Security alarm arming

[corneileous]

Hey guys just wondering if anybody else has had this problem. The truck is a 2018 ram 1500 limited that I’ve owned since brand new that does have the push button start and it has the passive entry door handles on the front doors and well, this problem has happened about five times over the life of the vehicle and this morning was the fifth time that it happened.

This latest time, I showed up at work this morning, parked my truck, shut it off, got out, closed the door and then opened up the rear driver door to get my stuff out and then closed the door.

After about maybe 4 to 5 minutes later, I walked back to my truck to make sure I locked it and of course when I grabbed the driver side rear passenger door handle, the door opened and all of the sudden my alarm started going off. So of course I hit the unlock button on the key fob to shut it off.

I don’t recall locking the truck at all and being that every time this happens it’s completely by surprise so I have no idea if any of the other doors were unlocked and I don’t even know if the red security light on the dash cluster was blinking or not. Anybody else have this problem? Anybody have any ideas as to what’s going on?

 

[04fxdwgi]

Look at your vehicle setup screen on the radio and see if "auto lock" is enabled

 

[corneileous]

You mean as in the feature that automatically locks your vehicle for you when you get out and leave it? If so, my truck doesn’t have that. None of these fourth gens do as far as I know.

The only autolock feature my truck has is when you get up a certain speed and I think it’ll re-lock itself if you unlock the truck right quick and then go get some something out of it from the driveway and forget to lock it back…

 

[David H]

None of these fourth gens do as far as I know.

Maybe something like this in your owner's manual.

 

[corneileous]

Maybe something like this in your owner's manual.
View attachment 581735

Um, again, I think that’s referring to the feature that locks the doors once you get above a certain speed after you get in it and start driving…

 

[David H]

Um, again, I think that’s referring to the feature that locks the doors once you get above a certain speed after you get in it and start driving…

Maybe so. I'll have to check that out today. My truck has never locked itself while driving.

 

[corneileous]

Maybe so. I'll have to check that out today. My truck has never locked itself while driving.

I don’t know, I’m really drawing a blank because it’s been a very very long time since then but I’m not really sure if my truck will re-lock itself like what I was describing when I said like, if I go out into the driveway to get something out of it and I forget to lock it back but that stuff that happened yesterday morning, I have no idea. I even tried replicating it yesterday evening when I got home and even tried replicating it this morning when I got to work and when I walked back to the truck to open the rear driver door, the alarm didn’t go off and I know for a fact this time the doors were all unlocked and the alarm wasn’t set because the red security light on the dash wasn’t blinking.

 

[David H]

Is it possible you're occasionally/accidentally hitting the lock button on the remote while walking away?

 

[David H]

It appears you are correct on that auto lock function. I dug a little further into the manual and found the description. Mine must be shut off.

 

[Adamcr68]

You mean as in the feature that automatically locks your vehicle for you when you get out and leave it? If so, my truck doesn’t have that. None of these fourth gens do as far as I know.

The only autolock feature my truck has is when you get up a certain speed and I think it’ll re-lock itself if you unlock the truck right quick and then go get some something out of it from the driveway and forget to lock it back…

I “think” the the 4th gens, at least my 15’ will lock themselves if unlock is hit on the fob and the door not opened within a certain time.
I have mine set to not honk or flash the lights when unlocking, the only one that comes on is the cargo light, possibly your hitting unlock walking away?
I have gotten to the point of keeping my fob in my pocket by itself, buttons down or against my leg to avoid accidental button pushes, I wish they were recessed more or took more pressure to work.

 

[corneileous]

Is it possible you're occasionally/accidentally hitting the lock button on the remote while walking away?

Well, I’m not gonna rule that out completely but even with having aftermarket horns and having my truck programmed the way it is, I think I would’ve seen the brake lights and the front turn signals flash and would’ve heard my horn chirp.

But see the other thing that’s strange is, if I actually did inadvertently lock the truck then why was the back door unlocked when I grabbed the handle? Yeah, I do have the passive entry system on my truck but, it’s only on the front doors, not the back ones. And besides… It’s not very easy to accidentally push the lock button on the outside of the door handle either…

 

[corneileous]

I “think” the the 4th gens, at least my 15’ will lock themselves if unlock is hit on the fob and the door not opened within a certain time.
I have mine set to not honk or flash the lights when unlocking, the only one that comes on is the cargo light, possibly your hitting unlock walking away?
I have gotten to the point of keeping my fob in my pocket by itself, buttons down or against my leg to avoid accidental button pushes, I wish they were recessed more or took more pressure to work.

Well again just like I was telling the other guy, even if I did accidentally inadvertently somehow managed to press the lock button on the fob while it was in my pocket, I think I would’ve seen the lights flash and would’ve heard the horn honk… And also, all the doors were closed so if that happened then why was the rear door unlocked? That’s what doesn’t make any sense but then again, being that every time this happens it’s always completely by surprise so, I have no idea if my alarm was actually set because before I grabbed that rear door handle, I never looked through the window glass to see if the red security light was on.

 

[Adamcr68]

Well again just like I was telling the other guy, even if I did accidentally inadvertently somehow managed to press the lock button on the fob while it was in my pocket, I think I would’ve seen the lights flash and would’ve heard the horn honk… And also, all the doors were closed so if that happened then why was the rear door unlocked? That’s what doesn’t make any sense but then again, being that every time this happens it’s always completely by surprise so, I have no idea if my alarm was actually set because before I grabbed that rear door handle, I never looked through the window glass to see if the red security light was on.

Yea I saw the post about hitting the “lock” button and agree that probably wouldn’t cause the situation your describing, but if you hit the unlock without knowing then truck locks itself, maybe one of the locks is faulty- doesn’t always work- so when you go back to check it’s open and triggers the alarm.
Clearly I don’t know, just tossing out what I thought might be happening, with my very limited knowledge of our trucks electronics.
I’d wager you’ll get it figured out.

 

[corneileous]

Yea I saw the post about hitting the “lock” button and agree that probably wouldn’t cause the situation your describing, but if you hit the unlock without knowing then truck locks itself, maybe one of the locks is faulty- doesn’t always work- so when you go back to check it’s open and triggers the alarm.
Clearly I don’t know, just tossing out what I thought might be happening, with my very limited knowledge of our trucks electronics.
I’d wager you’ll get it figured out.

Yeah, I’m gonna have to fool around with that part to see if my truck actually does that because I really want to say that it does but I just don’t remember because if I did notice it at all, it was a very long time ago and I really don’t even know truly what I did to make it work, if it actually did… I mean, it was only no more than a couple years ago when I learned that if the key fob is anywhere in the truck and if I go to lock the driver door from the button on the door panel and actually close the door, my truck will honk the horn and immediately unlock the driver door… Lol.

But yeah, hopefully I can re-create this event because I’m almost 100% certain that when I came back to it when I opened up the rear door and the alarm went off, that I never did give the truck any kind of a command to lock the doors and arm the alarm.

 

[RamDiver]

Yea I saw the post about hitting the “lock” button and agree that probably wouldn’t cause the situation your describing, but if you hit the unlock without knowing then truck locks itself, maybe one of the locks is faulty- doesn’t always work- so when you go back to check it’s open and triggers the alarm.
Clearly I don’t know, just tossing out what I thought might be happening, with my very limited knowledge of our trucks electronics.
I’d wager you’ll get it figured out.

That's quite the stretch, don't you think?

Bonus points for Adam for thinking outside the box. I've had a similar experience.

I was finished kayaking at a nearby river, unlocked the truck, loaded the boats and gear into the box, and when I opened the rear passenger side door, the alarm went off.

The truck had relocked (and rearmed) because none of the doors had been opened within a specific period. The lock actuator had failed on that door, which was pretty obvious after a quick test. My first warranty claim in early year 2 of ownership.

The lock actuator in the door was heard, but the manual lock button didn't drop.

.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Replace the fob, or start with changing the fob battery, all signs point to bad fob.

My 11 did this. Bad fob.

 

[corneileous]

That's quite the stretch, don't you think?

Bonus points for Adam for thinking outside the box. I've had a similar experience.

I was finished kayaking at a nearby river, unlocked the truck, loaded the boats and gear into the box, and when I opened the rear passenger side door, the alarm went off.

The truck had relocked (and rearmed) because none of the doors had been opened within a specific period. The lock actuator had failed on that door, which was pretty obvious after a quick test. My first warranty claim in early year 2 of ownership.

The lock actuator in the door was heard, but the manual lock button didn't drop.

.

Well that’s interesting. But as far as in my case, I really don’t know what the heck happened. Like I said previously, I don’t know if any of the other doors were locked and I don’t even know if the alarm was armed because every time this happens, it’s completely by surprise when I’m not even expecting it so, I just don’t know. All I know is about 4 to 5 minutes… Maybe not even that long when I came back to the truck and went to open the rear driver door, the door opened and the alarm went off.

 

[corneileous]

That's quite the stretch, don't you think?

Bonus points for Adam for thinking outside the box. I've had a similar experience.

I was finished kayaking at a nearby river, unlocked the truck, loaded the boats and gear into the box, and when I opened the rear passenger side door, the alarm went off.

The truck had relocked (and rearmed) because none of the doors had been opened within a specific period. The lock actuator had failed on that door, which was pretty obvious after a quick test. My first warranty claim in early year 2 of ownership.

The lock actuator in the door was heard, but the manual lock button didn't drop.

.

Well that’s interesting. But as far as in my case, I really don’t know what the heck happened. Like I said previously, I don’t know if any of the other doors were locked and I don’t even know if the alarm was armed because every time this happens, it’s completely by surprise when I’m not even expecting it so, I just don’t know. All I know is about 4 to 5 minutes… Maybe not even that long when I came back to the truck and went to open the rear driver door, the door opened and the alarm went off.

 

[corneileous]

Replace the fob, or start with changing the fob battery, all signs point to bad fob.

My 11 did this. Bad fob.

Well, I just changed the batteries in both my fobs back in December.

But was there any other symptoms that led you to believe you had a bad fob? I guess I just don’t wanna spend money at this point on something that I don’t necessarily know is the problem or even which one it could be because even though I’m using the same fob that I have been all week, from the few times I’ve tried to re-create this issue, it’s all been with the same one and it’s only done it that one time, not counting all the other times previously.

 

[RamDiver]

Well that’s interesting.

All I know is about 4 to 5 minutes… Maybe not even that long when I came back to the truck and went to open the rear driver door, the door opened and the alarm went off.

IIRC, the auto relock period is 30 or 40 seconds.

I'm not suggesting that this is definitely the case, in this instance. However, your uncertainty helps me to think it might be a possibility until ruled out.

Lock the truck, leave the FOB in the house and see if any doors are unlocked.

That test is much less work than wasting bandwidth here.

.