I'm one of those people who checks the alarm clock setting three times before I'm satisfied that yes, indeed, the alarm is all set to wake me at the chosen hour. When I lock or unlock a car's doors, it's the same deal, I like some sort of confirmation, either visual (flash the lights say once to confirm it's locked and twice to show it's unlocked) or audible (brief horn chirp, not a loud honk). Or even both.
When you thumb the lock button on the Focus' key fob, it let's you know by flashing the lights once. And if you have OCD and hit it a second time within 3 seconds, it will also give you a brief horn beep (too loud, however, I'd rather a chirp like some other cars). Ok, so that works. But when you hit the unlock button, there's no double flashing of lights, so as you walk to the car you hit the button again to discover that yes, the doors had unlocked and if it were nighttime, you would've noticed that it also turned on the interior lights.
In dire need of a more noticeable daytime confirmation that the doors unlock when you hit the button, I pulled out the manual, only to discover that the circa 1988-style remote keyless system doesn't allow you confirmation options. All kidding aside, it's not a big deal, and again, if it's dark enough outside you'll see the the interior light come on when you hit the unlock button. Should you want to get a light flash and horn beep to locate the car in a crowded garage, just hit the lock button twice within 3 seconds.
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor at 8,892 miles.
greenpony says:
04:36 PM, 06/ 5/08
Maybe GM should have built the Focus. Then you'd have the nuisance of all the exterior lights glowing like Vegas on a Friday night when you unlock the doors.
Don't you hear the doors unlock? I certainly do on mine.
slickersdrip says:
04:38 PM, 06/ 5/08
Maybe it's a security feature so at night people won't have a huge "look at me!" that you're unlocking the door and see an easy victim?
That said, it should still be an option. I'm flabbergasted by that key fob. My friend's '07 Mustang GT has that same key fob, I was appalled when I first saw it- identical to my departed 2000 Explorer. Even my SRT-4's looks better (and even has a limited amount of confirmation options).
deadmansale says:
06:02 PM, 06/ 5/08
Glad to hear others out there have OCD with locking car doors. When I used to drive my family's 1992 Honda Accord, I would frequently freak out that I had not locked the doors. This of course was during the days when remote keyless entry was first making an appearance. Without a key fob, I would have to walk the ten paces back to my car (what a workout, I know) to discover that, yes, I had indeed locked the car.
slickersdrip says:
09:12 PM, 06/ 5/08
DeadManSale,
The thing that has really gotten me is parking down at University of Texas with a parking permit, walking across campus, and then having that awful, "Did I put my parking permit on the rearview mirror?" moment and walking all the way back to the parking lot and being late to class out of sheer OCD.
johnmarco says:
11:11 PM, 06/ 5/08
My truck used to make beeps at me before I did the sequence of steps to turn them off. Now I just listen for the unlocking/locking noise. Nevertheless, sometimes I will get 20 steps away and wonder, gee, did I lock it? So I just throw caution to the wind and hit the button one more time, fob pressed to the underside of my chin.
hoops26 says:
05:26 AM, 06/ 6/08
I'm surprised the headlamps don't come on and stay on like my 07 Mustang GT...I like that feature.
Also, if you really don't like that key and fob, like myself, go buy an uncut 06+ Fusion key. You can get it for $50 (ebay), get it cut, program it (you can yourself, see owners manual) and voila! New key fob. It works great on my car.
brn says:
05:27 AM, 06/ 6/08
Didn't we already go over this?
Nothing like double nit picking the same non-issue. Yep, OCD is the right term to use here.
misterfusion says:
09:04 AM, 06/ 6/08
Fascinating condition, this OCD. My former neighbor would lock his Camry, then walk around to the passenger side and check the lock, then walk back around to the driver's side and check the lock...he would repeat this process four times before finally entering the building.
johnnyturbo says:
09:24 AM, 06/ 6/08
brn,
Unlike previous posts which just complained about this, the purpose here was to find out if you could actually do something about it, as you can with many other systems.
slicker,
I agree that it's probably a security feature, as other system's usually allow this mode in addition to light flashes, etc.