ZorkNation

Something happened last week that concerns me because I sometimes leave my dog in the car. I closed and locked the car, came upstairs, then looked out and saw that the lift gate was wide open. I went down to check. I touched the driver door handle to open it to see if the car was still on or something -- and I heard the two beeps and the door locks unlock. The car had been locked, but the lift gate was open at the time and the interior lights were on. I closed the lift gate and locked the car, and it has not happened since. Has anyone else experienced this?

Could the computer be on the fritz? It was cold, and the car was wet, if that means anything. Incidentally, what does it take to replace the computer, or whatever controller deals with the door locks and lift gate mechanism?

Could the control have shorted out because it got wet? Maybe I just need new weather seals for the lift gate. I would have expected that to set off the alarm since the car was locked.

I don't want to leave my dog in the car and come back to find that the door opened by itself and she ran off in a panic. She would probably stay to guard the car, but I'm not sure. Thank you for any info you can share.

Clutchless

Maybe the key fob was in your pocket and somehow the lift gate button got pushed.

ZorkNation

Pressing the key fob button to open the lift gate also unlocks the doors. They're linked together. In this case, the lift gate was open, but the doors were still locked, because when I touched the driver door handle, I heard 2 beeps, the parking lights flashed, and I heard the doors unlock.

Clutchless

There have been some phantom incidents of doors unlocking and windows rolling down with no apparent explanation. I would just monitor the situation and attach the dog leash to the seat belt when leaving it in the car. They have pet safety harnesses that would work. Maybe the dog jumped into the driver seat and hit the liftgate button on the dash.
You can spend a fortune in diagnostic fees hunting for an electrical ghost. You may want to first go to one of the big chain auto parts stores that will check for stored trouble codes for free to see if anything pops up (which I doubt).

ZorkNation

Phantom window rolling has also happened.

The dog was not in the car when this happened. I'm just worried that it will happen when she is.

Good idea, and also I share the same skepticism. Other weird events:

• phantom window rolling
• mystery resets where the car starts onto the map with audio on AM, even though I shut it off on the fuel economy data screen with audio on aux
• side mirrors tilt down in reverse only when one of them is in adjustment mode, but they don't tilt down when adjustment mode is off (it should be the opposite)
• lift gate has spontaneously closed two or three times and hit me in the head
• moisture sensor for intermittent wipers stopped working, so they wipe once then stop, and they will sometimes wipe spontaneously when dry if I leave it on by mistake
• Bluetooth sometimes malfunctions and won't work even though connected, until I turn off the car, turn off phone BT, turn phone BT back on, then turn car back on

Does anyone know an electrical specialist who might know where these systems are all routed in common, where there might be a short?

Or, could it maybe be a bad computer board? Can that be replaced? Guessing it's in the heart of the dash instead of an easy plug-and-play replacement. :-(

Clutchless

This link is to a database of repair shops recommended by listeners of the old NPR radio show Car Talk. You can hunt by city and state. I would not use the manufacturer limitation on your search. Maybe an electrical specialist will show up in your area. Then try cross checking them on Google and Yelp as some of the reviews are old. https://www.cartalk.com/mechanics-files

Or trade it in before it gets worse. How much are you willing to spend chasing this?