Preventing My Dog From Unlocking an X5

[doebtown]

Thanks to all for your replies.

Responding first to what is 100% the most important aspect of this thread: the well-being of my dog. I appreciate everybody's concern about the manner in which I treat my dog. Rest assured, though, that while we DO leave him in the car--sometimes for quite awhile--he is NEVER in a place where his health (or even his comfort, for that matter) are at risk. This question would NEVER be a problem on even a SLIGHTLY warm day 'cause I would never leave him in the car on a slightly warm day. I live in New York City so--believe ME--my X5 is larger than my apartment and the little guy is more comfortable waiting for me in the car than he would be at home.

As to the actual PROBLEM, I guess a net is a good solution. But that means that he always has to be in the trunk. That means that he can't sit on my wife's lap or stick his head out the window and love the wind in his hair . . . that won't work!--part of the joy of having a CAR is watching our little friend enjoy the X5 WITH us.

It IS interesting to know that the unlock button will not unlock the doors if the key fob is used to engage the locks. It STILL leaves open the issue, though, of how I prevent the little dude from engaging the HAZARD lights in the same way.

The suggestion that I deactivate the switches by going in and disconnecting the wires is INTERESTING, but . . . well--obviously--then I can't turn on the Hazard lights if/when I DO need them. That's no good.

We considered sliding the armrest forward, too. But it doesn't come forward ENOUGH. If you haven't put it together, yet, this is a pretty small dog we're talking about, here (he's a cute little terrier!--I'll put a picture of him on a road trip with us at the bottom of this message) . . . his little paws can get places a bigger dog couldn't.

So I'm back to some kind of a prophylactic preventative method. I was ACTUALLY thinking about getting underneath the console and mounting a couple of magnets on the underside of the trim. I could THEN put a fitted piece of sheet metal right over the switches. The magnets would hold it in place (assuming, of course, that they're strong enough) and not be visible when the system is not in place (as ANOTHER solution like Velcro would be, which would be pretty ugly--but then AGAIN, I have Velcro strips on my windshield where the EasyPass goes, so maybe I've ALREADY walked down that ugly-road).

The OTHER solution that we're kicking around is to come up with some sort of a contraption that would STRADDLE the entire console. Like a "C" shaped something or other that couldn't be kicked off. I GUESS I would make it out of wood just 'cause I'm not crafty enough to manufacture something that would have to fit so precisely out of any other material. This, however, would be a big, bulky thing to cart around until I was ready to leave the dog in the car (unless I put hinges on it, or something, so that it could fold down). AND it--much more than the dog himself--would be likely to scratch the finishes of the X5.

I was in Home Depot over the weekend and I saw a can of household insulation foam and I had visions of a custom MOLDED switch cover that could use the shape of the switches themselves to hold it in place--line it with some kind of non-slip rubber and I'd be in good shape (who knows^--maybe there's even a MARKET out there for this thing . . . I could mass produce it and pay for my NEXT X5 with the proceeds!).

Let me know if any of this brainstorming makes any of you think of something that might be good. And thanks again for your thoughts so far.