Door Lock New Behavior

[masterdrago]

Yesterday, I attempted to lock and close the door but had left the key fob inside. It honked at me a couple of times and unlocked the door. I retrieved the fob and it locked okay. Since then, every time I walk away from the truck after unlocking the door, a few seconds elapses and the doors lock on there own. Totally new action. There have been times when I lock from the inside, close the door and the truck immediately unlocks itself. I attributed that to possibly having my cell phone too close to the door when I shut it. This new issue just started of it locking itself.

 

[brucejohnson]

Do you have the Enter-N-Go passive entry system? How are you unlocking the door when you walk away; door handle or key fob? In certain conditions if you lock the door then unlock via the passive locking without opening the door it will lock within 60 seconds.
If you lock from the inside, the system may see the fob in the truck and if you leave quickly the system may not sense the fob is out of the truck and unlock the door after you close it.

 

[BarryG]

There are several pages in the owners manual about door locks might be worth checking it. Also depending on your model/trim level the touch screen has options in it as well. Perhaps what you did triggered something that made it change options, worth checking anyway.

 

[AH64ID]

Are you opening the door after you unlock it?

 

[EDankievitch]

Do I really need my truck to think about when or if I want my door locked or in locked?
Gone is the fun feeling of finding out you just locked the keys inside...
God I so wish for the old days when things were simple.
When if you wanted it to start you primed the intake then turned on the mag walked out front and gave the commincer (so?) a good turn.
All this modern sh*t

 

[BarryG]

On my 17 I can still lock my keys inside, did it myself last year. Still unsure how I did it but nonetheless the doors were locked and my keys were inside (not in the ignition). I was only 350 miles from my spare key and out in the middle of nowhere. Lucky for me I found a coat hanger in my toolbox and more importantly when I had shut the door it had not closed entirely but the handle would not open the door. The door not being completely closed did allow me to get the coat hanger in and after about ten minutes of messing with putting the hanger in pulling it out bending it this way and that way, getting in at the right angle I was able to get it to push the door lock button. Had the door been completely shut it would have been an entirely different story with I am sure several hours of waiting for someone to come out and a lighter wallet I am sure.

 

[Ozymandias]

Probably you pushed the lock button while exiting the car, my wife does that all the time.

 

[Badunit]

It wounds like what my daughter's car (not an FCA product) does. First thing I would do is poke around in the settings to see what is available on door locks and the keyless entry.

 

[JohnBiccum]

About two weeks ago I exited the truck (a 2018 3500) shortly after starting it. JUST as the drivers door *closed* I heard the distinctive sound of the (power) door locks engaging. Note the timing: the sound happened *exactly* as the door closed from the outside, *not* earlier when I was inside the truck to inadvertently bump the locking switch. My wife was home with her keys and I used her remote to open the doors without issue.

Yesterday I exited the truck shortly after starting it. Again, JUST as the drivers door was closed from the outside, I heard the distinctive sound of the (power) door locks engaging. Again the sound happened *exactly* as the closing door reached its stop when closed from the outside, *not* earlier when I was inside the truck and could have inadvertently bumped the locking switch.

Sadly this time my wife (and her key) was 150 miles away. I was running a 101 degree fever and had tossed my jacket into the truck before the doors locked me out. The keys to my house were in the truck and the ambient temperature was in the low 40s. None of my neighbors were home.

After consultation with the local sheriff, a locksmith was called and he quickly made entry with a pneumatically-inflated wedge and a nylon tool that looked much like a (fishing) hook remover. The bill was $100.

What the locksmith told me was very interesting.

He had been called to *dozens* of similar lockout situations with RAM TRUCKS.
In almost every Ram case, the driver had experienced the doors power-locking AS THE DOOR WAS CLOSED FROM THE OUTSIDE. I asked if he had seem any similar lockouts with competitive brand trucks with power locks. He said he had seen ZERO lockouts with any brand but Ram where the driver reported the doors power-locking AS THE DOOR WAS CLOSED FROM THE OUTSIDE.

I suspect that the driver's door lock switch has some defect that allows the *kinetic* energy of the moving door hitting its stops to trip the switch. But if this hypothesis is correct, why don't the doors ever lock kinetically when the door is closed from the inside?

My only thoughts on that would be that a driver closing the door from the drivers seat is pulling the door handle (approximately mid-door) and is thus applying less kinetic energy to the door than the same amount of force being applied to the aft edge of the door as the door is pushed closed from the outside. Think of the door as a lever with the fulcrum at the door hinges. Applying some force 26 inches from the fulcrum would apply much less energy than applying exactly the same force 44 inches from the fulcrum. The middle of the inside door handle is about 26" from the hinge, the aft edge of the drivers door is about 44 inches from the hinge.

I have two questions for our community:

1) has anyone else seen this defect as described?
2) how should I seek reimbursement from FCA for my $100 locksmith bill?

 

[masterdrago]

Mine have stopped locking on their own. Since we have had the truck, a similar situation as John Biccum's... Often when we (wife & I) get out of the truck, I lock it using the buttons on the inside of the door (not the fob or button on outside door handle), we shut the door, me 1st, wife 2nd, as soon as she shuts the door, they unlock. I then have to re-lock (using fob) to secure the truck. Been going on since new (Aug. 1917). I've always just written it off as the wife closing door hard causing handle to "think" hand was holding it. Either too much smart truck for me to understand or some Chinese hacker playing tricks through our cell phones. I've just decided to always have the danged fob in my pocket no matter what.

 

[HPSimpson]

So mastdrago this been going on Aug 1917 I am not that old but would that have been a Dodge truck?

 

[masterdrago]

No, that would have been an old paint!

 

[SnoKing]

When DW and both get out of the trucks sometimes we have the issue of it unlocking after I lock it on the arm rest. The fact that she most likely touch the door handle closing the passenger door makes sense. I get the beeping indicating it unlock, and use the keyless fob to lock it again. SnoKing

 

[Cummins12V98]

My wife touches the handle to close after I have locked it. I hear the doors and tailgate unlock so I just hit the lock on the fob. It seems to go in and out the other side when I say something. OH WELL!