I just bought my 2005 RL today and LOVE it! Coming from a '99 740iL, I was a little reluctant to give up the space, but I tell you the front seats are extremely comfortable in the Acura, and it blows the BMW away with technology and ergonomics.

I have two keys, #1 and #2...my car has consitently said ," Welcome Driver #2" since I've been driving it today, whether I had both keys on me or not...is this a problem? How do I clear the system out and start over? Do I need to?

Any help is appreciated and I am really looking forward to contributing to this site!

All the best,

TXTENOR
2005 Acura RL
Carbon Grey on Taupe

 

First of all, don't carry both keys with you. The driver # will change once you unlock the doors with the numered fob. If it does not change then the fob needs relinking to the system.

 

^ agree. Having both keys in your pocket would cause unpredictable results. Also, the car only resets to another drivers key when you unlock the door. In other words, if driver 1 unlocked the door, drove the car, came back, got out of the car without locking the door, and then driver 2 got in the car, all the settings would still be on driver 1. A bit anoying but that's how it works. Get in the habit of locking the RL door when you exit. Since you only need to swipe the door handle to lock it, that's an easy habit to start.


I have an MDX also that works the same way, however, since the MDX is not keyless it's not as anoying. Since you already have the key in your hand I always make it a habit of clicking the unlock button before opening the door. That would work with the RL also but kind of kills the joy of having keyless entry and start.

If all this doesn't help you, then I also agree with miner that your key may need to be relinked.

 

Good advice above.

Welcome to Acurazine and feel free to keep posting!

 

Congrats for being an proud RL owner . keep us posted on the experiences u would be having on your RL. This website and people here are very knowledgeable and can help with any questions you might have regarding your car....Once again congrats

 

yes, welcome
I would first make sure both fobs are properly paired. Lock the car and with fob1 unlock and start car to see if it says "welcome Driver 1". Repeat with fob2. (obviously have fob away from the car.)
If one or both are not paired, you can follow the steps in the manual to re-pair the fob, although as I recall there is an inconsistency in the quick start guide versus the full manual. However, I think there is a previous thread on how to pair the fobs correctly.

 

Although it is generally a bad idea to have both key fobs on you, my wife and I do it everyday. We both have the fobs on us. When we leave our house in the morning, I drive, so I unlock the car (which configures the car to my settings) and then she enters the car w/o unlocking.

Half way through our journey to work, I am dropped off at the metro. So, she leaves her purse inside the car, I leave with my key fob and she motors off (w/ my settings). As long as one key fob is in the car, it won't beep at ya.

Thought I'd let you know...

 

That's very true. My wife and daughter have a key. Sometimes there are three of us in the RL with an RL fob. However, the difference is that only one fob is in proximity to a particular door handle when it is unlocked. From my experience, the first person to unlock the door wins!

The unpredictable part is what would happen when you have two fobs in your pocket when you unlock the door. I'd think it would be a crap shoot as too which one registers first.

 

there's no issues with having 2 fobs in the car. Its actually the fob that gets in range first that gets the settings when both "approach" the car. So, its possible that fob2 gets to car first, but does not actually unlock the car, fob1 person unlocks car, but car configures to driver 2 settings. Happens quite a bit if you open the car door for your wife and she has fob2 in purse.
You can always change from driver2 settings to driver1 settings by simply pressing the mem1 button on the door.

 

Interesting. I'll have to test that out next time my wife and I are going out together. From my experience it's always the person who touches the door handle first. I have an 07. Maybe they made a change in 07. It's also possible that the driver cooincidently always has gotten to the car first. It's possible but seems unlikely.

 

Spicy - I'm sure it works as I stated in the 05. Not sure how they could tell who touches car. You can have the fob in your pocket and someone without a fob can unlock the car if you are "in range". My daughter (with no fob) unlocks the car from passenger side when I am on driver side with fob.

 

Well now you got my curiosity. I just went out to the car and rested the key fob on the sill of the passenger door. Pressed the door button and it locked as expected. Then, I went over to the driver door and tried to open it. Nothing happened. Tried to press the dimple to relock it. Nothing happened. Then I went and got my wifes key and walked up to the driver door (with my key still resting on the window sill of the passenger door). The driver door unlocked and the settings went to my wifes driver 2 key.

Conclusion; The 07 DEFINITELY works different than the 05. Looks like they added some more intelligence so it knows which door is opening and only works if the fob is in proximity to THAT door. Also, it clearly uses the fob that unlocks the door to determine which settings to activate NOT the one that comes into range first

Anyone have an 06 who can do that same test. Now I'm curious when they made the change.

 

very interesting!

 

Spicey - had to try your test and I must stand corrected. 05 behaves the same way in terms of fob on one side of car does not allow opening by person without fob on opposite side. Thus, I must have been wrong when my I thought my daughter was able to unlock car without fob. However, before I lose all credibility, I know that the car has set to Driver2 when I have unlocked car with both fobs present, i.e., the open the car door for wife scenario. Also, I am fairly certain that this has happened even if I unlock car from driver's side if wife got to car first on passenger side. I would be interested if you can reproduce that result.

 

OK, I just tried it again with several different scenerios using my daughter and I walking up to the car in different orders and different doors. This is the conclusion for my 07 RL;

- The person unlocking the car FROM THE DRIVERS DOOR is the settings that are used.
- It doesn't matter who approaches the car first
- It doesn't matter if the person on the passenger side unlocks it first

Scenario 1: Door was last locked by Driver 1. Driver 2 approaches the passenger door first. Driver 1 approaches the driver door second. Driver 2 unlocks the passenger door. Results: Driver 1 setttings remain in effect

Scenario 2: Door was last locked by Driver 1. Driver 1 approaches the passenger door first. Driver 2 approaches the driver door second. Driver 2 unlocks the driver door. Results: Driver 2 setttings activate.

Scenario 3: Door was last locked by Driver 1. Driver 2 approaches the passenger door and unlocks it. Driver 1 is inside with his fob eating dinner. Driver 1 setttings stay in effect.

Try those tests dude and let us know what happens. I didn't realize until this last test, that the Driver door really controls the settings. Maybe that's the unknown variable creating this behavior and causing us to draw false conclusions.

 

I will try your same tests tonight, but I am very surprised at Scenario 3 results.
I am assuming that you meant that driver1 is inside the house not inside the car, so that fob1 is not even around the car, yet car retains driver1 settings because fob1 was the last one to unlock driver door.

 

Correct, Driver 1 is inside the house (or generally far away from the car) In that last example, the settings remained with Driver 1 because driver 2 unlocked the car from the passenger door. The passenger door never seems to activate the driver settings regardless of which fob you use. You must unlock the car from the drivers door. At least that's how it works in my 07

 

spicy - tested you scenario 3 last night. drove home with fob1 and locked car. got fob2 from wife and left fob1 inside house. unlocked car with fob2 on passenger side and opened passenger side door. then went around and got in car on driver's side. Memo2 light flashed when I opened driver door and "Welcome Driver 2" when starting car.

 

Looks like that's at LEAST one difference in software logic between the 05 and 07. My 07 clearly distinguishes between the driver door and passenger door. It only syncs up the memory settings for the key that opens the driver door. That's a good change. It must have dawned on them later

Another good software change would be to have the MID remember the last setting displayed when you turn the car back on (rather then go to a blank screen). They made that change in the 07 MDX but not the RL. I always leave my SHAWD displaying in my MDX. Useless info but looks cool

 

agree with you on MID - annoying that you have to set it every time