Courtesy lights stay on after using passenger door

[brian5]

On my E70 X5, I had noticed on one morning that my courtesy lights had been on all night. I did not know what had caused that to happen and I had not seen it reoccur.

Unintentionally, I have just recreated what I think caused that problem:
1. car was in garage unlocked
2. opened passenger door
3. courtesy lights came on (the front and rear lights and the lights under the door handles)
4. got in and put key into ignition (did not start car)
5. operated iDrive to check some settings
6. exited car from passenger seat and closed that door
7. courtesy lights were on when I walked away
8. an hour later, came back to find courtesy lights still on (the front and rear lights and the lights under the door handles)!!!!

I do not have Comfort Access and I have the Automatic Headlamp control set ON.

This is obviously a problem that I'm going to have to report when I go to the dealer.

Can someone with an E70 (without Comfort Access) try the sequence that I listed above and tell me if you see the same problem?

Thanks!

[Fastbuck]

No, all the lights switched off after a short period from closing the door.

[brian5]

Originally Posted by Fastbuck

No, all the lights switched off after a short period from closing the door.

Thanks. Appreciate you checking.

Well, that means that after 3 months, I finally have one thing to report to my BMW dealer. Not that I wanted to find something. I was just wondering how long a run I was going to have...

It's interesting that I completed the JD Powers online questionnaire earlier today and didn't have a single problem to report on my X5 there. I guess it was tempting fate by completing the questionnaire...

BTW, I tried a simpler way to create the problem (and have added some additional lighting info):
1. car was in garage unlocked
2. opened passenger door
3. courtesy lights came on (the interior; the front and rear lights, the rear license plate, the instrument panel, and the lights under the exterior door handles)
4. got in and put key into ignition (but did not start car)
5. removed key
6. exited car from passenger seat and closed that door
7. after a short time, the interior lights went off
8. the front and rear lights and the rear license plate lights did not turn off. Also, the instrument panel stayed lit

[rh71]

On a side-note to this topic, I do have comfort access but I did forget to actually lock the doors one night after exiting.

The courtesy lights do go off as I found out the next morning because I was unable to comfort-access-open via door-handles or the keyfob unlock. No lights were on.

I thought I had a dead battery but discovered the doors were left unlocked. What I find unfortunate in this situation is that the BMW alarm does not passively arm after a set amount of time. What if I did this outside my garage? Free reign for anyone. I guess the one positive is at least none of the lights stay on and drain the battery too. Vehicle ran fine, it's just that the alarm is useless if you don't actively arm it. I suppose this is true even if you don't have comfort access?