Comfort Access Beware
11-24-2009, 05:38 PM
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I was under the impression that my car, equipped with Comfort Access, could only start if the key was inside the car. Under that assumption, if my car started I knew the key was inside the cabin, but yesterday I found out that is not true, the car will start with the key outside the cabin.
So beware, this is dangerous. What happened to me was that I drove from point A to point B (45 minute drive), when I parked at point B, I turned off my engine and as usual, looked for my cell phone, wallet and key to take with me upon walking away from car. I could not find the key in the usual place , I tried to start the engine and it would not start. I kept thinking that the key had to be inside the cabin or the car would not have started at point A, so the key had to be inside the car, so I searched all my pockets, glove compartment, under the seats, inside trunk, but could not find the key. What a mistery, how could the car have started if the key was not inside the cabin? After searching for over 30 minutes and realizing the key was not inside the cabin, I did a careful retrace of all my steps, I realized that right before I got into the car at point A, I placed the key on the roof of the car, and I must have forgotten and stepped in the car, and started the engine. The key must have fallen from the roof while driving, but how could the car start with the key outside the cabin, and run for 45 minutes with the key nowhere near the car?
Well, I had to take a cab to my house to retrieve the second key and come back to pick up my car later. I now need to order a replacement key and is $325 from my local dealer.
So, my next car will not have comfort access, it is more of a nuissance , very inconvenient and annoying to go trough this. A car should only start if the key is inside the car, and should not run if the key is outside.
So beware, you can validate what I am saying, open the inside cover of your sunroof, place the key on toip of your sunroof with bmw logo facing down and car will start.
My E60 manual, page 42 , under Comfort Access, Starting Engine, clearly states that you can start the engine if a remote control is located inside the vehicle, this is clearly a lie or my vehicle is defective.
So beware, this is dangerous. What happened to me was that I drove from point A to point B (45 minute drive), when I parked at point B, I turned off my engine and as usual, looked for my cell phone, wallet and key to take with me upon walking away from car. I could not find the key in the usual place , I tried to start the engine and it would not start. I kept thinking that the key had to be inside the cabin or the car would not have started at point A, so the key had to be inside the car, so I searched all my pockets, glove compartment, under the seats, inside trunk, but could not find the key. What a mistery, how could the car have started if the key was not inside the cabin? After searching for over 30 minutes and realizing the key was not inside the cabin, I did a careful retrace of all my steps, I realized that right before I got into the car at point A, I placed the key on the roof of the car, and I must have forgotten and stepped in the car, and started the engine. The key must have fallen from the roof while driving, but how could the car start with the key outside the cabin, and run for 45 minutes with the key nowhere near the car?
Well, I had to take a cab to my house to retrieve the second key and come back to pick up my car later. I now need to order a replacement key and is $325 from my local dealer.
So, my next car will not have comfort access, it is more of a nuissance , very inconvenient and annoying to go trough this. A car should only start if the key is inside the car, and should not run if the key is outside.
So beware, you can validate what I am saying, open the inside cover of your sunroof, place the key on toip of your sunroof with bmw logo facing down and car will start.
My E60 manual, page 42 , under Comfort Access, Starting Engine, clearly states that you can start the engine if a remote control is located inside the vehicle, this is clearly a lie or my vehicle is defective.
11-24-2009, 05:43 PM
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humm thats odd... I remember the car yelling at me if the car is running and it starts to not detect the key. Like if i started the car and walked away it would instantly start complaining that the key is not detected anymore. It will stay running but will tell you the key is now missing.
the car never attempted to tell you throughout your drive to point B?
the car never attempted to tell you throughout your drive to point B?
11-24-2009, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by EBMCS03' post='1062039' date='Nov 24 2009, 09:43 PM
humm thats odd... I remember the car yelling at me if the car is running and it starts to not detect the key. Like if i started the car and walked away it would instantly start complaining that the key is not detected anymore. It will stay running but will tell you the key is now missing.
the car never attempted to tell you throughout your drive to point B?
the car never attempted to tell you throughout your drive to point B?
11-24-2009, 05:54 PM
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First of all, if you have comfort access, theoretically you don't need to take the key out of your pocket, etc. Why would you ever have to place the key on the roof of the car? 
You make a mistake (and/or misuse CA) and now you claim that the feature is "a nuisance, inconvenient, and annoying?" 
When BMW engineered CA, they designed a system to detect if the key was on the right or left side, in the cabin, or in the trunk. I'm betting they never really thought about the potential for the key to be on the roof or they'd likely have installed some additional sensors to detect that!
What probably happened is that you put the key on or near the glass sunroof. Glass can be pretty much "invisible" to a radio signal so it's quite possible that the car "saw" the key as inside the cabin since it wasn't on either side of the car where a normal situation would occur. That allowed the car to start. From there CA cars do not turn themselves off so it allowed you to drive to your destination way after the key fell off the car.
If I recall correctly, the car will warn you if it loses "sight" of the key while the engine is running...do you remember any warning gongs or is that noise just another annoyance of owning this car?
(I have to add that it's possible that the warning only happens when the car is in Park or somthing...)
Sorry for the rant, I'm just not very tolerant when someone misuses a product or makes a mistake and then blames the product or the manufacturer instead of simply saying, "Oops, I messed up."
You make a mistake (and/or misuse CA) and now you claim that the feature is "a nuisance, inconvenient, and annoying?" When BMW engineered CA, they designed a system to detect if the key was on the right or left side, in the cabin, or in the trunk. I'm betting they never really thought about the potential for the key to be on the roof or they'd likely have installed some additional sensors to detect that!
What probably happened is that you put the key on or near the glass sunroof. Glass can be pretty much "invisible" to a radio signal so it's quite possible that the car "saw" the key as inside the cabin since it wasn't on either side of the car where a normal situation would occur. That allowed the car to start. From there CA cars do not turn themselves off so it allowed you to drive to your destination way after the key fell off the car.
If I recall correctly, the car will warn you if it loses "sight" of the key while the engine is running...do you remember any warning gongs or is that noise just another annoyance of owning this car?
(I have to add that it's possible that the warning only happens when the car is in Park or somthing...)Sorry for the rant, I'm just not very tolerant when someone misuses a product or makes a mistake and then blames the product or the manufacturer instead of simply saying, "Oops, I messed up."
11-24-2009, 06:06 PM
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Update, I just went to my car to see if I could get it to respond to a key on the glass sunroof...
If I placed the key in the center of the roof (or close to the center), the car did not detect the key and it did not allow the car to start. If I placed the key closer to the edge of the glass roof, still on the glass but closer to the edge nearest the driver's door, the car saw the key and allowed me to start the engine, etc.
Again, I have to say that clearly, this is no reason to make the claim that CA is annoying, a nuisance, or inconvenient! Sure, it was all of those things to you after you left the key on the roof
but I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater here...
If I placed the key in the center of the roof (or close to the center), the car did not detect the key and it did not allow the car to start. If I placed the key closer to the edge of the glass roof, still on the glass but closer to the edge nearest the driver's door, the car saw the key and allowed me to start the engine, etc.
Again, I have to say that clearly, this is no reason to make the claim that CA is annoying, a nuisance, or inconvenient! Sure, it was all of those things to you after you left the key on the roof
but I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater here...
11-24-2009, 06:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Rudy' post='1062053' date='Nov 24 2009, 09:54 PM
First of all, if you have comfort access, theoretically you don't need to take the key out of your pocket, etc. Why would you ever have to place the key on the roof of the car? You make a mistake (and/or misuse CA) and now you claim that the feature is "a nuisance, inconvenient, and annoying?"
When BMW engineered CA, they designed a system to detect if the key was on the right or left side, in the cabin, or in the trunk. I'm betting they never really thought about the potential for the key to be on the roof or they'd likely have installed some additional sensors to detect that!
What probably happened is that you put the key on or near the glass sunroof. Glass can be pretty much "invisible" to a radio signal so it's quite possible that the car "saw" the key as inside the cabin since it wasn't on either side of the car where a normal situation would occur. That allowed the car to start. From there CA cars do not turn themselves off so it allowed you to drive to your destination way after the key fell off the car.
If I recall correctly, the car will warn you if it loses "sight" of the key while the engine is running...do you remember any warning gongs or is that noise just another annoyance of owning this car? (I have to add that it's possible that the warning only happens when the car is in Park or somthing...)
Sorry for the rant, I'm just not very tolerant when someone misuses a product or makes a mistake and then blames the product or the manufacturer instead of simply saying, "Oops, I messed up."
You make a mistake (and/or misuse CA) and now you claim that the feature is "a nuisance, inconvenient, and annoying?" When BMW engineered CA, they designed a system to detect if the key was on the right or left side, in the cabin, or in the trunk. I'm betting they never really thought about the potential for the key to be on the roof or they'd likely have installed some additional sensors to detect that!
What probably happened is that you put the key on or near the glass sunroof. Glass can be pretty much "invisible" to a radio signal so it's quite possible that the car "saw" the key as inside the cabin since it wasn't on either side of the car where a normal situation would occur. That allowed the car to start. From there CA cars do not turn themselves off so it allowed you to drive to your destination way after the key fell off the car.
If I recall correctly, the car will warn you if it loses "sight" of the key while the engine is running...do you remember any warning gongs or is that noise just another annoyance of owning this car?
(I have to add that it's possible that the warning only happens when the car is in Park or somthing...)Sorry for the rant, I'm just not very tolerant when someone misuses a product or makes a mistake and then blames the product or the manufacturer instead of simply saying, "Oops, I messed up."
This situation would have never happened if the car behaved or functioned as it says in the manual, only starts with key inside. Fact is, manual is wrong and this was very inconvenient for me, it already cost me time, cab fare and replacement cost for the key. If I did not have this feature, or of it functioned as BMW says it does, I woul not have been trough this.
It made me think about this feature and I realized that at the end of the day, it has brought me inconvenience, aggravation and no comfort.
I am posting this so other E60 owners realize that their car will start with key outside cabin and run for 45 minutes with no warning, just avoid the mistake I made.
I do blame BMW for false information on users manual, car does start with key outside cabin, and that is as a fact.
11-24-2009, 06:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Casper' post='1062073' date='Nov 24 2009, 10:12 PM
I do blame BMW for false information on users manual, car does start with key outside cabin, and that is as a fact.
11-24-2009, 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Rudy' post='1062076' date='Nov 24 2009, 10:15 PM
You should probably sue them then since you suffered so many damages...
11-24-2009, 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Casper' post='1062081' date='Nov 24 2009, 10:19 PM
Don't be dramatic. Just beware and learn from postings in this forum, BMW is not perfect , and they screw up sometimes. Enjoy your comfort access.
11-24-2009, 06:48 PM
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Sounds like user error to me 
Kidding aside, as Rudy mentioned, that is the main point of comfort access ... never having to take your key out of your pocket.
Kidding aside, as Rudy mentioned, that is the main point of comfort access ... never having to take your key out of your pocket.