Automatic Lock
 

I have MDX set on automatic lock, but it doesn't always work.
I always lock it myself if it is important. However, other times when it doesn't matter I've noticed that the car doesn't always lock. This morning went to get coffee and did not lock the car. It was only me and I did not do anything unusual - just parked, got out, shut door.
Came out of coffee place and car was unlocked. Seems to be randomly intermittent, but why have the feature if you cannot rely on it?

Maybe I am thinking of something else, but I always thought auto lock was where the car locks itself if you unlock it using the fob and then don't open the doors for however many seconds (usually 30).

thats something else. This is called Walk Away autolock. Only thing I can think of is that I walked away too quickly?

Walk Away Auto Lock When you walk away from the vehicle while carrying the remote transmitter, the doors and trunk can automatically lock if the following conditions are met: • The remote transmitter is within a range of 6 feet (2 m). • All doors and the hatch are closed. • There is not an additional remote transmitter inside the vehicle. Follow these steps (see diagram): 1. Exit the vehicle, close the door and stay near it. Listen for a beep. The system is activated. 2. Walk at least 6 feet (2 m) away. 3. Listen for a beep and look for the lights to flash. The doors lock. To turn on this feature, follow the steps below: 1. Press the SETTINGS button. 2. Select Vehicle Settings, then Keyless Access Setup, then Walk Away Auto Lock.

Do you remember hearing the beep after starting to walk away? It'll beep once almost immediately and beep again (when locking) once you are further away.

Was there a second key fob already in the vehicle?

Walk Away Auto Lock is one of my favorite features. Hope it's not an electrical gremlin; we have one going on now with the parking sensors going nuts for no reason.

no other fob in vehicle
I'll pay more attention for the beep. I do hear it, but don't remember if I heard it when it did not lock

I have not noticed that mine was not working, so maybe it is a fluke? Just a guess.

unfortunately, it was more than once

Mine has not failed to work, always beeps and I usually look back to see if the mirrors folded which is a good check on if it locked. I have not experienced a failure yet but will watch closely since you reported this.

Ah, I got you. That is a very cool feature but seems that you have to wait a little bit at a certain distance before fully walking away?

usually don't. First beep is very quick, so I'm not sure what happened when it did not work. I was just guessing

The other odd function is that if car is locked and I open and close tailgate, car does not relock automatically

Walk away lock work just fine on my 17 MDX ADV.

Tailgate opens when the car is locked and key fob is with you. It does not need to lock the car again when tailgate is closed as the doors were never unlocked. Also in this case there is no beep as all doors are locked. Now if the doors were unlock and you open the tailgate. On tailgate close you will have to be close to the car for auto lock to activate, you will hear first one beep on tailgate close.

Now coming to walkaway lock not working, I have noticed when I walk away too fast (being a tall guy I take long steps). So by the time door is actually shut I am already too far from the car to activate walk away lock. But I keep an ear to hear the first beep when door shuts. In this case me walking away fast, car beeps 4 time in a fast pace which tells me that I have to lock the car manually. If I hear one beep when the door shuts i know walk away lock is activated and next beep will lock the car. Another thing that helps me to identify if the car is locked (if for some reason I did not hear 2nd beep could be due to the elements) is to check car mirrors, with lock they fold and if mirrors are folded then I know for sure car is locked.

I would recommend to keep listening for first beep after door shuts or fast 4 beeps. Fast 4 beeps are not good :), doors are not going to auto lock.
One more thing which I am sure you already know. All doors much be shut properly, if any door/s are not properly shut you will not hear any beep/s

comfort of consumers
 

Every car makers add features having seen the interest & comfort of consumers.

"Tailgate opens when the car is locked and key fob is with you. It does not need to lock the car again when tailgate is closed as the doors were never unlocked. Also in this case there is no beep as all doors are locked. Now if the doors were unlock and you open the tailgate. On tailgate close you will have to be close to the car for auto lock to activate, you will hear first one beep on tailgate close."

Thats not what I experienced. Car was locked in driveway. I went out to retrieve something from the back. I opened tailgate and doors unlocked and mirrors folded out. Closed tailgate and car stayed unlocked with mirrors extended

I've been having the same issue with mine working intermittently. My wife told me a couple of times that I had left the car unlocked. Now I just lock it with the key fob. Cool feature but only if it works all the time.

I'll have to keep an eye on it. Just got my car this week and enabled this feature yesterday and so far it has worked flawlessly. Of course it is a new feature for me so I am paying close attention to the beeps

Rich

so I found one scenario where it does not auto lock. If you get out of car and close the door, you get the single beep. But before walking away, you open the tailgate. Then hit button to close tailgate and walk away before tailgate fully latched. Car does not autolock. However, it did do rapid beeping after it latched and I was more than 6 feet away. So at least I was alerted. Next time, I'll stay next to car until it latchees and see if it auto locks because as I stated earlier, if you open tail gate when car was locked, it does not relock.

This is my exact experience. Everyday I go to work, I park, open my tailgate, exit the vehicle, get my items out of the cargo area, shut the tailgate. I get the rapid beeping and the vehicle doesn't autolock. I have tried standing next to the vehicle and walking more than six feet away. This also occurs if the vehicle is locked and you walk up and just open the tailgate.

Had an interesting one this morning in my garage. I was loading the dog in the passenger front seat (windows were open). I had forgot something so before closing the door, I placed the FOB onto the center console, and closed the door. As I walked away the auto lock function activated. I couldn't believe it, I tested the doors and sure enough they were locked. I immediately looked at the dog thinking she stepped on the FOB, she had not, regardless the car should not have locked with the FOB inside. I have tried to duplicate it and failed to get it to repeat.
Has anyone else had this fault? Could be a real problem if that happens and the car is out in the heat.

Software/hardware glitch. It is not uncommon to hear stories of vehicle owners whose vehicles locked them out with the key fobs still inside the vehicles, even though this scenario is never suppose to happen. Happens to other vehicle makes too.

since the mdx is so easy to lock, I figured the auto lock was harder to use than the regular lock. Get out of the car, close doors, touch the handle button, cars locked. No wait for beep, no walking away slowly, no waiting for confirmation. Way easier than the autolock IMHO. Obvious it locked because I hear/see the mirrors retract and get a beep. Quick and easy.

In fact, often when DW is with me, we get out, I lock the car, she walks to the back, opens the hatch to get out the "bag o bags" to put groceries in, then closes the hatch. Car stays locked.

I really don't see the advantage to the auto lock.

I usually leave the FOB on the center console when I wash the car to keep the auto lock from engaging. The MDX/RLX would constantly lock/unlock as I moved around the vehicle when washing when I had the fob in my pocket. It would really suck it the MDX locked with the fob inside because it is usually a 1/2 hour scavenger hunt trying to find the wife's fobs around the house.

I like the auto lock with the mirror fold. The only time the auto lock doesn't work for me is when I put something in the hatch and walk away too soon and get the unlock warning beeps.

Exactly this. I'm usually too far after the tailgate closes for the auto lock to work.

Also, keeping the key in the car while washing should hopefully help with random locking/unlocking when the handles get wet.