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I've had occasions where I really thought I had left my car unlocked, say after bringing in groceries. But when I get back to my vehicle (2015 Dodge Journey) I sometimes find it already locked.

If the fob is outside the vehicle, and the car is left alone with the doors closed for some time, does it automatically lock?

I would greatly appreciate answers with an official source (an owner's manual, a spec sheet from Dodge, or something similar,) not personal experience.

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  • It is easily possible to have a fob key pressed when it is in a bag or pocket...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 16:21
  • Absolutely. However, I'm looking for some "feature" that is documented to exist.
    – corsiKa
    Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 16:22
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    The only thing I've ever seen (not specific to Journeys, but prevalent) is if your car is locked, then you unlock it with the fob, it will relock itself after a period of time if you don't open a door. This is a feature which I believe is there in case you have unlocked the car by accident. I'm not sure on what you're talking about, but I don't think most manufacturers would build something in as you've stated ... mainly because what if you've left your keys in the car and have shut the doors? After a period of time it would lock, trapping the keys. Not a good situation for the consumer. Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 19:11
  • @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 The car is able to detect when the keys are in the vehicle (otherwise it wouldn't be able to start!) so naturally I would assume it would never engage the auto-lock with the keys in it. The fact that we've seen similar things makes me think there really is such a feature, but I would love to see some official documentation on it.
    – corsiKa
    Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 19:48
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    All I could tell you is to test it. Close the doors, remove the fob from the area, then see if it locks on it's own. Probably wouldn't take long. Commented Jun 21, 2018 at 20:17

2 Answers 2

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Dodge Journeys have, according to your manual, auto-lock settings in u-connect (oddly named auto-unlock) that have five or six requirements for auto-lock to work. These involve key location, how it was unlocked last time, etc. https://carmanuals2.com/get/dodge-journey-2015-owner-s-manual-31115. Also supposedly your car has "keyless enter and go" which unlocks the car if you touch the door handle while you have the key fob on you. It also re-locks if you never open a door.

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  • According to the document you linked, the auto lock you're referring to is referring to what happens when you drive the vehicle at a certain speed. What page did you find more on the auto-lock not referring to speed?
    – corsiKa
    Commented Jun 22, 2018 at 15:34
  • it looks like it's an option, and the only scenario i can come up with is you are either using a european car or occasionally you are somehow touching the door handle after getting out of the car. If you don't enter the car after doing this the doors will lock in a few minutes. I suggest you look through the u-connect settings and see if there is something configurable on your model as it varies by option the car has.
    – John Lord
    Commented Jun 22, 2018 at 20:52
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I agree with the previous statements however my wife has locked her key fob in the vehicle twice. She unlocked it with her fob and opened the back door to get stuff out. After about 10 minutes she shut the door. When she went back out it was locked so apparently it does not look for the fob when the back door is opened. This feature is the worse thing they could ever have come up with.

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  • That sounds like a bug that just didn't get sniffed out during testing because the testers didn't think like a real user.
    – corsiKa
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 2:48

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