UUronL

I've read the other topics on this matter, so please no linking.


Saturday, I started my car and had a message about high battery drain. I drove the car a fairly short distance, parked it, and when I returned to the car to restart it, there was no error message.

Yesterday, the same thing happened.

This morning - same message, and I drove the car to work where it sits currently. I am a little puzzled. Prior to this, I have noticed that when I unlock the car and enter it, the in-dash CD is spinning away (no key in ignition). I thought that this was odd and ejected the CD the last few nights to prevent this from happening. This did not eliminate the drain. I also tried to turn the headlight switch into the off position. This did not eliminate the drain either. I also checked the flashlight to make sure it wasn't on.

I have not done any modifications to the car, and the weather is mild, so I would not expect electrical component failure due to heat or diminished battery capacity due to cold. I do not leave my key in the ignition.

My bluetooth phone is never left in the car (there is no phone charger in the car), and the phone itself is about 6 stories up from the car and is not directly above it. There could be other BT phones (or cars) in the garage waking up the car, but unless one is actively attempting to pair with my car I wouldn't expect my car to pay much attention to other device chatter. (On a side note, it should be rather easy to pair a BT car into a low battery situation maliciously, but I digress)

Lately, the space next to my car has been occupied, and previously it had been mostly vacant. The proximity is tight, is it possible that the alarm system is reacting to an encroachment caused by a static object?

Any ideas?

NES

Is it just the "error" message or is it actually draining the juice?

RAI

I had this same problem. Dealer said they'd never seen this warning light before. I was having problems with my car alarm giving false alarms at the same time I was getting these warning messages, and they turned out to be related. Somehow the excessive battery drain coincided with the false alarms I was having. The dealer replaced some electronic module behind the back bumper, and viola, no more problems!!! So, I'd suggest that your dealer check out whatever electronic module this is that relates to the alarm system.

UUronL

Thanks for the responses - I don't know if my car was giving false security alarms or not - I'd never hear it unless it happened when I was in the garage with it.

I actually tried to pair another phone to the car when it was off and locked... nothing happened so the BT radio isn't active when the car is off. My paired phone didn't even wake the car up. With that said, a separate test I did mid-call proves that the handsfree remains on for a period of time after the car is turned off and the key is removed, so depending on when a "pairing attack" is initiated and how long the car will permit BT activity to keep the handsfree powered, it may be possible for someone to drain power in this manner. I'm not sure if I'm bored enough to test it out...