Ok its 5 ft, just double checked the manual, it was 80cm for the unlocking which is where I saw the 8 from.
DnB, apologies didn't mean to sound like I doubted you. It's the manual I doubted as I Know I was no more than 5 feet away from the carwhen it would lock - unless it's counting it from the driver's side door (handle!). Was literally walking around the car, from driver's door to back passenger side door to check my son's LATCH system and car was locked by the time I got to the rear. I guess I could see the 5 feet there, but if so that's just poor dsign. Will test again and se.
I'm not a Clarity owner yet, but I had the same problem with my 2016 Civic when I first got it. Now I almost never do, and I think it's because I found that being a little further away from the car before the door closes prevents it. That is, when pushing the door shut, extend your arm more so you can be standing farther from the car as you do it, and start walking away from the car while the door's still swinging closed.
First, I'm not arguing with you here, but the "we've thought this through for you" designers at Honda. If I've got the trunk open, I don't want the doors to lock. You don't need to warn me you can't do something that doesn't make sense in that context. I'm right next to the car. Now, once I get five-ten feet away and all the doors are open, then, maybe, you can start yelling at me. And, sometimes it won't let me close the trunk! So, on one hand, it's warning me it can't lock the doors, because it thinks I'm far away, but it won't close the trunk because the key fob might be too close.
Just wondering if any of you have had the autolock stop working even though it is still turned on? It no longer beeps one or multiple and will not lock as I leave. Have turned the setting off and back on still not working. Any tricks to get it back before including in my punchlist with Honda?
First, carry the key fob in your hand to be sure the contents of your pocket can't interfere with the signal from the key fob. Can you lock the car using the key fob or the door button? If not, remove your 2nd key fob from under the seat where it's been hiding. If you know that there isn't a key fob hiding under the seat, and you've enabled walk-away locking, did you try both keys? You may have set it to work with the other key. If you know where both your keys are, you've enabled walk-away locking, it doesn't work for either key, but it used to work, all you can do is try a new battery in the key fob. However, save the old one and reinstall it if the new battery doesn't solve the problem. If you have a punch list, that must mean your Clarity is new(ish), so the key fob battery isn't likely the problem. If none of those suggestions fix the problem, add walk-away locking to your punch list. What other items are on your punch list?
you might also make sure all the auto lock steps are followed. You must remain less than 5 feet away (with all doors closed) until you hear a beep. Then move away from the car with all doors closed and it ahould beep again notifying you that the car is locked. Also make sure your phone is not in the same pocket as your keys.
I just don't understand all the angst over autolock. Close the drivers door push the button on the door handle and walk away. It's locked and you can hear the lock engage when you push the button
So my natural pattern when I leave the car, I walk away with definition, and don't doddle. If I need something from trunk, I grab it and then walk away. I'm generally impatient and don't stick around to hear any confirmation beep. I like that the car 'freaks out' if for some reason it cannot auto-lock. Only rarely do I hear the rapid beeps. I turn and remotely lock the car with the FOB if this occurs. But maybe in the last year, this has happened less than 5 times. Doesn't matter passengers, no passengers, trunk access, it all just works. I sometimes wonder if people wait near the car to hear the confirmation beep and that's part of the problem. Dunno.
My experience is almost exactly like @Dan Albrich. I exit the car normally without any thought or concern about the auto locking. In two years, I can count on one hand (and have a couple of fingers left over) the number of times it hasn’t worked and has given me the rapid beeps to tell me it didn’t lock. FWIW, my fob is in a leather Lexus cover in my front pants pockets or if jeans, it’s in the little pocket watch pocket. And when in the main pocket, it’s behind a large metal hunk of the Second Amendment and still works almost perfectly. This is one more area where we have reports of our Claritys seeming to act quite differently. Long distance trouble shooting is difficult at best but logically it’s either the car (sensors, antennas?), the fob (damaged, malfunctioning, low battery, ?), or the operator (phone or other metal blocking the signal, ?). Or if it only happens in specific locations, it could be interference. It’s usually a tough sell to the dealer’s service dept. when you have an intermittent problem that’s not throwing any diagnostic codes and wont reoccur when at the dealer. If you can get the service advisor to put your fob in their pocket and get in and out and get the rapid beeps, you might be able to get some warranty work done to track it down. I hope you can get some resolution on this as I imagine it is very frustrating. You might try: 1. Swap fobs for a long enough time to see if it only happens with one fob. That would suggest its fob related. 2. Try it with the fob being the only thing in that pocket and with nothing in a jacket pocket over it. 3. Try a fresh battery even if the low battery warning is not present. 4. Try recording as much information about when it happens, like location, temperature, speed and angle you walked away, etc. to see if there is any common denominator to the problem. 5. And as much as I hated it when the IT guys at work wanted to reimage my computer instead of trouble shooting the problem, you might try a hard reset of the system by disconnecting the 12V battery. It will sometimes “magically” fix the odd electronic “hiccup”.
Here is a link to the recent Honda R&D paper that provides a lot of insight on how the Smart Key system works. The topic is about modeling the magnetic fields, but it does a good job explaining some of the basics of how it works. I haven't found any other source that explains it to this degree. https://www.hondarandd.jp/point.php?pid=1311&lang=en
