Comfort Access Malfunction

[npcars]

Hey All, so I have a continuous problem with my wife's X5 and the comfort access. Basically what happens is that either her, myself, or the both of us will have the keyfob on us and the vehicle will not unlock when we touch ANY of the door handles. This obviously irritates us because we have to reach into our pocket/purse and pull out the fob like neanderthals.
Now this never happens with the locking function, that always works just fine, simply with the unlocking.
We've taken it to the dealer twice already and the service dept says everything is fine.
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem with their X5 or any other Comfort Access equipped BMW. If so, please help an irritated neanderthal out.....

[opasha]

Corrected by Doanster because I read too fast and thought locking was the issue .

You could buy an ENET cable and see if the coding is messed up or go to another service department other than your current one.

[pdawg]

What might be happening is you or the mrs. is hitting the lock first inadvertently and then your pulling on the handle expecting it to unlock. Used to happen all the time on my '12 E70. Seems to have been cleaned up on the F15. Could this be happening?

[Doanster]

Read it too fast, Opasha. They are having issues unlocking the car so touching the ridges on the handle wouldn't help.

OP, so you have issues regardless of whether one or both fobs are in proximity of the car? How often does it happen? Hard to believe the dealer would tell you twice that there's no problem if it happens often. I've never had an issue. My CA is so sensitive that while washing the car, going over the handles with the wash mitt on either locks or unlocks the car!!!

[NoPII]

Originally Posted by npcars

Hey All, so I have a continuous problem with my wife's X5 and the comfort access. Basically what happens is that either her, myself, or the both of us will have the keyfob on us and the vehicle will not unlock when we touch ANY of the door handles. This obviously irritates us because we have to reach into our pocket/purse and pull out the fob like neanderthals.
Now this never happens with the locking function, that always works just fine, simply with the unlocking.
We've taken it to the dealer twice already and the service dept says everything is fine.
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem with their X5 or any other Comfort Access equipped BMW. If so, please help an irritated neanderthal out.....

Forgive the initial obvious question - how are you trying to trigger the "unlock" function?

[tnikolov]

I've noticed quite the opposite. Sometimes it won't just lock itself until
I go and hit it on another door. Then it works. Have you tried another door?

I am yet to see a pattern how it does it.

[RHJ]

Originally Posted by tnikolov

I've noticed quite the opposite. Sometimes it won't just lock itself until
I go and hit it on another door. Then it works. Have you tried another door?

I am yet to see a pattern how it does it.

I have had issues sometimes with just my key in the pocket, the drivers door will not open. I then try the back door and it seems to do the trick. Not sure why it does that once in a while.

[Jenya B]

Check The Battery In Keyfob , or put new one.

[Terp335]

Are your windows tinted? I do remember needing to use a ceramic tint on my e90 as metallic tint is known to negatively impact CA.

[npcars]

Sorry I've been out. Ok so here I go with some answers to your questions:

-no I don't have any tint
-yes, once it malfunctions I've tried all four doors and it won't unlock
-sometimes I pull the keyfob out and hold it right next to the door handle for proximity and it still won't react
-my unlocking procedure is pretty simple; I simply grab the door handle and pull
-it does it about 50% of the time (wife says 60 seeing as how it's her daily)
-I haven't changed the battery on the keyfobs simply because the vehicle isn't even a year old so I didn't expect the battery to crap out so soon
-pdawg I didn't really understand your post but I'm interested in what you have to say...

Like I said, it's all very frustrating/strange. But I appreciate ya'lls help on this

[barcelona]

It could be interference: as per manual. pg43.
Malfunction
Comfort Access may not function properly if it experiences interference from external sources such as mobile phones, metal objects, overhead power lines, transmission towers, etc.

Unsure if you seen this thread from Hyde in terms of locking.
Hyde noted: lock and unlock has different sensors. Could explain why lock works fine.
MattBianconoted: Issues on MY14 did not appear on MY15.
http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1064302

Could be iPhone in same pocket as fob.
If you park all 3 cars in same garage and you have CA in all, then no interference issue unless F15 is super sensitive. I agree with Daonster as in car wash or with mitt the CA lock/unlock a lot.

As JenyaB stated: try new battery or switch from X3. Maybe bad battery, but both don't work.

So appears to be either interference, or intermittent sensor.

[NPickles]

I have seen the same thing, you go to grab the handle to open the car and it doesn't open.

Do you have any accessories plugged in or have you ever seen the 'Excessive battery drain' warning when you start the car?

I have a camera hardwired to a permanent live, which if left for more than 1 day, would trigger the warning. I had assumed that when that alert was triggered, internal systems were shut down to prevent the battery going flat and one of those was the Comfort Access system.

[Jenya B]

i keep the key in small pocket in my jeans plus i got 2 iphones one is beside the key , another in other pocket and NO ISSUES AT ALL.

One of our guy in the forum has similar problem , dealers cannot find , and that dude decided to replace battery on 2months old truck (F15) And MAGIC happens . Everything starts working just perfect . So try 2.50$ battery .

[npcars]

I don't think it's interference because it happens in various places and with/without phones or other keyfobs around.

I'm leaning towards what Jenya said and am probably going to try new batteries just to rule that out

Just had dinner w an ex-BMW tech who said that the problem lies in the door handle. According to him the sensor in the handles is too weak and must be replaced. I'll try the batteries first and then go to the dealer to try and convince them to swap the handles