PIN to Drive Question

[Droschke]

Finally decided to enable the PIN to Drive feature but it appears the PIN keypad presents itself only after the car has been unlocked. This is the scenario I ran into today:

1- Sitting in the car waiting for a friend to arrive
2- Had to exit the car for a moment to help a friend put his stuff in the trunk
3- Back inside the car
4- Tried to press the brake pedal to put the gear to drive
5- The car won't shift gear and a message on the IC saying I need to unlock the car (PIN???), but no keypad would present itself so I could enter the PIN
6- Tried different tricks, including reboots of IC and the 17" display. None cleared the message and still no keypad showing up to enter the PIN) and could not proceed to drive
7- The only trick that helped was to lock and unlock using the key fob in order to get the PIN keypad to show up!!!

Thinking this was just a one time thing, I repeated the scenario more than once but ran into the same predicament. It looks like if the car needs the PIN for any reason, the only way to enter it is to lock/unlock in order for the keypad to show up.

Anyone has encountered this?

 

[MP3Mike]

Do you have passive entry disabled?

 

[Droschke]

Do you have passive entry disabled?

yes

 

[MP3Mike]

yes

What if you re-enable it and try your tests again? (My guess is that they didn't test this particular scenario.)

 

[Jhelin]

With passive entry disabled you have to press unlock on the keyfob every time you get back in the driver seat to get out of park.
The PIN pad appears after that if enabled.

 

[Droschke]

@MP3Mike and Jhelin:

Thanks to both. Per MP3Mike's suggestion, I re-enabled the passive entry and did not run into this issue. So, that indicates a possible bug they need to fix?

Thanks for the tip, Jhelin. Is the need to press unlock on the keyfob with the passive entry disabled an extra security step, you think? Or a bug?

 

[MP3Mike]

I see it as two different features.

• disabling passive entry prevents someone from getting in your car without pressing the button on the fob.
• PIN2drive presents someone from stealing your car when they have the fob. Or have cloned it or are using a repeater.

So think you found a bug where the two interact. If the car is unlocked you shouldn't have to use the fob to get the PIN pad up.

 

[Droschke]

I see it as two different features.

• disabling passive entry prevents someone from getting in your car without pressing the button on the fob.
• PIN2drive presents someone from stealing your car when they have the fob. Or have cloned it or are using a repeater.

So think you found a bug where the two interact. If the car is unlocked you shouldn't have to use the fob to get the PIN pad up.

"If the car is unlocked you shouldn't have to use the fob to get the PIN pad up." I totally agree with you. My car was unlocked as I existed and got back behind the wheel in less than a minute. Furthermore, the message itself is confusing. It does not say unlock via keyfob, it just says:

Unlock required
Unable to start car

So, I took it as it was asking me to somehow enter the PIN to unlock, which of course there was no keypad displayed for!

 

[brkaus]

Thanks for the tip, Jhelin. Is the need to press unlock on the keyfob with the passive entry disabled an extra security step, you think? Or a bug?

I think it is security. Without passive entry enabled, the car is not tracking if the key fob is in the car. So it times out.

What happens if you don’t have pin to drive and go through the same scenario? I’m guessing the car is still going to ask you to unlock to drive - to verify the key fob is nearby.

 

[Jhelin]

I think it is security. Without passive entry enabled, the car is not tracking if the key fob is in the car. So it times out.

What happens if you don’t have pin to drive and go through the same scenario? I’m guessing the car is still going to ask you to unlock to drive - to verify the key fob is nearby.

Yep. If i drive somewhere and get out of the car without locking it, someone else can't just hop in and drive off.

 

[Oldschool496]

"If the car is unlocked you shouldn't have to use the fob to get the PIN pad up." I totally agree with you. My car was unlocked as I existed and got back behind the wheel in less than a minute. Furthermore, the message itself is confusing. It does not say unlock via keyfob, it just says:

Unlock required
Unable to start car

So, I took it as it was asking me to somehow enter the PIN to unlock, which of course there was no keypad displayed for!

April 2016 build 75D
I had this happen first day. Not even getting out of the car after having it in park for more then a few minutes waiting for someone. No pin pad would come up on screen. So I had to start the car via app. I never tried my FOB. I called SC, they said firmware update next service should fix it. Serious questions on this "new feature". Passive entry and NO Passive entry enabled, either way. This is the first thread where I have seen someone else is having trouble that sounds the same.

 

[Droschke]

I'm attaching the message:

 

[Droschke]

I think it is security. Without passive entry enabled, the car is not tracking if the key fob is in the car. So it times out.

What happens if you don’t have pin to drive and go through the same scenario? I’m guessing the car is still going to ask you to unlock to drive - to verify the key fob is nearby.

I do call having the passive entry disabled when I bought the car in early 2015 and back then never saw the message in similar situations (PIN to drive was not available at that time of course). May be this is something new since then.

 

[Droschke]

Yep. If i drive somewhere and get out of the car without locking it, someone else can't just hop in and drive off.

Correct, but I see this message only if PIN to drive is enabled AND the Passive Entry is disabled. How about when this combination is not configured and someone else jumping in the driver seat and drive off when I got out of the car without locking it for a minute? There is no message.

 

[brkaus]

Yep. If i drive somewhere and get out of the car without locking it, someone else can't just hop in and drive off.

Thought so.

Correct, but I see this message only if PIN to drive is enabled AND the Passive Entry is disabled. How about when this combination is not configured and someone else jumping in the driver seat and drive off when I got out of the car without locking it for a minute? There is no message.

Perhaps try passive entry off. Pin to drive off.

I recall seeing a similar message.

 

[Droschke]

Thought so.

Perhaps try passive entry off. Pin to drive off.

I recall seeing a similar message.

The goal was to use the PIN to drive and the Passive Entry = off features to avoid the car stolen as the one just reported this week in the UK.

 

[brkaus]

The goal was to use the PIN to drive and the Passive Entry = off features to avoid the car stolen as the one just reported this week in the UK.

Understood... My comment was in response to the comment if requesting the key fob unlock a bug or not in this situation. Perhaps the message should be clearer, but I do not believe it to be a bug. It is effectively acting the same way as it would act w/o pin to drive.

 

[Droschke]

Understood... My comment was in response to the comment if requesting the key fob unlock a bug or not in this situation. Perhaps the message should be clearer, but I do not believe it to be a bug. It is effectively acting the same way as it would act w/o pin to drive.

So, with the Pin to drive = off and Passive Entry = disabled, you would get the the same message to confirm the keyfob is in the car?

 

[brkaus]

So, with the Pin to drive = off and Passive Entry = disabled, you would get the the same message to confirm the keyfob is in the car?

Yes. I have received that message before when I used passive entry = disabled. I had dropped the kids off and sat in the car for a very long time waiting for them to finish an activity. I couldn't figure out how to get the car going again - had to unlock via the key fob.

This was a while ago, so I don't remember the exact message. Definitely before PIN to drive. I do remember being confused about the whole thing, until I understood what was going on. To me, after thinking about it, it made sense. Without the passive key fob detection it needs to do something to see if the car is still authorized.

 

[Droschke]

Without the passive key fob detection it needs to do something to see if the car is still authorized.

Thanks for the feedback. It makes sense till you think with the introduction of the PIN to drive feature and upon entering the valid PIN, the car should be authorized enough to drive. But I guess not.

I just think when they introduced the PIN to drive feature and in the case when you have set it up, they forgot to clear the flag to ask for keyfob unlock when the Passive Entry is disabled.