2009 BMW M3: Keyless Entry That's Truly Keyless

The manuals are placed in the truck for optimum weight distribution. *end sarcasm*

Question: With Keyless Entry, what happens if you are driving at a high rate of speed and you throw the keys out the window?

Will the car just stop?

RTFM = read the fantastic manual

w3rd to your fathers. Hope everyone had a great Father's Day.

No the car doesn't just turn off if you throw it out the window. lol. It just wont turn back on again once you shut the engine off. I have experimented with this before and turned my car on, and left the fob home and drove around the block without it.

@adavis2493,

No it won't, the car will keep going as long as you don't turn off the engine.

adavis loved the question...and yes robs is correct.

There should be an indication saying that the key cannot be detected.

robs, you might just have some kicking good range on your keyfob. ;)

I keep my owner's manual in my trunk. I refer to is pretty much never and it gives me extra room to store napkins and such in the dash...

so can you lock the door without reaching for the key fob?

There should be an indication saying that the key cannot be detected.

In my parents Mercedes GL450, it flashes in the dash that the key is missing, worked when we drove off from the valet with the key in his pocket.

Does it automatically lock the car when you walk away, like the CTS? If not, it would seem it's still not truly keyless (since there's no button on the door handle a la Infiniti to manually lock the doors when you leave).

Yes, there is an indication.

Looks like they changed how this works from the implementation in my 2007 E90. I discovered another quirk of the each-key-has-its-own-options feature yesterday: if you use the actual key in the door to unlock the car, instead of the remote, it actually counts as a separate key from the two remotes. I get why that happens, but it was a little confusing at first, and somewhat annoying.

I read somewhere that in the R56 MINI with comfort access, inserting a remote in the slot will automatically cause that remote's settings to be loaded. That does not appear to be the case in my E90, or maybe it just does not do that when the car is in motion. :)

I don't know if it's standard, but mine came with two manuals. I like that because I have a copy on my desk in case I think of something when I'm not in the car. The other copy is in the trunk, and I insist on keeping it there for optimum weight distribution. :-P

i think thats just a BMW quirk... on my mom's Z4 you have to pull the interior handles twice to unlock them.

Keyless systems are a valet's worst enemy. I was a valet when they first started appearing almost 10 years ago and it's a beating to start to pull away to park only to realize there's no key and stop to chase down the owner.

Not quite sure why BMW cant build a manual holder into the glove box like in my GTI. Nice and accessible.

can you guys post a video showing how the keyless entry, startup, and locking works?

Ummm...if there's "saw no visible means of unlocking the door", then what's that little thing on the door handle that looks about the same size as a key?

Also: pulling the handle twice would be annoying.

Not that I'm a fan, but doesn't Toyota's system unlock just as you touch the door? Seems much better.

What happens if/when the M3 gets a flat tire, since it doesn't have run-flats, no spare, and doesn't even have room for one beneath the trunk floor? Road service? What about after the road side warranty is over - is the owner stuck with renewing it forever? It seems like the loss of a bit too much self reliance to me.

@Mad-Science:
Toyota's system sucks if you have passengers, it only unlocks the driver's door, so to unlock the rest you must remove the key from your pocket(which defeats the term "keyless") or hit the button the door panel which gets annoying after a while.

How spoiled are you if you can't be bothered by pushing a button on the key fob? Slaves to technology you are.

I am the master of my domain...I use a button to get into my car. I even use the key to turn it on!

Altimadude: The irony of your comment amuses me.

Some of us still use a key to unlock...and have to reach over to the other door to unlock it *gasp* manually.

I do not miss having manual locks at all, the whole keyless entry thing is nifty.

Less nifty is the stupid steering wheel lock bmw puts into the e9x's. My second one just crapped out and the car needs to go into the shop for a day or two.

I have an 08 M3. I keep the key in my pocket. This is how it works.
Grab the handle like you're gonna open the door. Pause for a millisecond, door unlocks. Get in. Keep key in pocket. Push start button. Drive to destination. Push button to stop engine. Get out. While closing door, touch the top of the handle above the keyhole where it is ridged. Door locks. Walk away.

@achenator, thanks for clearing that up. A double pull of the door handle is NOT required. There is no button, it simply senses your hand. There are ridges on top of the handle (hard to see in the pic) that you touch when you get out of the car to lock it.

@chriso59

"Not quite sure why BMW cant build a manual holder into the glove box like in my GTI. Nice and accessible."

There is a holder for the manual in the trunk on the right side above the tool kit, visible in the pic. Why does it need to be in the glovebox?

@tcd223

"Less nifty is the stupid steering wheel lock bmw puts into the e9x's. My second one just crapped out and the car needs to go into the shop for a day or two."

That lock isn't used anymore, it was only on the 2006 E9x and maybe some '07's. Yes it was prone to trouble, but I had a very very early build '06 with no problems, lucky me.

@esoterica

"Does it automatically lock the car when you walk away, like the CTS? If not, it would seem it's still not truly keyless (since there's no button on the door handle a la Infiniti to manually lock the doors when you leave)"

As was mentioned, there are ridges you touch to lock the doors from the outside. No BMW locks automatically when you walk away. It has double-locking which engages when locked from the outside. Double-locking disables the interior door handles so a thief cannot use a coathanger/slim jim or other device to pop the lock, nor can the doors be unlocked from the inside. Passive locking would be dangerous given this anti-theft feature because someone could still be in the car when the driver walks away and unwittingly locks them in. So in short, you will never see passive locking fitted to a BMW unless the double-locking system changes (most European cars have this feature).

@subaru123,

The problem you brought up against Toyota/Lexus' keyless system is a non-issue. The factory setting to only unlock the driver side door is for safety (bad guys can enter from the other doors right after it was unlocked). However, if you don't like that setting you can:

1. Take it back to the dealer for them to change it so it unlocks ALL THE DOORS, or

2. Google how to change the setting yourself (I did it for my car and it took me 5 mins to google and 30 seconds to change the setting myself).

@louiswei,

The setting can't just be changed via an on-board settings menu? BMW has it in iDrive (driver's or all doors) or the OBC; and I know M-B, Audi, and Infiniti also give you this choice via settings menus.

Just wanted to say that this is the same as most other keyless systems such as on the Evo MR. You have your hand over the metal sensors on the otherside of the door handle (kinda like the heartrate sensors on the gym equipment) and then it will unlock the car. You just wait for it to beep and flash the lights before pulling the handle.

On another note, locking it for me at least involves pushing the small black button located on the front doors on the side of the handle. Again, when done, this will beep and flash the lights.

@bimmerjay: you are mostly correct. However, at least in the E90 that I own, there is the option to re-lock the doors automatically after some undisclosed amount of time has elapsed and the doors have not been opened after a lock/unlock.

The "double-open to unlock" is something present in so many cars I am not sure why people are confused. A lot of cars are nice enough to unlock the door on the first interior handle action, then open the door normally on the second handle action, when the door is locked. If you do not like that, then you should unlock the doors before trying to open them.

Unless this has changed (it is impossible to tell from the picture), a sensor on the handle facing the car triggers an unlock when lightly touched. You have to wait for the unlock before pulling the handle. If you simply grasp the handle and pull immediately, you will have to pull again as the doors did not unlock right away. I will agree that this can and should be faster, but it still is really simple.

A couple of comments from a current E90 M3 driver: you can also put the manual in the small storage container inside the space by the fold down armrest if you have the pass through to the trunk. The manual does fit in the glovebox, but it takes up most of the space.

You can set up iDrive to either open the driver's side door or all doors with the remote/outside door button. Your choice. If you go with the former, you can however open all the doors at the same time by opening the front passenger door. The only way to get audio confirm that you have locked/unlocked though is to install the OEM alarm.

If you hold down the unlock button on the remote, the windows/sunrooof open from a distance. You cannot close it that way but you can just hold the door button (the ridged area) and it will close automatically.

A semi-interesting possibility with this system: if you are car-jacked and the perp doesn't know (or bother to check) that the key is not necessarily in the ignition, they could drive away without it and then good luck re-starting the car...

@bimmerjay,

The setting can be changed easily through the keyfob. However, this is Toyota/Lexus we are talking about here so they need they have the "responsibility" to "protect" their customer...

Sigh...

@cwc1,

"What happens if/when the M3 gets a flat tire, since it doesn't have run-flats, no spare, and doesn't even have room for one beneath the trunk floor? Road service? What about after the road side warranty is over - is the owner stuck with renewing it forever? It seems like the loss of a bit too much self reliance to me. "

The M3 comes standard with lifetime BMW Roadside Assistance and a roadside tire repair/mobility kit.

@nealibob,

"@bimmerjay: you are mostly correct. However, at least in the E90 that I own, there is the option to re-lock the doors automatically after some undisclosed amount of time has elapsed and the doors have not been opened after a lock/unlock."

You're right, in fact all BMWs have auto re-lock, selectable in iDrive or the OBC, but that's an entirely different feature from what I was referring to. Auto re-lock engages after 30 seconds if A) the doors are unlocked via the fob or Comfort Access from an exterior/double-locked state and B) no door is opened. With this there is still no chance of accidentally locking someone in the car, unless they were already locked in to begin with. Referring to point A), auto re-lock will NOT engage if you unlock with the fob, but the car had been locked with the interior button. The interior button will not lock the doors with the driver's door open either.

It works fine but in order to drive the fob needs to be in. Dumb. But the neat trick here is that you only need to pull the handle twice while other cars have a button of some sort which i prefer. if cars had both features would definitely be neat. All other car keyless entry/ignition does not require after start up to enter the fob like here. pointless!

@xl562bx,

The M3's keyless entry does not work like that.

You only need to touch the handle (not pull on it) to unlock the door. The door opens immediately after you touch the handle, which is right at the moment when you are about to pull the handle. It is SO MUCH better than a button you have to press.

To unlock the door, the key fob has to be within 3 feet of the door.

The key fob does not have to be in the slot to start the car. It just needs to be inside the car (0 ft away from the car).

pyo_s65 is right, you do NOT need to pull the door handle twice or insert the key. Some people think you have to pull twice because they yank on the door handle faster than it can unlock. Otherwise, touching the door handle is way better than pushing a separate button IMO.

The slot in the dash is just there in case the fob battery dies. It's also used to download service information onto the key before you hand it over to your service advisor, who has a key reader on his desk.