2008 Cadillac CTS: And Another Thing...

Actually, the key is intelligent, you just need to turn it on in the Driver Information Center. (DIC)

First, find the DIC controls. They're to the left of the steering wheel on the dash.

Do the following:

1) Go into the DIC (Hit the button that looks like a couple of boxes, one of them has a check mark in it.)
2) Scroll through using the up and down buttons until you get to "Advanced Features" -> Hit the check mark button
3) Scroll through until you get to "Keyless Locking" -> Hit the check mark button
4) Hit the DIC Key (the box with check mark) until "On" is highlighted, then hit the check mark to select it.

This will turn keyless locking ON. After you do this, you'll be able to leave the key in your pocket, and it'll automatically lock when you get out of range - usually about 5-10 feet from the car. It'll beep to let you know it locked.

There - your CTS just got a little cooler.

It's nice when knowledgeable people who own the car leave comments. Thanks, kimosen.

Having been on too many photo shoots where a vehicle automatically locked itself with the key inside (and unwilling to learn if this car is smart enough to know its key is inside and thus NOT lock), we are not fans of the auto locking feature and have turned it off on this car and every car we drive, for that matter. Thanks for the suggestion, however. We'd still prefer to actively lock the car with the key in our pockets rather than walk away from the car hoping it'll lock when it is supposed to and not lock when we don't want it to. --C.W.

Chris - The CTS IS smart enough, but I respect your unwillingness to call OnStar to have the thing unlocked. (You guys do get the year of OnStar free, remember).

What I'd recommend doing is taking the "fob" and the "key" apart. Just press the button on the front side of the fob and pull - viola - hidden key.

Keep the key on your ring, and just keep THAT in your pocket, and keep the fob wherever you will. That way even if you DO leave the fob in your car by accident, and the gremlins lock it in there, you can still unlock it with the actual key.

If you still complain after that, well, you're just nit-picking. ;)

Ditto on the first and second comments. I suspected there was a setting to adjust somewhere in the DIC, or suggest you just push the button on the door before you close it.

Chris,
As Chief Road Test Editor, you must have awesome responsibilities! I applaud your efforts!

Now, am I correct in assuming that the item in your hand is the remote unlocking device for the Cadillac CTS?

Thanks in advance!

Just read CW's reply. That makes sense, but is it really that important to have a lock button on the outside of the door instead of the inside? Nice to have, but not a deal breaker. I offer the typical "owners will get used to it" comment.

Seems like the question should read "Why are InsideLine editors only half intelligent?"

cwalton1, the car is smart enough to realize you left the smart key in the car, and in fact will honk at you if you do. There is, AFAIK, no way to lock the key in the car, not even deliberately.

I also want to add, I'd *much* rather have the system that the CTS uses than the systems where you actually have to push the button on the car after you get out. With the CTS, you never have to worry about whether you locked the car or not (provided you have the settings properly set).

"This will turn keyless locking ON. After you do this, you'll be able to leave the key in your pocket, and it'll automatically lock when you get out of range - usually about 5-10 feet from the car. It'll beep to let you know it locked.

There - your CTS just got a little cooler."

That's auto-locking: not the same as a little touch pad on the handle a-la BMW, Nissan and others, which you can use to manually lock the car with a wave of your hand. I'm not a fan of cars that lock themselves. I'll turn that feature off every time.
-mm

I think the CTS is well over a year old. Who knows if they renewed their OnStar subscription. Heh. My magic 8 ball says, "Doubtful."

If the key is in your pocket how in the world could you lock it in the car? I never even paid attention to buttons that can be pushed to lock the doors. My assumption was that the point of push button start (or keyless start) is that you can walk away from the car and have the doors locked. Does the TL have a button on the door handles?

" also want to add, I'd *much* rather have the system that the CTS uses than the systems where you actually have to push the button on the car after you get out. With the CTS, you never have to worry about whether you locked the car or not (provided you have the settings properly set)."

exactly. Isnt this the entire point of this feature?

boxermike, with all due respect, why on earth would you want to have to manually lock the car every time you get out? Again, there is no way to even deliberately lock the smart key in the CTS, so what's the downside of it automatically locking when you walk away? BTW, GM has been doing this since at least the early 1990's (the C4 Corvette could be set to automatically lock when you walked away), so they have this technology perfected by now... though I know it's impossible for some people to come to grasp that GM can actually engineer certain things better than BMW.

Does it turn the car off too? Curious.

My CA-equipped 330i allowed you to open and lock doors with the handle but it wouldn't automatically lock when you walk away. Sounds like a nice feature.

For me, it is a pretty simple set-up:
1) I walk up to the car and pull the handle--it unlocks.
2) I get out of the car, walk away--it locks(and beeps to tell me so)
3) The time or two I left the fob in the car and left, the car beeps at me and won't lock the doors.

I truly enjoy the system and prefer it to the setup on my previous Lexus.

"boxermike, with all due respect, why on earth would you want to have to manually lock the car every time you get out? Again, there is no way to even deliberately lock the smart key in the CTS, so what's the downside of it automatically locking when you walk away? BTW, GM has been doing this since at least the early 1990's (the C4 Corvette could be set to automatically lock when you walked away), so they have this technology perfected by now... though I know it's impossible for some people to come to grasp that GM can actually engineer certain things better than BMW."

Same silly reason I don't like automatic headlights. I like knowing that they're off and having the confirmation of a button pushed. I'm a little OCD when it comes to door locks, I just don't trust the automatic ones.
-mm

blueguydotcom, not sure what you mean, are you asking if it turns off the car if you walk away with the key? No that would actually be dangerous if, say, you were dropping your spouse off and he/she accidentally had the key in his/her pocket. In that case the car actually will ding and say "Electronic Key Not Detected" in the instrument cluster information display, and if you accidentally turn off the car it will ding and say "Electronic Key Not Detected, Restart Allowed" until you open and close the driver's door so you're not left stranded. GM has thought through the electronic key feature much better than any other manufacturer I've seen. The car *does* have remote start from the smart key, which, in a similarly-well-thought-out fashion won't start the car unless the doors are closed and locked and the trunk and hood are closed, and will automatically activate both the climate control and the heated/ventilated seats (as appropriate), and will automatically turn back off after 10 minutes to prevent you leaving the car running if you forget you had started it. Obviously after a remote start it won't let you operate the ignition switch or the gearshift lever until it detects that the smart key is in the car. IMO it's genuinely brilliant engineering.

"though I know it's impossible for some people to come to grasp that GM can actually engineer certain things better than BMW."

Stop the madness! Cant be possible.

Well if boxermike is anti auto headlights that explains a lot. I have yet to figure out why people get mad about auto headlights. They work exactly as designed and are 100% effective. I have been wondering for years why so many imports (even luxury models) can't incorporate auto lights as standard equipment. Instead I have to be on the road at dusk with Infinitis driving with headlights off. When you turn the car off auto headlights go off- you cant get any more absolute than that.

esoterica:

To my knowledge no other manufacturer has remote start and keyless starting from the factory. Most upper end GM vehicle have the heated seats tied into the remote start. My car does not have that feature but they all have the auto shut off after 10 minutes of run time.

"Does the TL have a button on the door handles?"

If you get the Tech package.

From Acuras site:

The Keyless Access System with push-button ignition allows you to walk up to the TL, unlock the doors, have the car set your preferences, and start the engine without ever having to take the key out of your pocket.

-The vehicle will sense the key remote but will not unlock the door until you touch the handle.

-You can turn the engine and auxiliary controls on and off at the touch of a button.

-Two backup systems include an ignition insert slot for any transmitter failure and a slide-out key and “valet” mode to keep locked contents secure.

Noooo!! Kissel1 is back!

The keyless feature on the CTS seems perfectly reasonable to me, and I agree that the Audi setup would probably get on my nerves.

1487, regarding your question of whether other cars automatically lock when you walk away, I'm not aware of any besides certain Cadillacs and Corvettes. The Volvos, BMW's, Infinitis, MB's, Acuras, et al that I've driven with smart key all require that you push a button on the door. Also unlike other makes, Cadillacs can sense when the batteries are getting low in the smart key, and will again warn you in the information display. So yeah, Cadillac's smart key really is smarter.

Interestingly, both Volvo and GM have 2-way keyfob technology available on certain vehicles (Volvo's can even tell you if there's someone hiding out in your car using a heartbeat sensor in the car -- no joke), but GM's 2-way implementation doesn't seem to be compatible with their smart key system yet (the only Cadillac it's available on is the Escalade, which doesn't have smart key):

http://fyi.gmblogs.com/2006/11/new_on_your_key_fob_advanced_r.html

It will be really cool when they eventually combine the two technologies.

To add one more data point to this whole locking thing on the CTS, in the DIC you can also set a locking delay so that even if auto locking is turned off, you can set the car so that when you open the door and push the lock button on the driver's armrest, it dings 3 times then waits 5 seconds after the last door is closed before it locks, just to give you "oops" time (and no, it still won't let you lock the smart key in the car, though if you get the car with the standard key it will).

I also 100% agree with you regarding the auto headlights, and nearly every other "auto" feature for that matter as long as they're intelligently engineered (e.g. the auto wipers in the CTS that are so good that there's not really any reason to ever turn them off).

And Boxermike, you would have hated my Volvo S60 because in that car there's no way to turn the headlights off when the car is on, or on when the car is off (strangely, with the headlamp switch in either the "headlamps on" or "off" positions, all the headlamps/taillamps/positioning lamps would stay on as long as the car was on, and off as long as the car was off, though the "parking lights on" position left just the parking lights on whether the car was on or off... again, strange). But I thought it was great because it was just one less thing I had to worry about.

eso, cool. just curious about the off feature. seems like a better system than BMW's by a longshot. Don't you have to get a package to get the keyless start?

BDC:

its not standard on the CTS. Same as on TL and several other cars. It is definitely better than competing systems and makes more sense than Audi's set up. Why have keyless go that requires the insertion of the fob into the dash? I don't get that.

esoterica- I believe most GM vehicles have that delayed locking feature where one press of the lock button delays locking by 5 seconds allowing you to open other doors in that window and locking after all doors are shut for 5 seconds. Very nice feature that will never get mentioned by any auto writers. While GM had quality issues during the '90s, their cars were very user friendly and offered plenty of convenience features not thought of on the competition.