Some one in my car. Walk away didn't lock?

[AM_8]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and to the MME world. So far I've been loving driving my car and getting a lot of useful tips from this group of people.

It's finally time for me to write something, it's a bit of a funny one but I'll try to explain what happened.

Two nights ago I noticed the position lights of the MME were on at about 5am in the morning. Car was parked in front of my house (5 to 6 meters away from main door).
Before I went out to check my wife tried to lock the car with the key fob so not not sure if the car was open or not at the time.


When I went out I noticed all the compartments were open but nothing was taken (there was nothing of value) and the light toggle was switched from auto to position. Someone was clearly in my car and wanted to let me know (I assume).

Now I don't see any clear sign of forcing on doors (and alarm should have gone off??) so I assume the walk away function just didn't work when I parked the car the evening before?
If I recall correctly I dropped my jacket with the key in it in the house before I closed the trunk so I assume the walk away didn't work because of that.
Shouldn't the car close automatically though after some inactive time? I also read that people can extend the fob signal for it to open doors. Unfortunately FordPass doesn't really give you a lot of info around activity with the car (e.g. last time it was unlocked).

The other doubt I have is...the card with the door code.was in the glove compartment. I just didn't realize I left it there... So if the person in the car was able to read that, they can now just open the car whenever they want because I can't change the factory code, can I? This is the part that drives me nuts...

Overall it sucks that people are going around in your own home and touch your stuff plus I really struggle to explain how that happened.

A bit of a long one as first post in here ? apologies for that!

Enjoy the ride and thanks for any tip on the above puzzle!

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[Murse-In-Airy]

Walk away locks are unreliable and you are correct that there is no time-out auto locking. If you’re going to rely on walk away locks you will be occasionally disappointed. It’s happened to me periodically over the years where I come out of a store and realize that the car never locked.
Best bet is to have folding mirrors activated and give a look back over your shoulder to confirm that the mirrors folded. It’s the only way to be sure the walk away locks worked. Otherwise it might be best to get used to using one of the many other ways to lock the car on your way out. (Lock button on the inside of the door, capacitance lock symbol on the door pillar, hold the 7/8 and 9/0 butting for a second, or press the lock button on your fob/phone app).
As far as changing your factory door pillar code, no you cannot change that. But the person who was rifling your car probably doesn’t even know what that is. Most people still don’t realize ford even makes door pillar buttons.

 

[New2EV]

Activate folding mirrors and do this mod:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...that-makes-it-obvious-yes-it-is-locked.24655/

I used reflective mailbox numbers to cut strips from. Cost was like $2.

 

[AM_8]

Walk away locks are unreliable and you are correct that there is no time-out auto locking. If you’re going to rely on walk away locks you will be occasionally disappointed. It’s happened to me periodically over the years where I come out of a store and realize that the car never locked.
Best bet is to have folding mirrors activated and give a look back over your shoulder to confirm that the mirrors folded. It’s the only way to be sure the walk away locks worked. Otherwise it might be best to get used to using one of the many other ways to lock the car on your way out. (Lock button on the inside of the door, capacitance lock symbol on the door pillar, hold the 7/8 and 9/0 butting for a second, or press the lock button on your fob/phone app).
As far as changing your factory door pillar code, no you cannot change that. But the person who was rifling your car probably doesn’t even know what that is. Most people still don’t realize ford even makes door pillar buttons.

Thanks for the advice and sharing some alternative options to lock the car. I guess I'll start using one of these for peace of mind moving forward.

And agree regarding the code, it's just a bug in my mind now but good thing they can only open the car but not start it that way.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and to the MME world. So far I've been loving driving my car and getting a lot of useful tips from this group of people.

It's finally time for me to write something, it's a bit of a funny one but I'll try to explain what happened.

Two nights ago I noticed the position lights of the MME were on at about 5am in the morning. Car was parked in front of my house (5 to 6 meters away from main door).
Before I went out to check my wife tried to lock the car with the key fob so not not sure if the car was open or not at the time.


When I went out I noticed all the compartments were open but nothing was taken (there was nothing of value) and the light toggle was switched from auto to position. Someone was clearly in my car and wanted to let me know (I assume).

Now I don't see any clear sign of forcing on doors (and alarm should have gone off??) so I assume the walk away function just didn't work when I parked the car the evening before?
If I recall correctly I dropped my jacket with the key in it in the house before I closed the trunk so I assume the walk away didn't work because of that.
Shouldn't the car close automatically though after some inactive time? I also read that people can extend the fob signal for it to open doors. Unfortunately FordPass doesn't really give you a lot of info around activity with the car (e.g. last time it was unlocked).

The other doubt I have is...the card with the door code.was in the glove compartment. I just didn't realize I left it there... So if the person in the car was able to read that, they can now just open the car whenever they want because I can't change the factory code, can I? This is the part that drives me nuts...

Overall it sucks that people are going around in your own home and touch your stuff plus I really struggle to explain how that happened.

A bit of a long one as first post in here ? apologies for that!

Enjoy the ride and thanks for any tip on the above puzzle!

I trained myself to use the little LOCK symbol on the car door (the "capacitance" lock in Murse-in-Airy's post) because IMHO a physical touch always works while an unseen, unheard radio wave signal works only most of the time.

To illustrate, have you ever had a cell phone call drop?

 

[AM_8]

I trained myself to use the little LOCK symbol on the car door (the "capacitance" lock in Murse-in-Airy's post) because IMHO a physical touch always works while an unseen, unheard radio wave signal works only most of the time.

To illustrate, have you ever had a cell phone call drop?

That's what I'm going to do moving forward.
I never had this feature in previous cars and it felt so good to just walk away...but no more!

 

[ADDZ71]

You can change the door code locks. I did on mine. I don't remember the procedure but I know it can be done.

 

[RickMachE]

You can change the door code locks. I did on mine. I don't remember the procedure but I know it can be done.

You can ADD, and DELETE, codes that you make.

You CANNOT DELETE, OR CHANGE, THE FACTORY CODE.

The card should be removed immediately after buying the vehicle.

 

[zvez]

Thanks for the advice and sharing some alternative options to lock the car. I guess I'll start using one of these for peace of mind moving forward.

And agree regarding the code, it's just a bug in my mind now but good thing they can only open the car but not start it that way.

Auto lock you can set it so the horn beeps when it locks, it's weird only place it consistently doesn't autlock is a walmart parking lot, I'm wondering if something with the autocloser doors at the store disrupts the signal. I always listen for the honk when walking away and if I don't hear it, I manually lock with fob.

 

[Mach1E]

If I recall correctly I dropped my jacket with the key in it in the house before I closed the trunk so I assume the walk away didn't work because of that.

Yup.

Basically the car was still “open” when you walked away.

It’s not going to lock with doors or trunk open. And like mentioned there is no “lock after a certain time.”

It’s a walk away lock.

The other thing is it’s possible your key fob in the jacket is close enough to the car still that someone can just push the button to open.

You should test that out and if so, store your keys farther away.

 

[ADDZ71]

You can ADD, and DELETE, codes that you make.

You CANNOT DELETE, OR CHANGE, THE FACTORY CODE.

The card should be removed immediately after buying the vehicle.

Rick is correct. You can add a personal code but the factory code remains in place.

 

[DevSecOps]

Walk away locks are unreliable

Let me correct you... Ford walk away locking is unreliable. No other vehicle that I've ever owned, including my newest purchase has ever had an issue with walk away locking. My MME is the only vehicle I've ever owned with this problem.

 

[ShawnMakie]

One tip not mentioned here - Ford pass can send push notifications for "walk away lock" (at least in Android) so make sure that's on. I generally wear a smart watch so I look for my watch to tick every time I walk away from the car. If it doesn't I know to manually lock the car as needed.

 

[AM_8]

Auto lock you can set it so the horn beeps when it locks, it's weird only place it consistently doesn't autlock is a walmart parking lot, I'm wondering if something with the autocloser doors at the store disrupts the signal. I always listen for the honk when walking away and if I don't hear it, I manually lock with fob.

I checked under settings > locks > Walk away lock but it only allows me enable/disable it and then only feedback I can activate is the exterior lights one!

 

[AM_8]

One tip not mentioned here - Ford pass can send push notifications for "walk away lock" (at least in Android) so make sure that's on. I generally wear a smart watch so I look for my watch to tick every time I walk away from the car. If it doesn't I know to manually lock the car as needed.

I just checked my app on Android but I don't seem to be able to find such a feature?
Where should I be looking for it?
Thanks ?

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