Driver door locks itself every time I get out

[Jay M]

I don't know all the scenarios, but when turn the car, get out and close the door, the driver door locks, but the passenger door remains unlocked.

What could cause this? I assume it has something to do with the fact that I had the door panels recovered. Could a loose wire cause the problem? Could there be some other strange electrical issue? I recently had a stereo installed and cruise control.

thanks
~Jay

 

[Cobraken]

The car must be trying to tell you something. A bummer having a car that doesn't like you.

 

[Jay M]

The car must be trying to tell you something. A bummer having a car that doesn't like you.

lol... I'm trying not to take it personally

 

[ViperGTS]

The year and/or Gen-# might matter if you don't mind ...

 

[Jay M]

The year and/or Gen-# might matter if you don't mind ...

sorry, I guess that is an important detail. '04 Convertible.

thanks,
~Jay

 

[Mutts02GTS]

I would check the wiring the runs through the rubber dust cover from the door to the vehicle body. I had something similar happen but it was with my electric window, with the door open window no workie, with door closed window workie. Sound like you may have two wires touching for the door lock/unlock button somewhere in there. It is fairly easy to get too but you need to take the gill cover off, this will give you access to the vehicle side of the cover. Hope this helps. Jeff

 

[Jay M]

thanks, I'll look at that.

~Jay

 

[Jerome Sparich]

My Dodge truck did that same thing. I needed to get the BCM reflashed and that took care of it.

 

[Jay M]

My Dodge truck did that same thing. I needed to get the BCM reflashed and that took care of it.

I think that might be the problem. The windows almost never open when I open and close the door. I did the recalibration thing and it worked for a short time, but now it seems that 1 out of 5 times the glass just slams into the frame.

I assume reflashing the BCM is a dealer thing?

~Jay

 

[Jay M]

This problem is still driving me crazy. When my car was at Bill Luke a few weeks ago Eddie spent some time trying to figure it out and couldn't.

If the car is off, the door works like it should. It's only after it's been running that it locks itself. I dread that embarrassing day when it locks me out while it's running and have to call AAA to let me in. That almost happened on the way back from Arizona, I pulled off the freeway to check the tire pressure when a low tire warning came on. If my wife weren't in the car, I would have been locked out.

~Jay

 

[Sonoman]

In the meantime, I would keep a spare key stored hidden in the engine compartment somewhere (black duck tape works well here). I've always found it a little odd that the Viper hood and gas cap don't have an interior release mech, but it comes in handy in this case.

 

[bluesrt]

sometimes a good old fashion ass kickin will fix things too

 

[Sonoman]

Allright!! Dog-pile on bluesrt!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, BTW

 

[bluesrt]

merry christmas

 

[Jay M]

sometimes a good old fashion ass kickin will fix things too

I thought that only worked on computers.

 

[WAM]

I recently replaced my battery and my doors were locked when I put the new battery in the car. I don't remember locking the doors before removing the old battery. I'm thinking the doors lock down when the battery is disconected. Don't know if is the case but if so, maybe you should check your battery post conections.

 

[Jay M]

If all else fails, read the instructions...

The GEN III Viper has what is called a virtual locking system. What that means is that when you "lock" the doors, what really happens is that the outside door handle is electronically disabled. The inside handle is only disabled when the car is in motion.

There is a feature that many cars have that will lock the doors once you start to drive. On the Viper, at 18mph the doors lock. My Lexus does that too, but when I put it in park, the doors unlock again.

The solution - in the owners manual there is a procedure to disable the rolling door lock.

So it wasn't a problem, it was a feature!

~Jay

 

[Thom]

If all else fails, read the instructions...

The GEN III Viper has what is called a virtual locking system. What that means is that when you "lock" the doors, what really happens is that the outside door handle is electronically disabled. The inside handle is only disabled when the car is in motion.

There is a feature that many cars have that will lock the doors once you start to drive. On the Viper, at 18mph the doors lock. My Lexus does that too, but when I put it in park, the doors unlock again.

The solution - in the owners manual there is a procedure to disable the rolling door lock.

So it wasn't a problem, it was a feature!

~Jay

My 06 Coupe has the rolling door lock enabled, and the driver door remains unlocked when I exit the vehicle. Since your symptom only affects the driver door, I suspect you still have a problem. You've just eliminated the symptom by disabling the rolling door lock function.