getakey

I have encountered a strange problem several times now. My phone (halfway) pairs with the car when I am outside of the car and the car is off. It happened again this weekend. I came home parked the car and went inside. After 30 minutes or so, went back outside and was standing near the car when I received a phone call. When I answered the call, I could not hear the other person, As I looked at the phone, it showed an icon indicating the phone was linked to a handsfree headset. I opened the car door, but car was off so nothing was coming through the HFL.
As I said, this has happened before (often when I'm washing the car). Seems like there is some bluetooth signal being sent by the car even when it has been turned off. I know HFL continues to operate if you are on a call and turn off the car until you end the call, but this is different.

getakey

oops - I guess I should have posted in the audio forum. Can the moderator move this?

neuronbob

Not a bug, but a feature, I guess? Same thing happens to me. If I'm in a certain hallway that passes by the garage in my house, the car will pick up my call. I try not to answer the phone in that hallway as a result. It doesn't happen consistently, though.

jftjr

I had that problem the other day, I was in a parking lot and I was supposed to meet my fiancee at the car -- she had the keys, so I couldn't get in. So, after sweltering outside for 20 minutes, I tried calling her cell to see where she was.... and couldn't place the call because the car kept grabbing the phone. I finally turned off bluetooth on my phone and made the call.

GoHawks

Is this only happening when you just turn the car off? HFL stays active for a little while once you turn off the car and get out, but it does then disconnect.

It should never pick up if you're just walking by the car and the ignition is off. If it is, make sure that you have the ignition off all the way.

When I first bought my car, I let my neighbor take if for a spin. He came back and parked the car in front of the house. I was doing yard work and a couple of times my phone rang. Each time I picked it up, I got Nothing. It was seriously pi$$ing me off until I found out that my neighbor hadn't turned the ignition switch all the way off, so everytime I was in front of the house, I would get within range and my cell phone would link with the car.

getakey

GoHawks - no this happens if the car has been off and parked for more than an hour. Also, ignition is all the way off for sure.

SpicyMikey

Somethng seems wrong. This does NOT happen to me in my 07 RL.

However, my office is right next to the garage and I notice that when my daughter takes the RL (happens more times then I'd like ), my phone links up as soon as she starts the car. So, it definitely doesn't link if the car is off and I'm within range -- for me anyway

Mike_TX

I thought the same thing GoHawks did ... the BT connection stays active for 30 minutes as I recall, to allow you to complete a call after you arrive at your destination. I therefore wondered if it was during that period and your phone was still paired up.

In any case, it shouldn't connect when the ignition is off and the BT connection should "break" when you're more than about 10 feet or so from the car.

On a similar note, I've been on my phone two different times at my Acura dealer's when they pulled the car onto the service drive for me to pick up, and both times it wanted to transfer to the car. Powerful stuff, that Bluetooth.

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GoHawks

Then something is wrong. The only times my phone has ever "unintentionally" connected is when my wife would be when the car is running and entering or leaving the garage.

Once I shut off the the engine and leave the car (within 10 feet), I hear my phone beep as the BT connection is broken.

henryr01

I believe and don't quote me on this, but I believe that the only way to lock out the BT from picking up your phone is to lock the doors.

Having said that, neither my wife nor I lock our car doors while it is in the garage and neither of us have a problem with our cars picking up our calls. In fact, I just walked up to my car and my BT did NOT link with my car and it has been off for at least an hour.

I'll do some further testing in a sec.

GoHawks

This is consistent with me as well. Our cars are never locked when in the garage.

getakey

I will investigate more as well. I know the following:
Turn off car and exit into house. Phone delinks.
Make call in house successfully on phone.
Return outside to car vicinity, car still off, and have not opened door to get in.
Phone relinks partially, i.e., cannot answer incoming call on phone, but if I open car door, there is no sound over HFL.
The only question I cannot answer for sure is time frame that I was in the house after turning the car off.
The last time this happened, I know car was unlocked.
However, I cannot say for sure that car was unlocked during all the times that this has occurred. As I indicated before, most of the time it happens is when I am washing the car with phone in my pocket.

larrynimmo

u r not alone, my 07 non-tech does the same thing...my gargage is under my house...its hard to get distance from my car....when i miss a call from this, i have to turn off the bluetooth on the cell phone then all is ok.

henryr01

OK, I've done this a number of times with the same results.

Facts
Car: '05 RL
Phone: Samsung Blackjack WM5, BT autolinking.

Phone does NOT link until after the ignition is in the 'on' position.
Phone drops the BT connection about 4 sec's after ignition is turned 'off'.
Does NOT mater if doors are locked or unlocked. Phone drops BT connection with the ignition turning off.

If you turn the car off during a conversation, press the talk button and say "transfer" and the BT connection drops, conversation moved to cell phone.

If you are in a converstion on the phone and start the car, press the talk button and say "transfer" and the BT will link and transfer the call to the car.

I tried all of the above scenarios a number of times with the same conslusions. This IS repeatable in my car. I would suggest that if yours operates differently, have it checked out by your dealer.

getakey

henry - I think you might be missing the issue. I can do all of the things you are doing with the exact same results.
What you have not described is the additional scenario of after phone drops BT connection after ignition is turned off (which mine behaves exactly as yours after ignition is turned off). If you were to exit car and return to vicinity of the car (but do not enter car or turn ignition on) and if you answer an incoming call , you cannot hear the other party because the phone thinks it is linked. There are multiple other people that have confirmed this now.

henryr01

Nope, didn't miss anything. It just doesn't do it! When it drops the BT connection, it NEVER re-connects unles the ignition is turned to the on position. End of story. I'd have your car looked at.

PS. I tried this on the TL and the RL. They both operate the same.

getakey

not to nit pick, but have you ever had an incoming call after you turned ignition off and you were still near car?

GoHawks

Same here. Mine does not relink until AFTER I turn on the ignition.

getakey

Under most circumstances, mine does not relink either until ignition is on. And, it certainly appears to be delinked after ignition is turned off.
I would have never noticed the issue, except that I had an incoming call while I was washing the car. If you look at the phone, it would not appear linked. Thus, you do not know if you have the problem until (1) you get an incoming call and cannot hear after answering, or (2) you try to make a call before starting the car and cannot hear.
I think there is a time period in which the "malfunction" occurs, ie. it must be for some period of time after exiting the car.

henryr01

What I can confirm is that if one of my kids takes the TL, my wifes phone (Moto RAZR) will connect with the TL when it is started. This is quite the feat because it is WELL over 30' from her desk. *She has a Motorola BT headset and she can't get more than 3' without it loosing it's signal. When the TL leaves the driveway, the RAZR works without issue.

Same experiance with my RL/Blackjack. Also, when I work in the garage with my Blackjack in pocket, it has never been picked up by the RL or TL. My Blackjack is linked to both cars. My wifes RAZR is linked to her TL and Moto headset.

Again, I'd have your car looked at if it is connecting with the ignition off.

henryr01

Just tried that. I had my daughters RAZR and my Blackjack, standing between both cars. I called my phone with the RAZR and it picked up normally.

Jumped in the RL, turn on the ignition and called my cell. The RL picked it up without issue. Turned off the car, stood between the two and called my cell again. Same as first test, my Blackjack pick up the call without issue.

Just to double check, I went through the same scenarios in the TL. Same outcome.

getakey

OK - checked tonight
seems the issue is intermittent
I monitored BT link on phone when I turned off ignition. Does not unlink right away. I waited in car a minute or so, still connected. Left car and disconnected about 20 feet away.
Got home phone and called my cell within vicinity of car, but phone acted normal - ie, did not relink.
So, there is some other sequence of events that causes the behavior I described. Maybe its a phone issue, not a RL issue.

jftjr

When mine was connected the other day, the car had been off and locked for at least 3 hours prior to the call. I have an '06.

getakey

jftjr - at least someone esle agrees with me, but I cannot reproduce all the time. I tried several times last night to reproduce the issue, but could not. Seems like there is some sequence of events that causes the BT signal to linger.
Its not a big deal (until you try to answer an incoming call and can't!), but now I am curious about what causes it to happen.

getakey

jftjr - I am wondering if this is a phone issue, i.e., the phone still thinks its connected to HFL. What kind of phone do you have?

getakey

not trying to revive a dead thread, but got a little more info last night that leads me to believe it is not strictly a phone issue. Most of the time it happened to me in the past, I was receiving a call and could not answer on phone because it was linked to car even though car was off.
Last night, drove to store and made call on HFL. Turned off car, locked car and went into store. Was away from locked car for at least 10 minutes. Returned to car, unlocked and got inside. Needed to make a phone call and with ignition still fully off, dialed from phone. I could see before dialing that bluetooth indicator on phone showed that it was not paired. Held phone to ear, but could not hear dialing. Re-looked at phone and phone showed hands-free was now active. Ended call. Reset phone. After reboot, all settings normal and bluetooth not paired. Dialed again, but watched bluetooth indicator. As phone call initiated, bluetooth icon changed to paired and then to hands-free active. All of this happened with ignition all the way off. Since the phone does not do this at any other location other than when I am in or near car, the car must have some latent bluetooth signal being emitted even when car is off.

larrynimmo

my car does the same thing...but not all the time. With my Treo 700 all I have to do is switch to speaker (then I can communicate) and if i wish, i can turn my phone back to earphone and it works as a phone

TampaRLX-SH

I just got a TREO 680 (ATT) and noticed it seems to hang onto the HFL.

With my RAZR it hung up calls (from the HFL buttons) promptly, and it disconnected from HFL when I shut the car off (A message appeared on the RAZR screen 'HFL Disconnected' - and the blue light stopped flashing).

The TREO does not hang up calls as promptly. I sometimes hit the HFL hang up button 2-3 times or press and hold it to hang up the call. I also noticed the HFL does not disconnect when the car shuts off. The headset icon for HFL stayed on for some time & distance when I left the car. When another call came in, the TREO screen displayed an icon to 'Disconnect Bluetooth' which I tapped and took the call without incident. But the TREO obviously thought it was still linked to the HFL.

It is a slight annoyance with the TREO (I love all the other features), but I have to say the RAZR was slick, seamless and prompt in responses. Seeing the HFL behave so differently between two different devices, I would lean towards the device being the issue over the RLs HFL.

getakey

I agree with you that device may be primary issue, but there is still something odd with the HFL signal from the car. I only say that because I reset the phone while ignition off and phone still wanted to hook up with HFL after reset when I was in the car. A reset (reboot) should have cleared any HFL link that the phone had and wanted to "hang on to". Plus, it only happens if I am near the car, i.e., the device never thinks it is still connected to HFL if I am outside of bluetooth range of the car.