335 integrated universal remote question

[snappa]

Hello, I picked up my 335xi yesterday. The dealer programmed my garage remote into the car so one of the buttons on the mirror would operate the garage door. Is it normal that this button only works when the engine is running? This seems rather wrong and dangerous to have to start the car before opening the garage door.

The manual says the button should work while the ignition is switched off. This is not the case for me. Does anyone out there know if there's an option to disable this strange feature? Is this normal?

Thanks in advance.

[ibimmer346]

The button only works when the ignition is on. When I go out to the garage in the morning, I use the button on the wall to open it. You can't do this?
You could turn the ignition on (hit the start button twice), open the door with the button, put your foot on the brake/clutch, hit the button again to start the car.

I heard this explanation once: Let's say you have your car parked outside your house. If the button worked with the car off, then someone would just have to break your window and they could open the garage.

But if the button only works when the car is running, the bad guy has to somehow get the ignition on. Not exactly a trivial task without the key.

Then again, the bad guy can always break the window to your house. *shurg*

[snappa]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I can open the garage with the button on the wall. That is not a problem at all and is preferable to remembering a complex sequence of button pushes.

I was a little surprised that it worked this way as the manual stated it should work with the ignition off. I wonder if this button being programmed by the dealer with the engine running had anything to do with how it is operating for me. I will give it a try this morning.

Regarding the "bad guy" scenario, I can't say if this is the intentional use case BMW was going for if in fact it is supposed to behave the way I'm seeing. Think of the case of having a garage remote in the car. Those work regardless of whether the car is on or not. Maybe BMW was trying to "be better" but I tend to doubt that much thought went into a feature like this. Interesting thought though.

I'll post my findings after talking to the dealer today.

[E90Toad]

Both of our BMW's work this way, I'm suprised the manual says it works otherwise and glad it doesn't for the reason ibimmer said above. If I forget to lock the car out front I don't want someone to have access to my house.

Start the car and hit the button imediately. The CO2 buildup in 3 seconds is not going to be a problem.

[DetailAddict]

i don't have a BMW *yet*. But I did hard wire my garage opener to a button in my Subaru. I purposely wired it so it doesn't work unless it's at the "on" position so people can't break into my car and garage if I park my car outside (which I do sometime).

[SocratesBMW]

You don't have to start the car, but you do have to turn the accesory power on. I just went out in the garage and did this. See, no danger.

[snappa]

To close this thread, the remote does with without turning the engine on. It is however a very poor implementation from a usability perspective. The sequence to use the remote buttons without turning the engine on are:

NOTE: I don't have CA so I can't say how that works.

1) Put key fob in ignition.
2) without depressing the brake or the clutch, push the "start / stop" button
3) remote is now active and will operate without engine on

Being an engineer an focusing on usability when designing products I find this rather poorly implemented. If you have the key in the ignition the remote button should work. The additional step in my opinion is a poorly thought out feature implementation.

In fact the only negatives I have about my 335xi have to do with usability of the iDrive, navigation, and some other features that could use the attention of a usability engineer or two.

I have figured out everything I need to and once I have it's fine. I can see why so many people complain about the iDrive system. It's far from intuitive but it works fairly well once you get familiar with it.

I will say that this car is so much nicer than my last car (1999 e46 328i). This car has exceeded all my expectations and every time I drive it there is a smile on my face. The 328i never did that. That car was "ok" but a toy compared to this one.

[neapolitan]

Yeah, I'd be careful about running the engine in the garage. I noticed this annoyance too, and every morning I start the car, then open the garage door.

I wish this wasn't the case -- my garage door has a "lock" feature anyway that I activate at night so I don't need the security.

Rarely I have gotten in the car, started it, pressed the garage open on the mirror, then realized the garage lock switch was still on, then shut the car off and run to open the garage door using the manual control on the wall. Man, you will *notice* even 5 seconds of car fumes in a closed garage. Yuck, makes one feel pretty sick. Surely BMW would have realized that we would all do this sometime... :mad

[snappa]

I would bet that this is a bug and not a feature. Think about it. If you're in the car and you put the key into the ignition why would they not enable the remote control buttons? At that point you have the key, you're in the car, and electrical systems are active. This is why I don't agree that it's a "security feature".

[sor]

Most vehicles I know of don't power accessories simply by putting the key in. You have to at least turn it partially to 'acc', which in the pushbutton start world is the equivalent of pressing the start button without pressing the brake. It's just the learning curve of going without the key that you 'crank', not some cryptic series of actions that's difficult or unintuitive.

In addition to leaving your car outside, you can learn the code for a garage door opener from operating the remote, so it's possible someone could get into your car when it's at work or something, train a remote, and break in two months later through your garage.

[snappa]

I agree with you that most cars do not activate electrical systems such as a radio by merely putting a key into the ignition. This car does. I do not have convenient access. I plug the key into the ignition lock in the dash and click it into place. This is equivalent to a car with a traditional key and turning the key to the ACC position. The radio, nav, communication and other systems are active.

This corresponds to the manual actually which states:
"Insert the remote control all the way into the ignition lock.
- Radio readiness switches on. Individual electrical consumers can operate.
- The electric steering wheel lock disengages audibly."

My point is that if this activates the electrical it should activate the remote control function too. This covers the use case people have that worry someone might get into their car in their driveway and gain access to their garage simply by being inside the car without a key.

The fact you have to press the start / stop button to enable this is clearly more than a little confusing and not clearly documented in my opinion.
I understand that this is how it works. I'm just claiming that I doubt this is the way it was intended to work.

[AdamIsAdam]

I never thought about the fact that both of my cars (Lexus and Jeep) currently run constant power to the Home Link. I guess i'll have to start locking the inside garage door at night! And ideally, also turn off the electric opener, because I leave the Jeep outside all the time now.

Oh, and NEVER EVER run your car in the garage for any leng,th of time on any regular basis. And if you accidentally do, AIR IT OUT! There have been many reports of CO getting into the HOUSE over time because of accumulated buildup in the garage. I yell at my wife when she doesn't pull out soon enough after starting the car, or doesn't cut it off immediately after parking.

I have a CO detector in my garage so I contantly monitor the levels. They get up there quickly if you aren't careful.

Good thing I have a 18'x8' door to help air it out ;)

but man, that constant power to my HomeLink has me spooked now!