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      09-16-2013, 09:16 PM   #85
RPM90
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Drives: 340i M-sport AT
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago

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Quote:
Originally Posted by elistan View Post
Weird. I just tried it:
My setup: 2013 328i Sport Line. No Comfort, no alarm.
Locked car from outside. Central locking button did nothing.
Pulling a door handle once unlocked door, second time opened door.

Why are people seeing different results?
Seems this "feature" is a function of the alarm system and/or the "anti theft" system, which not all BMW's have.
Given the various results from people testing it seems there may be optional settings that either allow or not allow someone inside a locked and activated car to unlock and open a door.
This might explain why some people can simply pull the door lever and unlock and open the door from inside and why others can't.

According to the 07 manual if you have the alarm there is also an internal motion sensor, so if there is someone inside and moving around it should trigger the alarm/horn and flashing lights.
But, there is also a way to disable that sensor.
Maybe the owners did disable it and didn't know it?

We don't know the whole truth, but from the owners here doing a test, seems the alarm system really does do a major and potentially dangerous lock down.
I'm NOT comfortable with not being able to unlock and open the doors from the inside. That's a dangerous situation waiting to happen.
This alarm system NEEDS a fix so that a person already inside the car can unlock and open the door just like in a non alarm car.

If a thief were to break a window to get in, then he's already in, and the alarm should simply go off as intended.
But why one can't unlock the doors from the inside is very questionable.

If the driver were to leave a window open and armed the alarm, shouldn't the system know NOT to activate and alert the driver to the open window?
It won't lock or arm if the person is still in the car with the fob.
And, the system knows when the window is open or not.
So why the lock down on the inside?

If what happened is truly because the young girl couldn't unlock the doors, then that's enough to warrant a change in the system.

Blaming the brother is heartless and nonsense imo.
Hell, we're enthusiasts for God's sake and even we had to confirm this reality. Can't expect the typical casual driver to know this system does something irrational.
I didn't expect this to be true and have read the manual a few times, but for whatever reason I MISSED that part, so a non enthusiast can obviously also miss it.

BMW will be doing a lot of face saving, and retrofitting in the coming months.
Short term resale values may drop, and potentially new sales until BMW spends time and money convincing the public they've fixed the issue.
I wonder how many other non BMW automobiles behave the same way?

Way too unfortunate for this little girl and her family to potentially save others in the future.
This saddens me the more I think about and find that it probably is due to a major oversight of something so obvious.

Last edited by RPM90; 09-16-2013 at 09:27 PM..
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