Any Rules on Opening Doors / Back Hatch?

[PeeCee]

Not sure which is the best section to post this on, but I was wondering if we are aware of any kind of software restrictions about opening the door?

I just came back from a road trip (about 240 miles in 1 direction) with my family (wife and 2 kids, one is 9 months old). With the COVID situation we cannot enter restaurants so any diaper changes had to be done on the road.

We noticed many times that some doors would not open properly. Here are some examples:

We are parcked at a McDonald's eating our burgers when my wife needs to grab the diaper bag from the back and change my younger's diaper. She opens her door and goes in the back... she cannot open the back of the car with her foot no matter how much she tries. Decides to give up and tries to open the door to our daughter (behind me). She presses the button and nothing happens.

I open the driver's door to go help her and then it works. I go to the back and open the back with my foot no problem.

So I'm under the impression (and it would make sense) that some doors stay locked as long as the driver is considered inside the vehicle. Anyone has confirmation on this? Do we know what the rules would be? I sometimes also have a hard issue where my daughter (older one) cannot open her own door unless I've already opened my door, or am very close to her door (phone and fob are always in my pockets).

It's a bit annoying when you ask your kid to get in the car while you unplug the car from the charger, or while you're still getting dressed. There's no feedback to tell you if the door is refusing to open because one of the reasons:

1. Door is locked / not opening because whole car is locked and cannot detect key fob.
2. Door is locked / not opening because driver is inside cabin and afraid of "car-jacking".
3. Door is locked simple because the car is completely locked.

I guess I'll try to use more often the Unlock on the car in the future, but with traditional handles, if she tugged and it didn't open, we knew it was because the door was locked and we just unlocked the car doors. Now with this hole proximity thing, it's never quite clear why the door isn't opening. At least we've alays been able to open them in the end.. but still..

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[CHeil402]

Without yet having the MME to confirm, the way I've seen this work on my current car, and others, is that when you start moving, all the doors (and trunk) lock. If a passenger opens a specific door, only that door unlocks. If the driver door opens ALL doors unlock.

So in that example, when your wife opened her door, only it unlocked and all the others were still locked. When you opened your door to help, all of the doors unlocked, and therefore worked. The best way to handle that example would be once your wife gets out to then click the unlock button on your door so all doors are now unlocked.

Hope this helps, again without having the car to have firsthand experience with.

 

[SnBGC]

While parked......press the unlock button on your driver's door. This should unlock all 4 doors and allow the liftgate to open by pressing the button near the license plate. The kick to open won't work if she doesn't have the fob.......might not work if the vehicle is running either.
If vehicle is on, and in Park then you can open and close the liftgate from your SYNC screen.
I think the steps are Touch the little car>Access>Liftgate

 

[BMT1071]

AFAIK the foot operated liftgate will only operate when the fob is in close proximity to the liftgate, ie 2 feet or so.
As to what doors unlock when you are near the car, I would guess that's a setting. On an ICE Mustang you select 'driver's door only', or 'all doors' through the Sync menu.

 

[db4z]

Without yet having the MME to confirm, the way I've seen this work on my current car, and others, is that when you start moving, all the doors (and trunk) lock. If a passenger opens a specific door, only that door unlocks. If the driver door opens ALL doors unlock.

So in that example, when your wife opened her door, only it unlocked and all the others were still locked. When you opened your door to help, all of the doors unlocked, and therefore worked. The best way to handle that example would be once your wife gets out to then click the unlock button on your door so all doors are now unlocked.

Hope this helps, again without having the car to have firsthand experience with.

Yeah this is pretty much how all Ford's work. Almost all (if not all) new vehicles auto lock above a few mph by default (it often can be turned off) because it is safer to have the doors locked in a crash (I suspect it probably helps with side impact ratings).

Therefore, if Ford is going to lock the doors at after you get up to speed anyways, then the safest (default) thing to do would be to leave them locked when you slow down again (or stop) so some random person outside (think bad neighborhood) can't just open your doors without you having to remember to hit lock again. Similarly if someone gets out of the front passenger seat you wouldn't (again by default) want to unlock all doors because someone could then theoretically sneak into the back seat on the opposite (driver's) side. It might sound a little crazy but things like that do really happen.

It's a similar story to one unlock click on the fob typically just unlocks the driver's door, and two clicks unlock all doors, again to protect someone that is alone and possibly being stalked. Many cars let you change this so that you can unlock all doors with one click if this is a concern where you leave, work, etc.

 

[PeeCee]

Yeah this is pretty much how all Ford's work. Almost all (if not all) new vehicles auto lock above a few mph by default (it often can be turned off) because it is safer to have the doors locked in a crash (I suspect it probably helps with side impact ratings).

Therefore, if Ford is going to lock the doors at after you get up to speed anyways, then the safest (default) thing to do would be to leave them locked when you slow down again (or stop) so some random person outside (think bad neighborhood) can't just open your doors without you having to remember to hit lock again. Similarly if someone gets out of the front passenger seat you wouldn't (again by default) want to unlock all doors because someone could then theoretically sneak into the back seat on the opposite (driver's) side. It might sound a little crazy but things like that do really happen.

It's a similar story to one unlock click on the fob typically just unlocks the driver's door, and two clicks unlock all doors, again to protect someone that is alone and possibly being stalked. Many cars let you change this so that you can unlock all doors with one click if this is a concern where you leave, work, etc.

Yeah, it all makes sense.

I guess what confuses me is the whole FOB thing. I mean, if I just go to my daughter when she tries to get in the car on her side, without unlocking the vehicle I can just press the button on her door and it will unlock and open the door. So the car is smart enough to detect the FOB and see that I'm trying to open any door, it might have put me under the impression that any door can be opened at any time as long as the FOB is near, but there's probably something about the driver and auto-locking when the car moves forward.


But yeah, I'll try to make sure to either unlock all the doors from a distance with the Fob and if my wife needs something from the car, to unlock the door from inside the vehicle on the door panel.

 

[CHeil402]

Yeah, it all makes sense.

I guess what confuses me is the whole FOB thing. I mean, if I just go to my daughter when she tries to get in the car on her side, without unlocking the vehicle I can just press the button on her door and it will unlock and open the door. So the car is smart enough to detect the FOB and see that I'm trying to open any door, it might have put me under the impression that any door can be opened at any time as long as the FOB is near, but there's probably something about the driver and auto-locking when the car moves forward.


But yeah, I'll try to make sure to either unlock all the doors from a distance with the Fob and if my wife needs something from the car, to unlock the door from inside the vehicle on the door panel.

Yes, the car is smart enough to know if the fob is outside the car and near a specific door. In your new example, it opened for you because the door was locked and when you pushed the button to open the back door it checked to see that the fob was there and when it was, it unlocked and opened. The main point is that if a door is locked you'll either need to manually unlock it from the inside or have the key on you.

On my current car, I don't think about it if I have the fob on me when I go to open a door. But if my wife is with me and she reaches for a door before I get there I scramble for my fob to hit the unlock button so it's open for her.

 

[krafty81]

I think it is a personal safety issue. If you are in a bad part of town you may not want all doors to open when you approach.

 

[SnBGC]

Ran across this today. Check out where the sensors are.
If you are having trouble getting the power liftgate to open, make sure you are sticking your foot into this area where the antennas are located.

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