Fantastic post. Really, the UX in most new mid-range cars is terrible.
Also, can anyone explain why in the US if I click unlock on the remote, it just unlocks the front door? This keeps happening on rental cars. You have to click twice on unlock to get all the doors to open. Of course if I want to put something in the back seat, that means first breaking my fingers while pulling on the handle, then cursing and clicking the open button on the remote 10 times to makes sure the idiotic system has unlocked ALL the doors. Which I wanted it to do in the first place.
It's in case you're alone, and prevents someone else from being able to jump into the passenger seat and carjack you. Most new cars have a customization option to change that behavior.
If you are sitting in your car and they yank open the passenger door and jump in, they can get a lot closer to you, faster, than they can if they approach you while you are outside your car.
Every remote unlocked vehicle I have used since the 80s has behaved that way. The difference is you can re-program the behavior with the screen in modern cars.
> can anyone explain why in the US if I click unlock on the remote, it just unlocks the front door? This keeps happening on rental cars. You have to click twice on unlock to get all the doors to open.
This is likely configurable. Instructions should be in the owner's manual. It is configurable for both my and my wife's vehicles, one via the touchscreen and the other by pressing and holding unlock for 5 seconds.
Also, can anyone explain why in the US if I click unlock on the remote, it just unlocks the front door? This keeps happening on rental cars. You have to click twice on unlock to get all the doors to open. Of course if I want to put something in the back seat, that means first breaking my fingers while pulling on the handle, then cursing and clicking the open button on the remote 10 times to makes sure the idiotic system has unlocked ALL the doors. Which I wanted it to do in the first place.