Doors locked when battery died

[lynhnn]

So my car was left in the cold for few days and the battery is dead. The charger was stuck in the leg room of the rear because the rear seats were folded down to carry some furniture. The back door is locked so I couldn't unload the furniture out to pull up the rear seats. The rear doors are also locked and not open-able due to the battery ran out.

I wish I can open the rear door regardless of having the battery there or not. Parents with kids would be extremely disbelieve if they know this.

[jgold47]

Why can't you unlock using the key?

[Qsilver7]

Ditto...the door lock cylinder is designed for not only electronic actuation with the buttons on the remote & when the key is inserted into the lock cylinder & turned to a 45° angle...but when the key is inserted into the lock cylinder & turned to a 90° angle...as stated in the owners manual (which is probably locked inside your glove box) you can MANUALLY lock/unlock the door when there's electrical failure.

So instead of "disbelief by parents with kids"...remembering that BMW did design a second way of access to things that can fail electronically...that even includes the tailgate which doesn't have a lock cylinder when there's electrical failure. It, too can still be manually opened...and those instructions are also in the owners manual.

The pic below is of an e38/e39 door handle...but the lock positions are the same for all BMWs for more than the last 20 years:

[Elvis 3.0]

we get used to the opening ease of the electric lock, quickly forget about eons ago when we had to manually open the doors and then we are stuck!

anyway, as i was reminded while changing my battery there is a black tab about 2" above where the gate opens as you are looking from the inside. On my 2006 3.0 it is located on the left (again from inside view). If you push this tab, it will invert into the gate and 'flip' open. This tab is attached to the cable that is the emergency open for the top portion. A short, stern pull will release the top portion of the gate (glass). The bottom can be opened by pulling back the plastic and sticking a flat head screw driver to release the lock mechanism. You should be able to visually see this lever on the mechanism. Instructions and pics are located in the Bentley manual. Don't have a pic or I'd post.

Hope that helps out.--- And for anyone frequently traveling with family members especially younger ones it may be a good thing to point out the upper gate release. It does zero damage to anything to engage it and isn't a bad safety measure to know its whereabouts and how to use, if needed.

[lynhnn]

Yes I can open the driver door with the key.
No I have no way to open the rear doors with the key as there is no insert hole for the key on the rear doors nor the lift gate.
From inside, I can't open the rear doors if they are in lock position. There is no mechanical lever to unlock the doors. I tried to use the pliers to pull up the lock pin but it won't come up to "unlock" position.

So, in a drama situation, if there is a loss of power and the doors are in lock positions. It is a "dead-lock" alike position to open the rear doors. To add some drama, small kids are screaming to get out from their child seats would be a "disbelieve" situation ...

If you can unlock the rear doors and open them without the battery power, please help me to do so.

Thanks.

[Qsilver7]

First, the central locking system only deadlocks when the car has been locked with the key either manually from outside the car, or with the remote buttons on the fob. So if you've left passengers or kids inside the vehicle...you should NEVER lock them inside. Not only because of the double lock feature...but because 30 seconds later, as soon as something moves inside the car, the interior motion sensor will set off the alarm...now not only are they locked inside the car...but they are going deaf from the alarm going off. Alway let remaining passengers use the central lock button to secure themselves if leaving them inside the car or push the door pins down manually (drivers door must be closed to push door pin down).

If the car has been locked using the central lock/unlock button on the center console, or if you have the auto lock @ 5 MPH enabled, or if you've manually pushed the door pins...then the car is only single locked & two pulls of the interior door handles should open the doors.

I can't think of any situation where you'd have kids in car seats and you'd lose all electrical power except in an accident...and in that case,the central locking system is designed to unlock all doors, turn on the interior lights, and turn on the emergency flashers.

In the situation you're in now...car parked in your garage/driveway...unlock the drivers door, pop the hood, connect jumper cables or a battery charger to the jump start posts in the engine bay...this will provide enough juice to unlock the vehicle. Once the double lock has been disabled...and you still don't have a good battery but still need to secure the car...you can now lock the car manually by either pushing all the door pins down manually & locking the drivers door with the key or using any door except driver's...manually push down all the door pins and exit one of those doors last. Again the driver's door won't lock while its open.

Even if you have a small battery charger that can be inserted into a cig or 12 volt outlet...this will even provide enough power to use the remote fob to unlock your doors.

[Elvis 3.0]

my battery was completely dead yesterday (would not take a charge) and had 0 electrical charge in the X(ended up driving to auto parts store to pick up battery and bring back to X to install) and I was able to 1) unlock the front door with the key 2) pull on the inside handle of the passenger doors (all of them) to open them from within. 3) open the top half off the tailgate all within a matter of a minute all prior to getting the battery to swap. Noted that when I pulled on the inside door handle that from recollection it was done twice. Once, I believe, to engage the pin and the second to actually open the door. This was my experience but I wasn't in test the locks mode.

[lynhnn]

Good to know BMW engineers cover the edge cases... I have not tested out those yet.

But don't we all agree that X5 should have a mechanical lock/unlock lever like any other cars so we have zero dependency on power and/or studying the manual books?

This is similar to my 07 model when the plastic parking brake button is broken and the car stuck in P for good. Only poking into the hole with a screw driver and some luck to "click" right on the release switch... That first experience was scary as well.

The design principle should be "you should be able to open the door without the assist of any electric power"

[jgold47]

Originally Posted by lynhnn

Good to know BMW engineers cover the edge cases... I have not tested out those yet.

But don't we all agree that X5 should have a mechanical lock/unlock lever like any other cars so we have zero dependency on power and/or studying the manual books?

This is similar to my 07 model when the plastic parking brake button is broken and the car stuck in P for good. Only poking into the hole with a screw driver and some luck to "click" right on the release switch... That first experience was scary as well.

The design principle should be "you should be able to open the door without the assist of any electric power"

I dont get it. You can open the door without power. Unlock with key and open. You cannot open the other doors without manually unlocking them or the liftgate without manually futzing with it, but you can gain access to the car.

you can then pop the trunk, and jump the car with the handy terminals under the hood.

once you hook up power via the remote terminals, you can then open all the doors you like using the power, including the trunk.

[lynhnn]

Let me reiterate the situation:
1. You lock the car with your key or all doors are in lock position
2. You lost battery power
3. You can't open rear doors nor lift gate because they need power to get unlocked first. There is no manual lever to unlock the rear doors