I discovered last night that, by finally reading the manuals for my car, that if you hold the key in the drivers door lock in the unlock position, all the windows wind down. If you hold the key in the lock position, they all close again.
Why? what's the point? Has anyone actually used this feature, apart from 'Oh, look what happens when...'?
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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Mine has the same facility on the remote, it's great on these occasions when you get out of the car and realise there is a window open. I use the window opening facility on hot days to cool the car a bit before I get in.
It's progress, both my sons have cars where the front windows won't work without the ignition I find that a pain at times
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I can sort of understand the closing, like when you get out and one of the kids has left there window open. You then have the effort of opening the door and turning on the ignition and then pressing a button, *and then* having to lock the car again! what a drag.
Also with remote locking it sort of makes sense, but with the key?
Not sure about progress, seems like a gadget for a gadgets sake to me.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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it's a throwback to the days before radio controlled remote central locking was common - upper range Cavaliers with infra-red remotes did this 'window operation with the key thing' in the early/mid 90's.
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Found using the key most useful when I had left the sunroof partly open,saved getting back in car to operate closing button.
ndbw
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I believe the feature is quite popular with car criminals who jam a blunt object in there, turn and then have noise free access to your car.
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AKA VWs a few years back... Might not have helped that the emergency plastic key could open the doors so must mean an inherent design weakness IMO.
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I have this via my remote, I think nearly all VAG cars have it? Anyway it is useful on a hot day to get the windows down and a breeze going through whilst you take your jacket off/stow the shopping. Not essential but handy.
My car also has auto close windows if they are open and it rains. Not sure why you would leave the vehicle unattended and the windows down though!
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The Scenic has full closure of windows and sunroof if you "double click" the remote button or the lock button on one of the doorhandles. Nice feature, IMO. The electric windows and sunroof are also able to be closed via the normal switches in between switching off the engine and opening the drivers door.
The Mondeo is not so sophisticated. Key to "off" = all electrics dead. Hardly the end of the world, but has been a bit irritating on more than one occasion when a passenger has left a window down.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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The Mondeo is not so sophisticated. Key to "off" = all electrics dead. Hardly the end of the world but has been a bit irritating on more than one occasion when a passenger has left a window down.
It's the same on my C-Max, and is a frequent source of irritation because my wife nearly always has her window down a fraction.
My previous car - the money-sink Citroen Xsara Estate - at least allowed you to close the windows for a short time after the key was removed.
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I remember hiring a brand new Ford Galaxy and locking it up on my driveway for the night. Not used to the then new-fangled remote locking system I made sure everything was secure by blipping from inside the front living room and received a reassuring blink backfrom the indicators. It was the worst night of rain in living memory and when I went out to the car next morning all the windows were open and you can guess the rest....
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all the windows were open and you can guess the rest....
Yes. 'Gimme another car right now! This one's all wet!'
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when I went out to the car next morning all the windows were open and you can guess the rest....
The rain sensor on my windscreen closes all the windows if they're left open with the car locked up.
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My Bora closes any open windows if you use the key (rather than the remote) from both front doors or the boot - it will also deactivate the internal motion detector if flicked twice to lock (normally you push a button in the driver's side door pillar).
Time saving features I suppose, although I never use them; much prefer to close the windows before leaving the car.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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On the wife's car (Omega) the same thing applies with the remote. Hold the open button for a while and all the windows open. Very nice indeed on a day when the sun has turned the inside into an oven. Open them a minute before getting in and life's much nicer. It also reduces the "Eurofighter on afterburner" sound effects from the aircon as it struggles to cool a mass of superheated air.
V
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My A3 has it and I used to use it when we had hot summers and I didn't have window blinds stuck to the rear windows.
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Call me a miserable old sod but I think all these features have gone too far....'key in lock' operated central locking is fine, I have had this on previous cars. In 10 years of owning my VW Transporter I have coped admirably without central locking or electric windows, and my old Defender had none of these facilities.
As for rain sensing wipers, auto dipping rear view mirrors, lights which turn on automatically. whats all that about?Just something else to go wrong, and extra cost. Like these able bodied lazy people who won't walk a mile to the shops when its raining and we wonder why as a nation we are becoming obese.
Rant over.And I'm sober as a judge.
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I have to agree - the auto lights are useful, if only to light up the clowns that don't generally bother.....
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Autolights.Pah.
Aeons ago my driving instructor said ''if it's dark enough for sidelights, it's dark enough for headlights''. Funny how certain things stay in your head.
If you cannot judge when lights are required you are not fit to be on the public highway. Well, that should clear several thousand off the roads then, freeing up space for the rest of us!!
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If you cannot judge when lights are required you are not fit to be on the public highway.
Trouble is, some dash lights are illuminated all the time the ignition is switched on. Some people interpret this as their headlights also being switched on, when actually they aren't.
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Called "global opening(closing)".A useful option was on the Scorpio-you could close the electric windows with the ignition off just by holding the door open-wouldn't work with doors closed but useful when you realized that there was a window still open as you got out of the car.
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Legacylad, I don't think you go far enough. Automatic ignition advance, pah! Should be manual. Windscreen wipers? What's wrong with no windscreen and a set of goggles? Servo assisted brakes? Why? All just extra complexity. Who would want them? Aircon? Open your window.
It's called progress. You're called a luddite.
V
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Yes we used to have a Granada - tht had the function too, prefer that to the remote, as was generally useful, and did not lead to dodgy remote syndrome on newer cars.
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I discovered this by accident, on the Vectra. My friend's Mondeo also did the same.
The service department at the main dealer who supplied it had never heard of it.
It is in the handbook though.
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Mixed feelings about global closing. Useful most of the time but sometimes I like to leave the car window open an inch and still lock it. Can't do that.
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See, all this technology thinks it's clever, but it's not.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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