Locking your Focus Electric

[Kakkerlak]

Potential FFE buyer here, with a question about the key fob and the FFE's locks.

I live right on the edge of a lovely neighborhood, but along the street where I'd have to park my FFE the gravel is mixed 5:1 with safety glass; I'd say there's a car prowl at least once a week.

A few months ago the key-fob lock on my Honda failed to lock the car. I learned this the next day when I found the contents of my trunk scattered along the parking strip. Since then I've become nearly neurotic about double-checking the locked doors before I walk away, and sometimes I walk a few yards then go back and triple-check.

I know from reading this Forum that the FFE will automatically unlock the car when you walk up to it.

If you walk away with the car unlocked but ON: it auto-locks itself.
If you walk away with the car unlocked and OFF: it stays unlocked.

So if I get out, use the keyfob button to lock the car, walk a few yards, then come back to verify that the car is locked... it will automatically unlock. Repeat cycle.

None of this would be a problem if I had a garage (and I'd not be worried about charging location, either), but that's not in the cards.

Can anyone help reassure me that the power locks work flawlessly, or that I can lock the car and not have the proximity unlock feature leave it open for my neighborhood skulkabouts ?

Ideally I'd be able to disable the proximity unlock feature entirely.

I'm having fun imagining the permutations of locking and unlocking the door I'm going to go through at the dealership.

Having viewed a couple of YouTube videos on the topic, maybe a better question is: does the FFE have a Ford Smart Key that works like all the other Fords ?

 

[hybridbear]

Potential FFE buyer here, with a question about the key fob and the FFE's locks.

I live right on the edge of a lovely neighborhood, but along the street where I'd have to park my FFE the gravel is mixed 5:1 with safety glass; I'd say there's a car prowl at least once a week.

A few months ago the key-fob lock on my Honda failed to lock the car. I learned this the next day when I found the contents of my trunk scattered along the parking strip. Since then I've become nearly neurotic about double-checking the locked doors before I walk away, and sometimes I walk a few yards then go back and triple-check.

I know from reading this Forum that the FFE will automatically unlock the car when you walk up to it.

If you walk away with the car unlocked but ON: it auto-locks itself.
If you walk away with the car unlocked and OFF: it stays unlocked.

So if I get out, use the keyfob button to lock the car, walk a few yards, then come back to verify that the car is locked... it will automatically unlock. Repeat cycle.

None of this would be a problem if I had a garage (and I'd not be worried about charging location, either), but that's not in the cards.

Can anyone help reassure me that the power locks work flawlessly, or that I can lock the car and not have the proximity unlock feature leave it open for my neighborhood skulkabouts ?

Ideally I'd be able to disable the proximity unlock feature entirely.

I'm having fun imagining the permutations of locking and unlocking the door I'm going to go through at the dealership.

It only unlocks if you put your hand on the door handle. You can press the lock button twice on the key fob to get not only a light flash but also a horn honk to confirm that it's locked. I like doing that because one horn honk means everything is locked and two horn honks means a door or something is unlocked. The lights will flash the same regardless.

The other thing you can do if paranoid is use your cell phone to lock the car. The mobile app will give you confirmation that the doors are locked. The car can also send you a text message if the alarm sounds or if something else goes wrong. I hope this helps!

 

[Kakkerlak]

Thank you for the quick and detailed response.

I suppose I can trust a 2014 FFE to actually do what it's supposed to do more than I can trust a 14-year-old Honda. The last time my car got burgled I specifically remember locking it and hearing the confirming horn beep the night before.

The only thing that really reassures me that the car is locked is to walk around and try all the handles. Of course, that's exactly what will un-lock a Ford with Intelligent Access keys.

I've downloaded the Owner's Manual PDF to research this for myself, but I'd appreciate any additional information, endorsements, or warnings from the community.

 

[Kakkerlak]

Update: The User Manual tells you how to disable "Auto Unlock", but that's not the same feature as the door-handle-touch unlock.

I suppose the best move is to trust that a high-tech vehicle like the FFE can actually be trusted to lock its doors.

Anecdote: If you put your Chevy Volt key in a tight pocket that accidentally presses the unlock button continuously, it will roll down all the windows for you.

 

[EVA]

There isn't really an automatic proximity lock on the car. You might be blending what you heard about Teslas - they work exactly the way you described.

The FFE has a fairly standard lock - it works exactly the same way the Ford Focus does.

Pull on the handle with the fob nearby and the car will unlock. Touch the little black area on the door handle and the doors lock. Pull on the rear hatch release and the rear unlocks, but the rest of the car remains locked. When you close the hatch, the car remains locked or unlocked (whatever state it was in when you opened the car).

The fob is very similar to the Focus. Lock, unlock, remote start, and horn honk.

The app allows you to unlock or lock the car. The app requires a pin to use.