Finally gave up on the “walk away” door locking

What I've discovered over the past year is that once the driver's door is closed, the system thinks all is well. Typically, then if I walk away from the car, there will eventually be the single beep and lock. But if I open the trunk before that single beep/lock signal goes off, the system gives off the multiple beep. And even after the trunk is closed, the system won't lock automatically. If I walk away from the car, it's unlocked.

So my routine - when I know I'm going to unload the trunk - is to leave the door slightly ajar so that the system doesn't think the car is being locked up. That has at least helped as a workaround to the problem. Where it is still a problem is when I go to the store. I don't always remember to leave the door ajar while I go back to the trunk to get shopping bags. Then I have to remember to press the lock button or the car won't be locked.

I think it's a really poorly designed system. Do all Honda autolock systems behave this way?
 
Mark W said:
Yes, can anyone else report on how well auto-lock works on other cars that they have?
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I also own a CRV. We used the auto-lock for a while and then disabled it, but not because of the type of problem in this discussion. (Too many times when it locked and just caused inconvenience.) We never experienced the multi-beep issue; I don't think that the CRV even has that "feature".
 
The random nature of it is what is aggravating.

I can do a series of errands one day and park and exit multiple times and get the 'angry beeps' half the time (or zero or 90%), with no difference in my exit process. I don't use the trunk very often (say 5% of my exits involve walking to the back of the car or open the trunk; normally I get out and walk perpendicular from the driver's door or leave towards the front).

My only wish was that the angry beeps would be accompanied by a display message or verbal notification about what is the issue that triggered it. That way I could correct whatever is happening in order to avoid it. After several months of trying to decode the trigger, I still haven't found it.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
I think that button may have been mentioned upthread.

Just looked. I had no idea there was a lock button on the door handle. That certainly seems like an elegant, if simple, solution!
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I guess I knew the lock button on the door was there because it was on my previous car and also on my wife's Jeep. I'm pretty sure my sales person told me about it.
 
I own a Ridgeline and it has the same issues with auto-lock functionality. So I set auto-lock "OFF" on it and the Clarity. It's a nice idea, but not implemented properly.

MNSteve said:
I also own a CRV. We used the auto-lock for a while and then disabled it, but not because of the type of problem in this discussion. (Too many times when it locked and just caused inconvenience.) We never experienced the multi-beep issue; I don't think that the CRV even has that "feature".
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My sense is that it happens if you walk slowly away from the car- it is more likely if you exit and go toward the back as this keeps you in the vicinity longer.
 
Only time we lock in these parts is when we're not in these parts. My car came with the walk away disabled. I was delighted to discover that the car had a button just like the one on my dear old 2006 Prius.
 
Loved the walk away feature of the autolock during the first week of ownership and it worked flawlessly for me. Never experienced the multiple beeps or maybe was just not paying attention to it. First time I went back out to the garage and had to walk back in to get the keys the feature was disabled. I've always used the button on the door handle on my older cars so I'm used to locking the door that way. Keyfob #2 still has the walk away feature so I might try using that for couple of times just to see how well it works.
 
Today, when my wife went to her Clarity Touring with Fob #1, the seat didn't change to her settings. She had to press the #1 button the door. When she arrived at the mall, the car didn't lock itself after she exited as it usually does. After she drove home here's what happened:
  1. She exited and heard the 10-beep warning--the car didn't lock
  2. I went out to the garage with no fob, opened and closed the driver's door and heard 10 beeps
  3. I tried every other door--they all caused the 10-beep warning
  4. I opened and closed the trunk--nothing
  5. I tried every door again--they all caused the 10-beep warning
  6. I retrieved her Fob #1, got in and turned on the car
  7. I turned off the car, exited, and the doors locked as they're supposed to do
  8. I switched to my Fob #1 and went back to the car
  9. The door unlocked and the seat moved to my settings, as it's supposed to do
I don't know why the car initially ignored my wife's fob, forcing her to select the #1 setting on the door
My wife didn't go to the trunk, so I don't know why the automatic locking didn't occur as she walked away
I can't figure out what state the car was in that made it beep whenever any door was closed with no fob present

I agree it would be nice if the 10-beep tirade was accompanied by an explanatory message on the head unit
 
vicw said:
Can you actually hear 10 beeps on yours? On mine, it's more like a continuous warbling beeping for several seconds.
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The beeps are very close together and I might have counted wrong, but I heard the sequence so many times while I was testing that I believed I heard was 10 beeps most of the time. I thought about recording it and using the Audacity program to come up with an exact number. Then, overcome by laziness, I said to myself, "Honda wouldn't use 9 or 11 beeps," and declared, "It's 10."
 
I'm happy with 1 = Good to go, More than 1 (or maybe 10) = Bad, press the black button.
 
I spoke with a service manager today and got good (bad, really) answers about the walk-away lock feature. The multi-beep issue has something to do with the D-bar (??) which essentially the part of the frame of the car near the drivers seatbelt. If the fob passes that point, and you close the doors, the car will multi-beep. Hence - if your FOB is in your left pocket as you exit, you're probably not going to experience an issue. My purse, however, swings over my right shoulder and routinely passes that dead zone. #itsamansworld Unfortunately, it's a design that Honda doesn't view as a flaw or defect.

On another note, he seems to think the walk-away lock feature may be tied to our repeated failures with our 32A EVSE Level 2. I don't buy it, but I'll play the game until Honda admits there's something wrong with our car.
 
I haven't done any real analysis regarding what I'm doing. My wife and I both use auto-lock 100% of the time. While I have witnessed the multi-beep warning it is extremely rare in our case. Like 1 in 100 if that. When it occurs, I manually hit the lock button and walk away. I will say I am careful (and so is my wife) for obvious reasons not to leave either FOB in the car.

Love the feature because I never go fishing for my keys either to lock or unlock. Anyway, this may be the first Clarity issue reported in the forums that I don't experience. It may vary by car (other things do, I know). It may be something we're doing or not doing. I'd share the solution if I knew. It just works in my experience.
 
You don't need the walk away set to avoid fishing for key fob. Just set it to smart lock with out the walk away function and it will still unlock when you come back. The only effort will be to press the little black button.
 
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