Car opened while parked up.

Someone has intercepted and recorded the code from your remote (assuming you used the remote to lock the car)? If so, they can then replay the code and unlock your car.

Seems a bit of overkill for £5 worth of change...if a scrote has the money to buy such a device and the patience to hang around, capture the code - he is going to look for a better target...

More likely is that there is some simple flaw with the vehicle electronics and they are failing 'open' - I had a Laguna that would open of its own accord randomly. I have also heard 'pub chat' tales of cars that open if you thump then in the right place - fools the impact sensor there has been a crash and opens the doors to let the passengers out.

There are also simpler ways into vehicles - my mate works at Renault trucks and was telling me that for most models of the £200k trucks he works on, there is a simple way to get in - one involves pulling back the grill and touching a pin on the ECU to ground - all the doors open and the alarm turns off...

Similar probs with BMW

It isn't solved by the end, but he has got down to a few items related to door latch.

Reading between the lines I think they are suggesting that you lock the car and walk away, but the car decides it has a problem with a door sensor - believes it isn't locked properly, or the door actually shut properly -- and so the car re-opens..

Doors: If the central locking system unlocks itself after being locked or locks itself after being unlocked, the actuators could be defective or the trunk lock may need to be adjusted. (1992-93)

They don't know what is in the car when opening it. I have known many thefts from motor vehicles worth a lot less than £5. Also the same scanning device would be used many times over.

My citoen van does that , if the load moves slightly and touches the slideing door or you pull the bottom of the door all the doors unlock and an open rear door warning appears

as with all the other possibilities mentioned, do you put your car keys in your pocket? I had a hire pug 307 for a few weeks after someone had written off a car, and kept discovering the same thing.. one time late at night watching TV, I moved position because the cat jumped on my lap, and I saw the orange flash outside.. as from then, I have never kept my car keys in my pocket in the house..

of course if you don't this is not anything to consider, but I have also heard of door solenoids causing the same on some cars..

then all you need is the opportunist, or drunk who's spent their cab fare home.. etc..

Good luck with finding the issue..

LL

Reminds me of my first car with fob locking, must have been well over 20 years ago and it was a real novelty back then ... I was in the pub with the lads and pointed at my car in the carpark - look, how cool is this - unlock - and it did from a good 40 yards away. Only, it wouldn't relock and I had to walk out right up to the car to get it to lock... wouldn't have been that embarrassing - but it was *pissing* down...

I've done that with my Leon- sat on the keys and found all the windows open through the unlock button getting held down.

It happens that Howard Neil formulated :

That does not work on a modern car - they use an agreed between key and car a rolling code. The last used code, simply repeated back to the car will be ignored.

Yes, and whilst frequently shown on movies and crime stories, the actual devices seem to be very elusive on the street - some of the circles I move in are very dodgy, people have given me insights into fiddling phoneboxes, free sky tv, and every manner of scams - and I know quite a few reformed car theives - nobody has ever waved one of these grabbers under my nose and asked a tenner for it - which I'm sure would have happened if they existed/worked..

They do exist and they do work but you aint gonna get one for a tenner

As said, they used to work where the fob sent a fixed code to the car to unlock it, but not since they moved to a rolling code. The rolling code is completely random - not predictable. So being able to grab the last used code will not help predict the next code.

In actual fact the next code or any of the next ten (depending upon the system), will work - to allow for someone trying to use the fob out of range, which is why you should never press the fob repeatedly out of range of the car. Once you pass the n+10 code, the fob will then be out of sync and not work until resynced with the car.

My thinking too. Plenty of better targets in the street than a 13 year old BMW.

I'd accept that if I'd ever found the car unlocked. But the only times I have it has also been stolen from. And I can't believe some scrote checks it every night...

Yes - I'd heard that one too. But the car had just been cleaned and I could see no signs of it being thumped. I'd tried kicking a wheel hard, and that doesn't unlock it. Tried slapping a window hard too. Unless there's a special place. The shock sensor on my other car does react if you slap a window.

No signs of anything like that. If they leave the door open they're hardly likely to put the grill back in.

No - as soon as I come in, they get stuck on a hook. Well away from any windows or doors.

In message , loopy livernose writes

Ditto! My remote key fob (Mondeo III) works through the garage window, or even the metal up-and-over door!

After finding it unlocked in the garage a number of times, I am now very careful with the key. In a trizer pocket I'm sure it sometimes unlocks the car. When I leave the car in a car park I walk at least 50 yards (or into the supermarket) before pocketing the keys. ;-)

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

I used to do that, then one day I walked out of the house, pulling the inner front door to, and found myself in the locked porch without keys. Fortunately I had my moby with me and phoned a friend. :-)

In message , Gordon H writes

Mine works from the upstairs bedroom on the opposite side of the house to the car. Twice now I've come out in the morning to find all the windows open. Once it had been sub zero outside and the windows had frozen in the open position. It took over an hour before I could drive it because its really difficult to warm up a car with the windows open when its -4 outside.

Luckily I live in a quiet semi rural area and we don't get too many tea-leafs about.

But then you have to make sure you keep the keys about you at all times? I'd find that most inconvenient. Much better to always pick them up from the same place before going out. Besides, I have two cars so have to make the decision on which one to use. I have house keys on both car sets - not a set for house and one each for the cars. Of course if you live in a house full of people this might not work too well. ;-)