Anyone had trouble locking/unlocking?

[Coulomb]

We've had our MG ZS EV for almost a week, and I've had trouble locking the car just outside our local pharmacy. Tonight, my wife rang to say that the car would not unlock for her. She later added that she had trouble locking it, but eventually it co-operated. She was parked in pretty much the same parking spot that I was when I had trouble locking it.

I drove the other EV over, bringing along button cells and my toolbox, and having read up on how to use the mechanical key. The mechanical key got us in (eventually, but not after sounding the horn because the alarm went off), and it was not a trivial operation.

My guess now is that there is some sort of microwave band transmitter nearby that is interfering with the key fob. Maybe it's something to do with the shopping centre's wireless systems, or something to do with the pharmacy.

After much fiddling with the fob, boot, both door handles, eventually the car became unresponsive. I suspect it thought there was an intruder, and just ignored us from a certain point. Well and good if there really is a break-in, but frustrating if the fob is playing up.

Anyone else had that problem? I guess we just don't park there and walk a little further.

I thought I'd document how to use the mechanical key, as I found the manual a little hard to follow (a few more diagrams would really help). My apologies if this is done to death already.

You press the "button" (that some have complained is pressed too easily) at the red arrow to open the fob (arm moves left per the green arrow). You remove the mechanical key (or retrieve it from the floor, it falls out easily) per the blue arrow. Fold out the little tab at right angles (orange arrow); you'll need this to get enough grip.

On the driver's side door (only), you'll find that there is a small hole under the cover at the end of the door handle: can see the square hole by my thumb below:

Prise something into that hole to pop off the cover; you will probably need to be pulling the door handle to get it to come off. This exposes the mechanical key slot, shown in red above. You use the mechanical key, and the lever goes up to open it (I think; someone at the carpark helped us at that point while I was going for some pliers). Opening the door without the fob seems to trigger the alarm, so get inside as soon as possible and place the key fob in front of the cup holders (I think that's the right area), and get the car to ready to prevent or to turn off the alarm.

An adventure of sorts for we retirees, but I can imagine it not being so much fun if you are under time pressure, with bad weather, not having suitable tools and/or patience.

 

[Deleted member 823]

I haven't experienced anything like this, but I do remember years ago reading about something similar and the culprit was an external transmission, as you said might be the case with your vehicle. I can't recall much more than that, sorry. Hopefully you've identified the source of the problem now. Thanks for posting up the key details, that'll be useful for sure Let us know if parking elsewhere gets rid of this problem.

 

[Coulomb]

Let us know if parking elsewhere gets rid of this problem.

Yes. When I could not lock it, I aborted my mission and drove back home (less than 3 km, thankfully). I fiddled at home, and could not fault it. So I went back to the pharmacy, and by chance I think I must have parked at a different spot, and had no trouble. I just put it down to not being familiar with the car. But after tonight's episode, I've concluded that it must be specific to that car park spot, or general area. My backup spot when that one is taken is not far off, just a few metres away, so my guess is that it's pretty localised.

Now that I'm a 'spurt at this ?, I might try parking closer and closer to the jinxed spot to "map out" the dead zone. I wonder if other cars (not just EVs) have had a similar issue. There is a shade cloth cover with fluoro lights nearby, perhaps it's a simple as a bad fluoro/starter/ballast. Or maybe they are LED lights, and it's a switching power supply that emits Radio Frequency Interference.

Edit: It's since dawned on me ? that it's caused by a mobile phone tower at one edge of the carpark. By parking further away, I can minimise the problem. If the car refuses to open, bringing the fob closer to the driver side window (away from metal) seems to help a lot. Since other cars don't seem to have this problem (even ICE MGs), I speculate that some ferrite ring or other EMI mitigation is missing from the wiring somewhere.