GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Love my 2003 Vibe, but one thing is annoying. The doors won't lock via the fob while open. All my previous cars would do this, and anyone who's a parent or has had to carry a full load of groceries in (and had no free hands) has probably had problems with this feature.Is there a setting I can override through some clever combination of fob buttons & internal buttons to tell the computer "Oi! Lock when I tell you, not when some snooty engineer at the factory thinks you should!"?

my 04 does this. i'm not sure if they lock before i shut the door or after, i'll go check. but i have on numerous occasions done just that; used the fob to lock with the doors opened, loaded my hands up, then shut the door.

You got me to thinking if I actually did lock my car all those times my wife had the door open and I pushed the lock button on the FOB !?!?! So, today I went out and tried it, Driver's door, Passenger's door, Rear Doors, all lock when open and when you close the door they stay locked.Mine is an 07 but I'd assume yours should work in a similar fashion. You're going to need some 03 people to check theirs.Dave

My '06 and '09 Vibes allowed me to lock the car then close the door the lights would flash when the door closed... is your fob's battery dying maybe?

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »My '06 and '09 Vibes allowed me to lock the car then close the door the lights would flash when the door closed...Unfortunately the 2003 system isn't that smart. You can't lock via the fob no matter how much you try if any of the door switches or the hatch switch indicate something is not fully closed. It just doesn't respond to the lock command. Unlock works, but not lock.There was never a workaround that I was aware of. If there is, I'm doing this thing first thing! My Hyundai works like your '06 and '09, you can lock it whenever you want - I'm very spoiled by that. When I try to lock the Vibe and have to wait until the door is closed it is frustrating.

My 2003 lets me lock the door while open, then close it and it stays locked. I don't know, maybe I got some sort of special option package. Mine came with a special thing on each door, a control on a pivot of some sort, I move that, and the door will lock when I close it. What's a fob?

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »My 2003 lets me lock the door while open, then close it and it stays locked. I don't know, maybe I got some sort of special option package. Mine came with a special thing on each door, a control on a pivot of some sort, I move that, and the door will lock when I close it. What's a fob?Boo for manual locks

Mine locks by itself if I don't start the car after opening the door. I have to be extra careful not to leave the keys in the car or else I'll lock them in!

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »What's a fob?fob = key chain (I had to look it up.)My '04 with the door(s) open - the locks immediately activate (lock or unlock) whether using the fob or control on the door. If the key's in the ignition and I try to lock they immediately unlock.I know a few '03 owners and they all say their locks work in the same manner.

There is a white box under the dash on the drivers side that is the control center for the power locks. I know this because I installed the factory power lock system on my 2003 Vibe. Short of doing some kind of hack on that control box I do not see any way of changing this "feature". Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I'm sure the Engineer who designed it did so to prevent people from accidentally locking the keys in the car.

I can lock my doors while they are open. If you push the unlock button on the fob and do not open the doors within about 30 seconds, the doors will automatically lock again.