206 keeps unlocking

I have a 206 on a 05 plate. It is well looked after.

If I park it up and lock it using the remote key and go out to it in the
morning I find that it has unlocked itself.

Is this a common problem and if so what causes it? The fob has a new
battery.

Thanks Jeff

 

My brother in law experienced similar problems with a 306 he had. In
the end it turned out he was sitting in the house with the keys in his
pocket and activating the button without his knowledge while the keys
were in his pocket.

Regards

Tom

 

I have a similar problem with my BMW....it keeps unlocking outside the
house due to pressure applied to the key in my pocket from the other
keys on the ring. I eventually solved it after a number of attempts by
rearranging the order of the keys on the ring.

Jeff (a different Jeff!)

 

Problems with the boot lock cause this problem on the 406. I wouldn't
surprised if the problem carries across to other models in the range - like
the terrible indicator stalks.

 

I've always found the indicator stalks quite well made and chunky on
all my Peugeots from the 205 upwards. What sort of problems have you
experienced?

Regards

Tom

 

In Jeff <> typed, for some strange, unexplained
reason:
: I have a 206 on a 05 plate. It is well looked after.
:
: If I park it up and lock it using the remote key and go out to it in
: the morning I find that it has unlocked itself.
:
: Is this a common problem and if so what causes it? The fob has a new
: battery.
:
: Thanks Jeff

I had this problem with a Ford Fiesta. I can only assume that it was radio
interference from somewhere.

I wonder if you have any radio amateurs living nearby..? Keyfobs operate
on 432 MHz, which just happens to be slap bang in the middle of the 70cm
amateur band, one of the most popular for amateurs. Just why they (whoever
"they" are) chose to put keyfobs in this part of the spectrum has always
been a mystery to me, but who knows what goes through what passes as minds
for these people..?

If you do end up determining that it's interference from a nearby amateur
transmitter, *please* don't go sounding off at whoever it is, he or she is
operating perfectly legally within the terms of their licence; it's the
fault of the idiots who decided this was a good frequency to put keyfobs.

Ivor

 

Back in 1989 I was living on the Isle of Wight and sharing a house with some
blokes who worked for Plessey. Apparently what they did was to hook up a RF
sweep generator and (IIRC) a digital counter to an amplifier and hang the
aerial outside a window facing the company carpark. It set off every alarm
or so they said.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

Hi,

Indeed, this frequency range is a part of the spectrum called ISM (which
stands for Industrial, Scientific & Medical), and are free of charge. This
means that anyone can send and/or receive something in the air without
paying charges.
That's one reason why most of the remote controls are set to this 433MHz
freq.
Most known ISM frequencies are 27MHz (almost unusable, 'cause took by both
CB-enthousiasts and model remote controllers) ; 433MHz (mostly used by
gates, cars remotes and some short-range, wireless home accessories like
stereo headsets) ; 866MHz (same usage, but less prone to saturation as a lot
of equipments haven't moved to this one yet - should be coming soon though)
; and a bunch of air around 2.45GHz, mostly used by both WiFi and Bluetooth.

Yes, cost does matter

Regards,

 

Also the very worst that a carrier SHOULD do is block operation of a
device. It should NOT open or close locks. This is done using data.

 

Hi,

I agree with you on that point, but we've all heard of such "horror
stories".
Some early-electronics cars (with a design flaw, IMO) tend to stall when
driving under a high-voltage line.
Where high voltage is involved in industrial plants, some areas are
forbidden to cars, because they tend to stall or malfunction.
The other day, a friend of mine told me he was unable to lock his car, even
using the key when he parked aside the TV and radio trucs on a sports event
(he was a journalist at this time). I've already heard such things before.
All these events & facts are related, and is forever challenge for
electronics designers : the immunity to transients and RF-pollution. And it
ain't easy.

That may be said as being the price of progress, which I would agree with...
But it's also damn true that, especially in automotive electronics, they
can't do what they want, mainly for questions of cost involved.
We still can be reinsurred in thinking that the electrics and electronics
which tend to work with a lot of pollution around them, for example in the
engine bay, is protected enough and still works.
The best demonstration of that could be that, when your mobile phone rings
(which is the most perceptible proof there is some hi-freq in there), your
car doesn't stops. Try the same with a (preferentially recent & cheap) CRT
monitor, and you'll see what shielding means.

Regards,

 

Indeed. There was the AA control center who used to ask where a car had
broken down and had a list of locations where cars electronics would
just die due to such interference and would advise the caller to push
their car a few feet up the road where it would always and immediately
come back to life.

 

especially airports

 

The indicator stalks are terrible. They go floppy, and self cancel straight
through to indicating the opposite direction. It's a common issue on all the
early multiplexed Peugeots. Pug were replacing indicator stalks FOC up to
around 4 years old I think.

 

Hi,

the
And easily flash in high-beam (I can't remember the translation for this)
when selecting a side indication.

I've heard of that, but when I went with my brand new '02 206 (so an early
mux, and I know it's muxed) for an oil change, I asked them about stalk &
updates and they said "no, no update required for your car, the stalk is a
common fault we're aware of".
So at least my local dealer (crappy, excepted on the fast service, so where
I need them most of times) doesn't do it FOC anymore.
[and I don't want to spend a lot of money in a new stalk control... I've
learned to live with, even if it's a bit boring esp. in the cities]

Regards,

 

I thought the same till my 03 van stalk packed up with no left turn
indicator and headlights on full beam instead of right turn indicator. 110
quid and air bag warning permanently on since...

I'm actually having an unlocking problem too but tended to put it down to my
absentmindedness.

AJH