Car drove without phone or key card!

[drPearl]

Has this happened to anyone else?
Warm day so switched to lighter jacket, left phone in the warmer jacket, hopped into car & drove to store, about 4 miles. As soon as I got out of car (locked it, of course) went to go into trunk & couldn't. open it. Realized my phone was missing, and didn't even have the key card with me. There was no warning given as I drove, that the key card/phone were absent.
After I got home, realized my jacket & phone, tho inside the house, was close enough to allow the car to start up. Is unsettling to realize anyone could drive my car away from my garage like this! Isn't there a limit on how far it will drive this way?

 

[Black306]

My car automatically locks (~10’ away from the car) before I even get into the house. So I wouldn’t be able to even get into the car let alone drive it away.

Do you have the car automatically lock when walking away from it?

 

[MP3Mike]

Isn't there a limit on how far it will drive this way?

Yes there is. But the limit is how much range it is currently charged to. (The first time they stop to charge it would be where it stops driving.)

 

[sixela]

One of the reasons for PIN to drive...

 

[rxlawdude]

Unless your jacket was hung less than 10 feet or so from your M3, your story makes zero sense.

The app will show "connected" from ~50 feet away. However, the car is NOT unlocked, nor driveable when the phone is at that distance.
There is no visual indicator on the app when "connected" actually means the car can be unlocked by the proximity to the phone, but experience is that happens only with no more than a 10 foot separation.

As an M3 owner since 2017, I've done this experiment multiple times. Same result each time.

The only explanation is your phone was closer to the car than you seem to relate.

 

[BluestarE3]

My car automatically locks (~10’ away from the car) before I even get into the house. So I wouldn’t be able to even get into the car let alone drive it away.

Do you have the car automatically lock when walking away from it?

Same here. My car locks by the time I get to the door leading into the house from the garage.

I also often leave my phone on a sideboard just inside the garage, about 10 feet from the front of the car, and it doesn't unlock the car from that proximity.

 

[Mrcarcrazy]

How’d you lock it at the store? This sounds like bullshit. But I could be wrong of course...I just doubt it.

my car locks as others have stated prior to me getting to the door into my house.

 

[JulienW]

....As soon as I got out of car (locked it, of course) ....

How’d you lock it at the store?....

This was going to be my question also. No phone or key card?????

 

[BluestarE3]

This was going to be my question also. No phone or key card?????

Maybe on the touchscreen?

 

[JulienW]

Maybe on the touchscreen?

So if you thought you had your phone why would you use the touchscreen to lock?

 

[BluestarE3]

So if you THOUGHT you HAD your phone why would you use the touchscreen to lock?

Playing devil's advocate here: Maybe OP never uses walkaway lock on phone and always manually locks via touchscreen?

 

[JulienW]

Playing devil's advocate here: Maybe OP never uses walkaway lock on phone and always manually locks via touchscreen?

...AND the car will drive without a "key" (phone or card)?

 

[ZappCatt]

My car also locks before I step on the porch(about 10 feet away)....and my phone seldom unlocks my car, until the third tug at the drivers side doorhandle(but that is for another thread)

 

[Lasttoy]

Wow that's scary
My car wont wake up without FOB . Doors open, but wont do anything else. Fact, sometimes it doesnt see it in my pocket.

 

[Andy_STL]

How did you get home from store with no phone or keycard (after getting out and locking it)?

 

[BluestarE3]

How did you get home from store with no phone or keycard (after getting out and locking it)?

How did he even get back into the car at the store? He said he got out of the car, locked it and then attempted to open the trunk unsuccessfully and that's when he realized he didn't have his phone or key cards with him.

Unless he locked the car on the touchscreen, but did not actually close the door when he got out of the car? Still doesn't explain how he was able to drive home without any "keys". There are a lot of missing facts here.

 

[PianoAl]

Someone else reported something similar. He had to use someone else's phone to call his wife and have her "start" the car.

We used to keep our phones in the garage (never use them in the house), but to avoid this, we now keep them in the house.

 

[Scott7]

There’s like 4-5 red flags I see in the OPs story that to me indicate this either never happened or at best many relevant facts were left out.

 

[drPearl]

How’d you lock it at the store? This sounds like bullshit. But I could be wrong of course...I just doubt it.

my car locks as others have stated prior to me getting to the door into my house.

You can lock your car with the lock icon before you exit the car; you don't know this?! Don't be so quick to call BS.

 

[drPearl]

There’s like 4-5 red flags I see in the OPs story that to me indicate this either never happened or at best many relevant facts were left out.

How quick some people are to judge!
My jacket hangs on a rack by my garage door, easily within 10 feet of the rear of my car. What concerned me was that my car kept driving, and there was no warning about the lack of phone/key card.
Next time I'll be sure to include diagrams and measurements.