Volkswagen Golf TDI 140PS - Mystery windows - Beeblebloke

Occasionally when we go to unlock our VW Golf TDI 140PS (Sept 2011), we find all four windows about a quarter open. We always lock the car with the remote and ensure all the windows are closed when we leave. The spontaneous opening has happened more than once, but so far, we been lucky and rain hasn't got into the car. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Volkswagen Golf TDI 140PS - Mystery windows - bathtub tom

Do you let the children play with the car keys?

Volkswagen Golf TDI 140PS - Mystery windows - TeeCee

By sheer coincidence I've just answered this same Golf question for someone at work.

The car's equipped with a system where a "long press" on the remote's unlock button opens the windows a bit, the idea being that on hot days you can open them on the way to the car and allow air to circulate.

They're probably not opening while you're away, but you're pressing the button for too long and opening them yourself as you approach it.

RTFM (the functionality is described in there) and play with the remote a bit to get used to how long is "unlock" and how long is "unlock and open windows". I believe that, if it annoys you, it can be disabled (RTFM again).

Volkswagen Golf TDI 140PS - Mystery windows - Cyd

I'm with TC, you're pressing the unlock button accidently whilst it's in your pocket and you're within radio range of the car (which could be 100m).

I engineered this same function into 38A Range Rover, but to prevent your problem we made it so you had to unlock the car first with a momentary press and follow it (within 0.5 sec) with a longer press (of 0.5 sec or more duration). The windows would then roll all the way down. If the drivers door wasn't opened within 20 seconds the windows would wind back up and the car relock (as an added security measure). The windows had anti-trap.

Volkswagen Golf TDI 140PS - Mystery windows - TeeCee

I'm with TC, you're pressing the unlock button accidently whilst it's in your pocket and you're within radio range of the car (which could be 100m).

With my work colleague it was even simpler than that. As soon as I told her about the feature, a ray of light dawned.

She was in the habit of picking up the keys and giving a good, solid, long press to the unlock button to open the car as she went to the front door. When she got the Golf, she was winding the things down herself every morning.

I think it would be difficult to do it accidently, she's since experimented and reported that it needs a fairly serious long press to do it, a short dab will not.