they drive me nuts
when I have to use her car.

It's not necessary to take the keys out of the car, just leave the door
open or roll down a window so you can't lock yourself out. After having
locked myself out a few times over the years, I've learned to avoid
habits that could cause it to happen.

 

Great idea. I just put that key (that was in a drawer waiting to get lost
over time) onto one of my key sets. I carry two sets of keys most of the
time and this will reduce the possibility of a problem in the future.

 

but you have to hit that automatic down button for at least 2
seconds. way too much trouble.

;-)

 

I think we all overlooked one thing on the 06 Sonata......when the
doors are locked, car running, key in ignition (duh), when you pull on
the driver's door handle, the driver's door unlocks and stays unlocked.
There is no doubt there are all sorts of little things you can do to
prevent a lock out (of course the car can only help you so much). So
there might be a little more to the original story, however, give the
benefit of the doubt, cars do strange things from time to time in this
age of digital technology.....