Doors keep unlocking when driving. Where is the door sensor?

[Timbo]

Besides my front-right window not going down, I'm having an issue with the doors unlocking and the interior lights coming on while the van is moving, or moreover and completely understandably, when it first starts moving.

99.9% of the time, the culprit is the right-front door itself. If I open the right-front door, chances are pretty darn good the van won't lock when I close the door, at least not until I've slammed the right door a few times.

This suggests to me that the front door sensor is faulty. Thing is, I don't always have to open the front door for this to happen, though usually that's the cause, and that's got me puzzled.

​Besides being annoying and making me worry I'll shatter the window if I repeatedly slam the door (that happened many years ago on my '63 Falcon van), I fear the issue will worsen and the doors will unlock themselves when the van is in a parking lot with me far away from it.

Has anyone had this problem before, and if so, what was the culprit?

[Timbo]

So I'm the only one, huh?  

[Timbo]

I took it to the Ford dealer, and they said it was a "door ajar switch".  Problem is, the only door ajar switches are located in the sliding doors.  

The front door sensors are integrated into the door latch / lock system, so they're no individually replaceable.  

 

It seems hard to believe that a faulty switch on one of the sliding doors could be "set off" by opening the right - front passenger door, but I guess anything is possible.  

I'm going to try replacing one or both of the sliding door switches and see if that fixes the issue.  

[BSUPC]

Hi Timbo. I have just started to have this same problem but with my main culprit being the driver side front door. I am like you and just can not see a switch for the sliding doors being the problem. From what I can tell by digging around on Google, the switch for the front two doors are located internally in the door lock actuator. RockAuto has this part for $224. Again this is just from what I am understanding and I may be wrong on this. But I can not see spending that kinda money just to find out. But this is for TC's with power door locks. From what I can tell the TC's with manual door locks have a standard door jamb switch on the front doors as well like the sliding doors have. 

 

Going to keep digging into this as I also get a little nervous about the not locking issue.  Also, you are not the only one anymore.   

 

On 9/5/2016 at 12:53 AM, Timbo said:

So I'm the only one, huh?  

 

[PhotoAl]

Not the same problem but I’ve got a 2008 VW Rabbit that has a door lock switch issue.  Folks in the VW community have figured out it is a micro switch that is only available as part of a larger assembly.  Some have replaced the switch with a similar micro switch which is inexpensive.  I’d look to see if that could be done.

[BSUPC]

Will check into that as well. Love my TC, but this thing sucks when it comes time to make repairs. Very little info on them here in the US. 

[Timbo]

On 1/11/2018 at 2:00 PM, BSUPC said:

Hi Timbo. I have just started to have this same problem but with my main culprit being the driver side front door. I am like you and just can not see a switch for the sliding doors being the problem. From what I can tell by digging around on Google, the switch for the front two doors are located internally in the door lock actuator. RockAuto has this part for $224. Again this is just from what I am understanding and I may be wrong on this. But I can not see spending that kinda money just to find out. But this is for TC's with power door locks. From what I can tell the TC's with manual door locks have a standard door jamb switch on the front doors as well like the sliding doors have. 

 

Going to keep digging into this as I also get a little nervous about the not locking issue.  Also, you are not the only one anymore.   

 

 

 

I pulled the trigger about a month ago and bought the overpriced door actuator / latch from the Ford dealer.  $331.  

 

Well, it fixed the problem with the front - passenger door unlocking itself, but now the drivers front door is doing it.  =/    Ugh!

 

I can, and might, replace the driver's side, but I'm a little worried that the problem will simply show up someplace else when I do.  You know how electrical gremlins are.  

My luck, the rear doors will start doing it as soon as I fix the driver's door.  

 

The reason why I worry that the problem isn't in the latches themselves, is because before I replaced the passenger side latch, the issue with the driver's side only happened once in a hundred times.  And even when it did, it often took opening and closing the passenger door to fix it (WTH?!)  Now that the right side is fixed (presumably), the driver's side is doing it all the time.  

 

The only difference is that it's much easier to remedy this issue on the driver's side than it was on the passenger side.  What I mean is, I don't have to open and close the driver's side door as many times as I did the passenger side when it did this.  Generally I can just open and re-close the driver's side door a single time to fix the issue.........  until the next time it does it.  

 

I'm not sure I'm relieved to hear the problem is happening to other people, or more worried that this is a bigger problem that Ford has yet to address.  Or maybe even knows about.  

[BSUPC]

16 hours ago, Timbo said:

I can, and might, replace the driver's side, but I'm a little worried that the problem will simply show up someplace else when I do.  You know how electrical gremlins are.  

My luck, the rear doors will start doing it as soon as I fix the driver's door.  

 

 

Sounds like we have the same luck. Hate electrical stuff, those are some mean gremlins. 

[Timbo]

Well, it's happened.  The driver's side door, which has been giving me the same grief as the passenger door did since replacing that latch, has started unlocking itself now.

 

I just ordered another $335 door latch from the Ford dealer.    My local auto wreckers won't sell me just the latch.  They want me to buy the entire door, and that's more expensive than a new latch.  It would also result in my installing a used latch of questionable reliability.  

 

I hate to throw so much money at a problem that I don't really know the cause of, but at this point it seems like the next-best step before having a comprehensive diagnostic run ($140) to see if they can find the "real problem"..  

 

Does anyone know if there's a module for the doors, somewhere between the doors themselves and the main computer?  

If the new latch doesn't fix the problem, and I fear it might not, that would seem like the next place to look.  

 

~

 

 

 

[OLDSCHOOLFOOL]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 7:39 PM, BSUPC said:

 

 

Sounds like we have the same luck. Hate electrical stuff, those are some mean gremlins. 

 

I don't have the same problem but I'm just annoyed with so-called "improved" technology. I don't want my doors to lock automatically, I want them to lock when I CHOOSE to lock them. Give me some manual locks and I'm happy. Give me some manual window cranks and I'm happy. Seems you have to pay extra to get something simple theses days. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid.

[desert_connect]

5 hours ago, OLDSCHOOLFOOL said:

 

I don't have the same problem but I'm just annoyed with so-called "improved" technology. I don't want my doors to lock automatically, I want them to lock when I CHOOSE to lock them. Give me some manual locks and I'm happy. Give me some manual window cranks and I'm happy. Seems you have to pay extra to get something simple theses days. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid.

Me too....all this new tech stuff is supposed to make our life better, but most of us that did not grow up with it find it an annoyance!

The first thing I changed (shut off) as soon as I got home was the auto door locks. The second was the seatbelt chiming at me. The day I get the outside perimeter lights changed into "dark mode" I'll be a happy TC owner. 

[OLDSCHOOLFOOL]

4 hours ago, desert_connect said:

Me too....all this new tech stuff is supposed to make our life better, but most of us that did not grow up with it find it an annoyance!

The first thing I changed (shut off) as soon as I got home was the auto door locks. The second was the seatbelt chiming at me. The day I get the outside perimeter lights changed into "dark mode" I'll be a happy TC owner. 

How did you "shut off" the auto door locks? I don't mind the seat belt reminding me so much but I despise the chiming that occurs simply with the front door open. I'd love to find a way to turn that sucker off that didn't involve a dealership or a degree in computer programming.

[desert_connect]

28 minutes ago, OLDSCHOOLFOOL said:

How did you "shut off" the auto door locks? I don't mind the seat belt reminding me so much but I despise the chiming that occurs simply with the front door open. I'd love to find a way to turn that sucker off that didn't involve a dealership or a degree in computer programming.

I just followed the instructions in the owners manual, same as I've done in the past with other vehicles. Follow the sequence listed in the required time allotment....done. If you don't get the sequence correct the first time just do it over until it works (doesn't work!).

 

I still have the door open key in ign. chime too and doubt there is an easy way to shut that one off. On my 93 F250 I pulled the ringer module, found the corresponding spade for the door/ign key bell, folded it over and then re-installed the module so the truck would run again. Doing this on a new vehicle these days might upset the computer, but I don't know that for sure. 

 

I've read that in the early 2000's around 05' or so on the F series pickups and E vans a person could shut off the perimeter lighting when a door was open themselves by using a similar sequence like the auto door locks. But sadly, Ford seems to have done away with that option.  

[OLDSCHOOLFOOL]

4 hours ago, desert_connect said:

I just followed the instructions in the owners manual

 

Doh! The RTFM command!

 

Mine is a paperweight on my desk

[Timbo]

I'll be installing the new latch this weekend and will report back to let folks know if it fixed the problem or moved to another door switch. 

 

 

[BSUPC]

Mine is getting worse. Guess I am going to have to break down and put a new one in it. 

[Timbo]

Hopefully parts prices aren't as insane on your side of the country as they are over here.  

[BSUPC]

Online they are cheaper. But a trip to the local parts house or local dealer sales counter will cost you your first born, an arm, a leg, and a ear. 

 

[Timbo]

1 hour ago, BSUPC said:

But a trip to the local dealer sales counter will cost you your first born, an arm, a leg, and a ear. 

 

 

 

Yep.  I just shelled out another $335 for my second door latch.   I'm not comfortable buying those Chinese knockoffs you see on eBay or random auto parts-houses.  

 

If it were a door, pin switch I were installing, sure, I'd order from whoever had the best price, but these front door latches are sufficiently complicated that I don't want to take any chances with cheap, no-name manufacturers.  

 

1 hour of labor later, and everything is working fine.  Let's hope it stays that way.  

 

 

~

[solderer]

Hey guys,

I have the same problem with my auto door locks.

I replaced the assembley on the passenger side (which fixed it so far), now it is doing it everyonce on the driver side.

(bought some new plastic gears on ebay first, then found some mabuchi motors to replace inside the assembley, but they arrived after i had bought the new door latch).

When I had the door latch assembley built out and still connected to the wiring, i had a feeling that the motor blocks in one direction under load, the mechanism 'flips back'then and triggers the opening process.

Not sure if this is how it works,...

Do you have any  new infos by now?

 

according to the door chime, which sounds once you have the key in the ignition and you open the door:

If you cut the thinnest wire in the ignition key assembley (i think it is black and red), the annoyance stops.

Theoretically, it could have an effect on the door lock situation as well, I had this wire cut after i already had the door problems and nothing changed on this side after it.

Any thoughts?

 

[sKiZo]

The door is ajar.

(It's not a jar ... it's a door, dammit!)

 

Sounds like you've got multiple issues there. Any time I've had this sort of thing on any vehicle, it was traced back to the flexible section of the wire harness between the door and body. Doesn't help that the newer they are, the more complicated fixing it gets as the computer want's to play with itself trying to come up with a fix, and ends up screwing things up worse.

 

PS ... there's always the infamous PLAN B ...

 

[Wingerr]

On 2/25/2018 at 9:27 PM, Timbo said:

 

 

Yep.  I just shelled out another $335 for my second door latch.   I'm not comfortable buying those Chinese knockoffs you see on eBay or random auto parts-houses.  

 

If it were a door, pin switch I were installing, sure, I'd order from whoever had the best price, but these front door latches are sufficiently complicated that I don't want to take any chances with cheap, no-name manufacturers.  

 

1 hour of labor later, and everything is working fine.  Let's hope it stays that way.  

 

 

~

Has anyone opened up one of these assemblies to see just why the door open sensor stops working properly? Maybe it's something that could be adjusted easily, rather than replacing the whole thing just because of the door sensor.

I'm starting to have intermittent problems locking my 2013 TC, it thinks the driver door is open when I got the remote to lock it, so it unlocks the doors immediately after it locks. Then I have to try opening and closing the door and trying again, and usually it takes.

[ecir51]

wingerr, mine is doing the same. Looking at the schematic it looks like when the door is closed the ajar switch is grounded. When the door is open the ground is lifted. When i get a chance i am going to try removing the plug and and take make the wire permanently grounded so the door thinks it is always closed. Hoping that doesn't create any other problem, from looking at schematic it looks like this may work will see. 

[Wingerr]

I'm inclined to do the same if I can't clean out the contacts somehow. Don't want to buy a new latch assembly having the same design issues, if it doesn't have the convenience feature of unlocking all the doors when the driver door is opened, I'm fine with that.

Don't want to be trying to park somewhere and not have any way to lock the doors because they just keep unlocking on their own in a misguided attempt to be helpful.