HELP! All my windows opened overnight!

[Awed]

Help!

 

(Superb 1.4 TSI petrol DSG 140PS, purchased new March 2018,  normal keyed ignition i.e. not keyless)

 

Parked the car last night on my drive as normal and locked it. I know the car was locked because, as is my habit, I glanced out of the house occasionally and could see the red alarm light flashing by the driver's side door mirror. So it was locked and alarmed.

 

As was I when I left the house this morning at 7:45 and found the car still locked but all four windows open - each one powered all the way down.  No way had I left it like that. When I drove home yesterday evening at 6:45 pm the temperature outside was 8C.

 

Thank God it didn't rain overnight.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?  Any ideas what could have happened? I'm assuming this is a nightmare scenario of an intermittent electrical / electronic fault within the car itself but is there any way this could have been triggered accidentally from the keyfob (which was in my trouser pocket all evening), I wasn't aware I could open the windows from there but maybe I've overlooked something.

 

No one else has access to the car or my keyfob.  I popped the protective cover from the driver's side door lock to see if anyone had forced a screwdriver into the key hole, I know there was a security flaw in 90s era VWAG cars that enabled the windows to be opened that way. Can't see any sign of forced entry but not sure I would. Nothing is missing from the car anyway.

 

Thanks for any ideas. Will be phoning dealer later. The car dealer that is, not any other sort...

 

 

[Lee_M]

Pressing and holding unlock does lower all the windows... so did you sit on the keyfob?

[k9matt]

It could be an electrical fault but before you ring the dealer were any of the car keys pressed up against something? Pressing and holding the unlock button drops all the windows

[Awed]

@k9matt, @Lee M  Ah? Does it?  I even scoured the owner's manual just before posting to see if I had missed some function like that but was totally unable to find it.

 

Yes, this is possible. It's not happened in 8 months of ownership, but it is entirely feasible that I (or the cat, or a wife, not necessarily mine) stood on the keyfob and triggered that, something stupid like that.

 

Thank you both so much for this information. How did I not know this?  It sounds by far and away the most likely scenario.

 

Next Q: can this function be disabled? Can't think why I'd ever want this, and given that it has happened once it could happen again.

Edited 23 October, 2018 by Awed

[penguin17]

12 minutes ago, Awed said:

@k9matt, @Lee M  Ah? Does it?  I even scoured the owner's manual just before posting to see if I had missed some function like that but was totally unable to find it.

 

Yes, this is possible. It's not happened in 8 months of ownership, but it is entirely feasible that I (or the cat) stood on the keyfob and triggered that, something stupid like that.

 

Thank you both so much for this information. How did I not know this?  It sounds by far and away the most likely scenario.

You can disable convenience opening via the infotaintment menu.  Can't confirm exact menu option at present but likely Car > Settings > Opening and Closing > Convenience opening =Driver/All/Off

[Awed]

@penguin17 that sounds likely. Will check tonight. TBH I was bricking it this morning because I was totally caught up in the morning rush and I was cursing my luck thinking "how could this bizarre thing happen?".  My old Octavia had the infamous Relay 109 problem (random total loss of electrical power & engine cut out) and I was dreading getting caught up in that type of situation again, thinking I was not going to be able to sleep without having to get up every 10 minutes to see if my windows were open!

[penguin17]

1 minute ago, Awed said:

@penguin17 that sounds likely. Will check tonight. TBH I was bricking it this morning because I was totally caught up in the morning rush and I was cursing my luck thinking "how could this bizarre thing happen?".  My old Octavia had the infamous Relay 109 problem (random total loss of electrical power & engine cut out) and I was dreading getting caught up in that type of situation again, thinking I was not going to be able to sleep without having to get up every 10 minutes to see if my windows were open!

It often happens with the electric tailgate, the button is in the centre of the fob and sits proud of the others making it easy to inadvertently open the tailgate.  A small key pouch or similar is a good idea and seems to be the best way to mitigate against accidentally opening the car/windows/boot.

[silver1011]

Unfortunately leaving the keys in your pocket whilst you move around the house or at work is a bad idea.

 

This is a common complaint, and one that appears regularly in all the Skoda model threads too.

 

As has been mentioned the best thing to do is to disable the feature if you need / prefer to keep the keys in your pocket.

 

The reason for it is if you're approaching the car on a hot day, you can lower the windows (and sunroof if fitted) and cool the car before opening the doors and experiencing that wave of scorching hot air. Likewise, on a warm day, those that leave the car on the drive with the windows down, or ajar, can close them from the comfort of their front room before bed etc.

 

By the way, if it had rained in the night then the windows would have closed themselves. The car uses the same rain sensor in the windscreen that controls the automatic windscreen wipers to close the windows automatically if it detects rain on the screen. Be warned though, it is also possible to disable and enable 'rain closing' from the infotainment system, so if you do choose to keep the convenience window opening/closing feature active, you might want to ensure rain closing is also enabled.

 

Edited 23 October, 2018 by silver1011

[Awed]

Hey @silver1011 (and everyone else) thanks for all that information, much appreciated and very useful, particularly about the rain sensor.  Since the car was purchased on PCP I have to keep it in good condition (not that I wouldn't anyway) so I was particularly concerned by the notion of the windows powering down during a storm and leading to the car being soaked!

 

I'll be browsing the infotainment menus as a priority tonight.

[JR RS]

20 hours ago, Awed said:

As was I when I left the house this morning at 7:45 and found the car still locked but all four windows open - each one powered all the way down.  No way had I left it like that. When I drove home yesterday evening at 6:45 pm the temperature outside was 8C.

 

as others have stated - pressing and holding the unlock button on ur keyfob will open all windows, depending on ur convenience settings.

if no doors r opened after an unlock command, the doors will re-lock themselves after 12 seconds.

so ur case is definitely a case of keys pressed while in the pocket scenario.

 

 

 

15 hours ago, silver1011 said:

By the way, if it had rained in the night then the windows would have closed themselves. The car uses the same rain sensor in the windscreen that controls the automatic windscreen wipers to close the windows automatically if it detects rain on the screen. Be warned though, it is also possible to disable and enable 'rain closing' from the infotainment system, so if you do choose to keep the convenience window opening/closing feature active, you might want to ensure rain closing is also enabled.

 

 

Sadly this feature is not, and cannot be enabled on the Mk3 Superbs.  

the first. early models of the Superb had the rain light recognition sensor that would allow that, but subsequents Superbs have been replaced with a different seonsor.  It now comes with the RLHS version, which does not support rain closing.

such a pain that i had to buy window weathershields!!!  grrrr

was a very convenient feature to have ith my mk2 Octavia.

[DBT85]

FWIW I got a knock on the door from my father in law (lives 100 yards opposite us) asking if I meant to have my boot open. 

 

My toddler and nephew had been playing with my keys and opened the door the boot haha. 

[Awed]

I found the "convenience"  (oh, the irony) setting in the infotainment system (or, as I like to call it, the entermation system), exactly where @penguin17 said it would be, Car > Settings > Opening and Closing > Convenience opening =Driver/All/Off.  So that should sort that out.  Very interesting observation from @JR RS that I would have been in the 5h1t had it rained last night. 

 

What annoys me is that I read the user manual meticulously before purchase, and have referred to it many times since, yet the existence of this accidentally-expose-your-car-to-the-weather-and-crooks feature somehow entirely passed me by.  Yet I remembered all sort of things I've never used. Tsk. Must try harder.

[penguin17]

24 minutes ago, Awed said:

What annoys me is that I read the user manual meticulously before purchase, and have referred to it many times since, yet the existence of this accidentally-expose-your-car-to-the-weather-and-crooks feature somehow entirely passed me by.  Yet I remembered all sort of things I've never used. Tsk. Must try harder.

Take a look on page 65, 'Window convenience operation' section 

[Awed]

9 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Take a look on page 65, 'Window convenience operation' section 

 

Hah, yes, I found it last night, thanks. It's page 71 on my manual, for what it's worth!

[daveo138]

I disabled convenience opening on mine, having read horror stories about people coming back to their cars and finding the windows open. You can still close them from the key fob, though. 

[MellishR]

I've had my 3 year old Superb for 4 weeks and found all the windows open twice, so I am very glad tlo have found this thread and particularly penguin17's info on how to turn this feature off. Thank you.