You're seeing the same view of the long-term 2008 BMW X5 that I saw yesterday morning. I came out groggy-eyed to get the morning paper, and there she sat in my driveway with all four windows fully down and the sunroof partway open.
Large blobs of dew were pooled on the hood and roof, but the interior seemed dry enough. And none of my neighbor's many cats were curled up inside, so no damage done.
A quick read of the manual reveals that this is in fact a feature called "comfort opening". If one presses and holds the unlck button on the remote for more than 2 seconds, all of the windows start coming down in unison. A 5 second hold lowers them all the way, like this.
The remote must have gotten pinched in my pocket when I sat down in the house sometime last night. It's happened before with panic alarm buttons.
When I lived in Phoenix I would have killed for a way to remotely roll down the windows before I sat down in what amounted to an oven. But knowing that my car could sit unlocked and wide open all night without my knowledge isn't nearly as convenient.
Further manual-reading shows that this feature isn't one that can be customized or shut-off via the extensive iDrive menus. It should be.
On the plus side, if one touches and holds the top of the door handle for 5 seconds, the windows will all roll up and the sunroof will close after the doors lock. Now that I can use.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 20,125 miles
bimmerjay says:
02:56 PM, 11/11/08
I love this feature - use it all the time. To attempt to reduce inadvertent use there is a programmed range limitation that requires you to be closer to put the windows down. For example, to unlock/lock the doors or pop the trunk you can be maybe 50 feet away, but you need to be within about 20 feet or less for the convenience open to work.
And in the U.S. you can't close the windows from the remote. It only works by holding your finger on the door handle (or key in the lock). >:-(
mercedesfan says:
03:26 PM, 11/11/08
I just assumed that pretty much all new cars had this feature. My first Benz was a 1999 C230 Kompressor and it had this feature. Since then I have just grown to take it for granted. It really is a great feature for those of us that live in climates that get particularly warm.
banhugh says:
03:51 PM, 11/11/08
The Accord does that too.. from the previous generation. But it does not remotely closes them...
afty says:
03:52 PM, 11/11/08
Yup, my Altima does this as well.
anilpunjabi says:
04:03 PM, 11/11/08
lexus has been putting this in all their cars since 2001- u should try it - cools the down the car so much quicker
tmanz says:
04:17 PM, 11/11/08
should have a feature similar to the auto-rearm that some cars have where if you don't open a door within like 30 seconds or so the alarm rearms and locks the doors.
Seems it would be simple enough to have it roll the windows back up and then lock and arm if nothing is open within a set time.
dragonflight says:
06:15 PM, 11/11/08
A *lot* of cars have it. I know Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Mercedes, BMW have it on their cars. I'm sure a ton of other brands have it too, just haven't experienced them first hand
carfreak8394 says:
06:49 PM, 11/11/08
"should have a feature similar to the auto-rearm that some cars have where if you don't open a door within like 30 seconds or so the alarm rearms and locks the doors. "
My mom's Accord does that. It's a nice feature, espeically if you accidentally hit the unlock button somehow.
bimmerjay says:
07:51 PM, 11/11/08
"Seems it would be simple enough to have it roll the windows back up and then lock and arm if nothing is open within a set time."
That'll never happen in the U.S. On most cars you can't even roll-up the windows with the remote, much less having them do it by themselves with no one watching!
the_big_al says:
08:38 PM, 11/11/08
I don't see why it would be hard to have the windows roll up by themselves. They could be installed with a force sensor so that if it encounters a certain amount of force while closing (such as a head or neck) it will reverse and come back down. Similar to a garage door opener.
Of course that opens up the possibility for more electronic stuff to fail too.
mercedesfan says:
11:24 PM, 11/11/08
the_big_al all modern power windows already have that sensor built in per government regulation. I agree that it seems like a no brainer to have the windows close themselves when the vehicle locks.
And for the record, every Mercedes I have owned allows you to close the windows using the key fob so I am not quite sure why BMW does not.
dougtheeng says:
05:48 AM, 11/12/08
to close them on my MINI, you have to inset the key into the door and then hold "lock". to lower them, you just use the unlock on the key fob.
bimmerjay says:
06:47 AM, 11/12/08
"And for the record, every Mercedes I have owned allows you to close the windows using the key fob so I am not quite sure why BMW does not."
Non-North American-market BMWs allow convenience close from the remote fob. Thank our litigious, generally incompetent American populace for that.
wizard8873 says:
09:07 AM, 11/12/08
My Altima has this feature and I absolutely love it. When my parents bought their Altima in 02 and we saw this feature, I thought it was just a big gimmick but found it useful once I got my car. Would be great if it opened up all the windows and moonroof though, also be able to close them remotely but it's better than nothing.
cheslin says:
10:47 AM, 11/12/08
Most Mercedes do let you close the windows via the IR laser in the remote.
sgude says:
11:45 AM, 11/12/08
My wife did this with her GX470. Too bad it rained hard that night! One interior detail later, it was okay. I'm a bit worried about rust underneath the carpets, though.
lazyhater says:
01:33 PM, 11/12/08
This feature can be turn off on Lexus.
blueguydotcom says:
06:49 PM, 11/12/08
Love this feature on BMWs and Minis. Used it all the time. It's fantastic. Come out to the car, click the button while walking and the car's all ready to go before you get in.
Not sure how a key gets depressed and held down to open the windows... seems odd to me.