[bcool]

Just got my Volt last week, and I'm having fun learning about it...not a small task!

I'm not 100% sure, but it seems that the door locks are acting differently than they did when I first tried them and I'm not sure if I changed a setting that would have caused this behavior.

Here's how they work now:

1. Unlock the door from the inside by pulling on the handle twice
2. Exit the car and close the door
3. Push the small button on the outside handle once; it makes a sound like something's happening with the locks but nothing changes - only the driver's door is unlocked (the one I opened)
4. Press the button a second time; all the doors unlock
5. Press the button a THIRD time and all the doors lock

Is this the way it's supposed to work? I swear when I first got it, the first press of the button locked all the doors.

Is this behavior controlled by one of the user-configurable settings?

 

[wordptom]

Yes, that is the way the Gen 2 works. You didn’t change a setting. There has been a change from the Gen 1 configuration.

What happens when you’re standing outside and then press the button depends on whether or not the computer thinks the car is locked.

The Gen 1 door lock/unlock switch was located on the center stack, and locked/unlocked all four doors. In the Gen 2 Volt, the lock/unlock doors switch was moved to the doors, and became configurable (open driver’s door, open all doors). It appears that because of this change, the "double pull" on the driver’s door handle will still open the door, as it did in the Gen 1, but no longer sends a "car is unlocked" signal to the computer.


Thus, if the doors are locked, when the driver opens the door and exits by double pulling the door handle, the computer thinks the car is still locked. The first push on the door button now sends an "unlock driver’s door" signal instead of the "lock all doors" signal it would have sent if the car had been unlocked. The second push then unlocks all doors, and the third push will then lock the doors.

 

[voganni]

Isn't there a setting to have all doors unlock when car is put in park? My gen 1 does this. Only the wife uses the "double pull" to get out, because she's too impatient to wait for me to put the car in park (or I forget).

 

[KenBrown]

Isn't there a setting to have all doors unlock when car is put in park? My gen 1 does this. Only the wife uses the "double pull" to get out, because she's too impatient to wait for me to put the car in park (or I forget).

Yup. It's still there on the gen 2.

 

[hellsop]

Unlock the door from the inside by pulling on the handle twice

Don't do that. The car doesn't know (at the level that cares about such things) that the door is unlocked and opened. Some subsystems like the chimer and the dome lights knows, but the central locking system doesn't. There are many many posts complaining about thing being weird, alerts being inconsistent or behaving in unexpected ways, that all start with people exiting the car without the central locking knowing that they they've left. Design flaw? Maybe. But it ain't gonna get changed in your car or for the foreseeable future, so you may as rebuild your habits around tailoring the automatic locking/unlocking to suit your tastes.

 

[BillG]

Are there buttons on the center stack on the Gen 2 for locking and unlocking the doors? If you don't want to program auto unlocking when put into Park, use these buttons instead of the double pull.

 

[TSquare]

Are there buttons on the center stack on the Gen 2 for locking and unlocking the doors? If you don't want to program auto unlocking when put into Park, use these buttons instead of the double pull.

The Gen 2 put the buttons back on the doors right above the pull handle. Easy to push then pull the handle, more efficient than pulling the handle twice.

 

[acarney]

I just wish the car would set the alarm when you walk away from it. I have it set to lock all four doors after I exit (which it usually does within about 10 seconds or by the time I've walked away four or five feet from it) however, if I want the horn to chirp and the alarm to be armed then I have to dig the remote out of my pocket and hit the lock twice. I don't mind most the time... except when I have gloves on in the winter, or my hands full

 

[2VoltFamily]

I just wish the car would set the alarm when you walk away from it. I have it set to lock all four doors after I exit (which it usually does within about 10 seconds or by the time I've walked away four or five feet from it) however, if I want the horn to chirp and the alarm to be armed then I have to dig the remote out of my pocket and hit the lock twice. I don't mind most the time... except when I have gloves on in the winter, or my hands full

I think the alarm is armed when the doors are locked.

 

[acarney]

I think the alarm is armed when the doors are locked.

I was wondering about that. I know when locking it from the remote a single press locks all the doors and a second press triggers the horn chirp which from my understanding is the sign that the alarm is armed. When just leaving the car with the "auto lock" (can't remember what the exact wording was) is set then I can hear the car lock all four doors but never hear a horn chirp.

Anyway I can verify the alarm is on?

 

[BillG]

Lock it with the driver window down, then (without the key fob in your pocket) reach in and try to open it from the inside?

 

[acarney]

Lock it with the driver window down, then (without the key fob in your pocket) reach in and try to open it from the inside?

Would that work? Or would the car be smart enough to let the person out from the inside without the alarm going off? even without the key I could see a passenger in the back seat or something getting out of the car a minute or two after the driver and would you want the alarm to go off each time?

I would think the double pull on the inside handle would not trigger the alarm, just like it selectively unlocks that door...

I can try though...

 

[2VoltFamily]

step:

1 - roll the driver window down
2 - close the door (you are now outside the vehicle)
3 - lock the car (either by pushing the button on the door or if you have auto lock setup)
4 - walk away from the car and secure the remote at some distance from the car
5 - return to the vehicle after more than 30 seconds without the remote
6 - reach in through the window and using the inside lever open the car door.

the alarm will sound