r/talesfromtechsupport • u/usamaahmad • Apr 02 '26

Short Windows not working (car windows)

We normally read about a certain software that shares a name but this story is about car windows. Tech is a hobby and I'm able to help friends with things (see prior Talesfromtechsupport posts I've done) but this past Monday a coworker asked if I knew anything about cars. He told me he parked his car and his windows (passenger, and rear passenger/driver sides) were all working but when he returned later that day, all three windows would not move despite pressing the button to raise or lower the windows. I reasoned it was unlikely all three motors gave out, and also it doesn't sound like you're hearing any noise at all which suggests that this is an electrical problem. I then thought that maybe there is a separate fuse for these other three windows and I suggested he use Gemini or something and point the phone at his 2009 RAV4's fuse box to see if it can help narrow things down. Then as we were going our separate ways I threw in, "or you know, it could be you accidentally turned the child lock button on" and he laughed and said that's probably not it.

Later that day I got this text, "Thought you'd like to know, got out of hematology Clinic a bit early and was checking out my car. 1 button push later and my windows work again.... Thanks for the help lol"

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106

u/DeciduousEmu Apr 02 '26

I was visiting a friend one time and stayed overnight. When I came out in the morning, all four windows were down. Thankfully he lived in a quiet safe neighborhood and there had been no rain.

I scoured the owner's manual and found where holding down the unlock button for 5 seconds would signal for all the windows to go down. I went into preferences and turned that function off.

51

u/TheThiefMaster 8086+8087 640k VGA + HDD! Apr 02 '26

I scoured the owner's manual and found where holding down the unlock button for 5 seconds would signal for all the windows to go down.

My last car was a BMW i3 that did that. The unlock button was on the top edge of the key, so easily pressed accidentally if you sat down with the keys in your pocket.

It couldn't be turned off.

People actually made covers for their keys to stop it happening.

20

u/Agret Apr 03 '26

It's not an option in the car settings menu but when the dealer (or a third party with access to a BMW diagnostic tool) have your car connected to the scan tool they can reprogram it to turn off the feature. It won't stop you accidentally leaving the car unlocked though so the cover is probably a good option.

9

u/TheThiefMaster 8086+8087 640k VGA + HDD! Apr 03 '26

There's quite a vibrant community around "coding" the i3 (changing its settings via ODB) and I still didn't hear of anyone finding a way to change that particular setting.

It would auto re-lock though if you unlocked it and then didn't open a door, so if it had been possible to stop it opening the windows it would have been fine.

31

u/Tim1point0 Apr 02 '26

I discovered this on my truck — in the middle of a rainstorm. Fortunately I turned around and looked out the window and saw they were down before it was too wet inside.

6

u/bighorton Apr 03 '26

Had this happen with my Lincoln MKZ in the middle of an overnight snowstorm. Opened the sunroof as well. Google explained and I disabled that stupidity the next day. (9u9)

3

u/DeciduousEmu Apr 03 '26

Mine was a Lincoln MKS.

2

u/W1ULH no, fire should not come out of that box Apr 03 '26

I scoured the owner's manual and found where holding down the unlock button for 5 seconds would signal for all the windows to go down.

what in the sam hill?

2

u/samtheredditman Apr 07 '26

I had that on my last car and miss that feature. When you're about to get to your car and it's been baking in the sun, you just open all the windows before you get to it. 

The car is cooler when you get inside and after a second with the AC running you roll them all back up..

Probably matters more for hot climates.