I'm going to guess that you don't have the keyless entry option? I think the only way the Touareg will detect the key in the car is with this option.

 

Nope, you can lock your key in the back, but you can't lock your key in the front for the front driver door lock will not lock with the door button. Never lay your key down on the back. Apparently you unlocked the vehical and got in the back only, but never opened the drivers door before you closed the hatch. It rearms it's self if the drivers door is never opened after a disarm from the remote.

 

Oddly enough, I did exactly this at the airport when returning home from a trip a couple of years ago and the car did not re-lock itself. I was able to re-open the rear hatch and get my key from my carry-on bag.

I went out to my car and confirmed this behavior. My Touareg will not automatically re-lock itself when I close the rear hatch if my key is in the trunk. When I attempted to lock my key in the rear of the car, it gave me an odd alarm "half chirp," the lights came on and flashed. I waited about 15 seconds or so (checking to see if all my doors were locked - they were) and was able to re-open the trunk and retrieve my key. When I closed the trunk, the car did automatically re-lock itself giving the normal alarm chirp.

Perhaps you have to leave the key in the trunk for a longer period of time?

 

With the keyless entry if you lock the car with the key fob outside of the vehicle and then open the rear hatch/window it will re-lock automatically when closed. (I assume this is done because it is assumed you are unloading something from the back and will therefore have your hands full and unable to hit the lock button again) My suggestion would be to get a push button start system, definately the best upgrade I have made in terms of conveinance. The key never leaves my pocket.

 

I did this. I was riding my bike at a local trail. I left my keys in my camelbak while riding. After I was totally exhausted, I rode back to my treg, opened the rear hatch, loaded my bike and gear. I lowered the hatch and took one step towards the drivers door when I heard the god awful sound of the chirp confirming the doors were locked.

Just inside the rear cargo area layed my camelbak, which contained my iPhone, vehicle keys, and of course, snacks and water.

Trying to determine which piece of
window glass is the cheapest and easiest to replace takes alot of thought.

I decided to walk for a bit, saving the glass and window tint expense.
Talk about pissed. This is definitely a lesson that was learned very quickly
and the first time.

 

Like others, I have locked my key in the car moving my laptop bag front to rear at the airport.

Even more problematic: On two occasions my wife and I have swapped cars and I have forgotten to give her the key. On both occasions, she had driven more than an hour away and was not able to start or lock the car.

 

I confess (after having yelled at my wife for the 3-4 times she's done this over the past decade+), Saturday I locked mine in the back. I was loading up some stuff (and hurrying with the pool guy standing there waiting to help load).

I was moving some sports chairs from the trunk to the back seat with the my key fob in-hand. Somehow it snagged on a seat and went with it...and I forgot all about it even being in my hand.

I called the my wife...fessed up...but she was ~45 minutes away and had a very busy day scheduled. Called the #800 Service since the car's still new...didn't even know if this was covered or not.

They sent somebody out in the same amount of time it would've taken the wife...so I grabbed a pizza at my favorite spot and made the best of it.

The lock guy used an air bladder on the driver side door. He struggled for about 15 minutes, but was obviously hitting the "unlock" button solidly to no avail. Pulling the outside handle did not open the door at all. Finally, for the 3rd or 4th time, he pulled the handle on the inside w/ his iron rod and it opened w/ the alarm blaring.

I jumped in, found the key on the backseat and was glad when the alarm stopped blaring for me and the car started.

No charge from VW for the service...no issue w/ driver side door from the air bladder (still very quiet ride at speed). I think in ~30yrs of driving, that was the first time I did that.

I have still never run out of gas/diesel!

 

You simply have not lived until you have:

* Locked your keys in your car
* Ran out of gas
* Pulled away and ripped the gas hose/nozzle from the pump
* Sat shotgun of the tow truck while your car is on the flatbed
* Seen the flatbed's front 2 wheels in the air as it's loading your car (wish I had taken a picture of that)
* Made the walk of shame to the tow yard after refusing to pay $50 for stadium parking and parking at a McDonalds for 3 hours.

None of this was done with my Treg by the way....mostly my college years

 

I did it at a backcountry wilderness trailhead after a weeklong backpack with no phone service 200 miles from home (and the other key). Fortunately the SO was kind enough to rescue me after being notified!

 

Has someone identified the cause when the car locks with the key in the ignition and then another time with it sitting on the front seat? I can repeat these incidents, so figure there must be a system failure, but where?

 

I would start with a VCDS scan for fault codes.

 

What section should be scanned?
Thanks

 

Do the whole car with Autoscan.

 

my car locked today on its own with keys in front. first problem is that wife had both keys with her, second problem was that the little baby was on back seat locked in the car. this is not a good thing, wife was histerical on the phone and lucky for us locksmith was walking out of the sam's club and he assisted the fire and rescue people who where strugling to open the car. I did the same thing with our ex f150 on the day of the sale, and since then I have been leaving a window open if I have the car running or leaving the keys inside for whatever reason.

 

Locked key fob in the back...

I guess I'm not alone.

We were hundreds of miles from home. Loading up the Touareg when leaving the hotel. Set
the key fob down next to the luggage in the back. Lowered the tailgate and it promptly LOCKED.
You all know what I said.

Local city cops could not open the Touareg. He said it was his first failure in nine years.
Called VW Executive Care and they sent out "an affiliate" in his little Corolla. I think he must have learned via YouTube and he failed.
Then they sent someone else out and this person had the Touareg open in seconds by fishing a flexible loop in via the passenger side and grabbing the door handle.

I later checked the manual and it claims that it's impossible to get locked out since a sensor knows the fob is in the car. Um, no....
My sales guy says this is the *only* way to get locked out and to pretend that the trunk unlock button on the fob doesn't exist.

In the good old days we could carry a cheap spare key in our wallet.
Impossible now with these fat, super expensive "smart" key fobs....

Keyless entry sure sounds good now.

Jeff

 

(snip)
Then they sent someone else out and this person had the Touareg open in seconds by fishing a flexible loop in via the passenger side and grabbing the door handle.(snip)

We had a lockout kit when I worked at a VW dealer. I think Snapon made it. Like JeffW says - only a few seconds required.

 

It behaves the same with keyless entry

Or are you being sarcastic?

 

No it doesn't. You can't lock out with KESSY.

 

Not trying to be sarcastic.

The manual I have in my 2012 TDI LUX clearly states that locking the key in the rear is not possible.

My guess is that this applies only to the Exec trim level at least as of 2012.

I am informed that the fob's skeleton key will function to open the hidden keyhole in the handle. Perhaps a keyshop can duplicate at least that into a metal form so one can easily carry a "spare" around? It won't help to start but it will get one into a locked vehicle.

Jeff

 

Jeff, I'm guess what happened was you opened the hatch and never opened the drivers door while loading. Since the drivers door was not opened while loading the back is the reason it relocked its self after you closed the hatch. Only real issue was you left your fob inside. This has been an issue if you will with all Touaregs from the beginning. No matter what level and can even be done with keyless entry as well as I had it happen to me. The only advantage to keyless over non is that you can still get in the back by just using the outside button on the door like you had the key in your hand/pocket. You can't lock your key in the car if the drivers door has been opened in an unlocked state and you just hit the button on the door panel to close it. Rest of the doors will lock, not the drivers door. I believe this is what VW was thinking would happen and this is definitely the scenario that you can't lock your key in the car. Just remember after this to either never lay your fob on the hatch floor or just open it then put it back in your pocket or open the drivers door as well so it does not relock after close the hatch.

 

Yes, this was exactly my scenario.

And I'll both do my best to never ever set my key down as well as try to get a dupe made of the plastic key insert in the fob.

As the hours passed and car cracker one after the other tried their skill I longingly thought of my locked up spare phone battery, chargers, VW manual, and the spare fob two hours away. Good lesson!

Thanks!

 

Yes, this was exactly my scenario.

And I'll both do my best to never ever set my key down as well as try to get a dupe made of the plastic key insert in the fob.

Those are laser cut, I don't think your local key guy will be able to duplicate it. If you relay need one then take it out from your second fob and hide it somewhere under the car

 

Even if you set the key down, just make sure you open the drivers door as well. Then if you close the hatch it will not rearm it's self. I don't know why it works this way, but it is how the alarm on the Touareg works. It also will rearm it's self if say you unlock it with the fob and say are standing there talking to someone and don't open the drivers door I think after 10 seconds or so.

Myself with keyless my fob is never out of my pocket other then when I come home and remove it to put it on my night stand. I have keyless start as well. The one time I locked it in the back was after I got done a mtn bike ride and the key was still in my camelbak in the back floor of the hatch area. I got lucky to find out that I could still get in since the door knew the key was near, but did not know it was inside the car. Now I get done a ride and remove the key from the pack and put it in my pocket before doing anything else. You only need to do this once to remember never to do it again.

 

Open the drivers door, open the trunk with the switch on the door. No worries. And don't develop poor habits with handling your keyfob... never set it anywhere except in your pocket or in the ignition.

 

I was told that I can purchase an emergency key from dealer that'll fit in wallet for such events. It does cost $60 and is 1 time use if I remember correct. For another $50 I can get a spare keyfob and a hidakey.

 

Yesterday my wife had the same problem: she put her driver's key on the trunk and closed the back door. Since the keyless system was locked, it automatically closed all doors again. To make a long story short, the only way I got to open the car was to manage a way to press the start key with an iron rod and open the front window pushing the corresponding button on the driver's door. That operation took ~90 min from 4 skilled and patient people to be accomplished (including myself). Important to observe that pulling the front doors levers did not helped at all!!!