In what conditions will a 05 Subaru Baja doors lock with key in ignition?

Question

My 2005 Sub. Baja locked on me the other morning while it was running. I am not sure if my son or I hit the lock button, but I thought that there was a safety feature to prevent it from locking while the keys were in the ignition. I know my 2000 Dodge Stratus had this feature, but if you manually pushed down the lock without using the electronic button, it could be overridden. But the Baja do not have an easy lock to manually or accidentallly push down without using the electric button. I would just like to know how to prevent this from occurring again. Luckily, I had a 3rd key in the house and one house door happened to be unlocked. Otherwise I would have been locked out of the house with the car running and no way to get in the car and no way to get to work. From the answers of my previous question, it is obvious that it is not a valet lockout feature that caused this. PLease help!!!

Answer 1

Not all cars and trucks have a safety feature when it comes to the doors locking when you get out of the car when the car is running unless you either are in first or in drive. In that case, you shouldn't be getting out of the car to begin with. However, from the sounds of it, the lock button was pressed either shortly before you got all the way out of the car, or just after getting out and closing the door. The dealership may have more information on this as they do take serious notes as to what things happen to their customers vehicles.

Answer 2

Does the car have an automatic starter on it? Check your manual if it does. Usually the automatic start will lock the doors as a theft deterrent feature. This feature has nothing to do with the valet. You can lock your glove box with the main key but people can drive the car and unlock the doors with the valet key. The valet key will not open the glove box. Since the Baja has no trunk you don't have to worry about the trunk.

Answer 3

Never leave a running vehicle un-attended to warm up is the first rule. Carry key fob in pocket or purse not attached to key. Yes,the doors should be locked while driving the vehicle-this requires the keys in the ignition.There should be an alert sound to remind you to remove keys from the ignition when you open the driver's door.