Anyway to eliminate the horn going off when locking the car with the ignition on?

[Alan l.]

So I picked up my X5M on Tuesday and still getting use to the massive change from my F15 35i. It feels like a entirely different car in all aspects!

One annoying thing about the X5M is that if i want to run into the store to pick up something quick while leaving the car on and wife/kids in the car I can't seem do it without some warning chime or horn going off.

First thing I come to a complete stop I pop the shifter into N and engage the parking brake. This is the only way to do this from what I am told. Once i open the door it chimes saying to secure the car from rolling etc... Fine i get that BMW had to put warning and disclaimers all over to make sure their butts are covered.

So after i get out of the car I always have a habit of locking the doors behind me because of safety reasons. Wife and kids are still in the car and the engine is running so the last thing i want is some random person jumping into the drivers seat when I am not there. What i found out is that by locking the doors via outside the cars horn will go off twice. Warning chimes are fine but having the car horn go off is a bit too much. It causes people to jump because they don't expect the car horn to go off and it will also wake my 11 month old son up. I get why its designed this way but is there a way to turn that feature off? Coding possibly?

Alan

[opasha]

Yes, Alan, it's a simple code in BDC_BODY. VAM_HORN_AT_SECURE. Change it to nicht_aktiv. It was discussed recently a few weeks ago in my coding thread because some new update (which I assume happened to your new X5M since it is on the latest software) ended up making this code aktiv by default I assume for safety reasons.

[jcfay]

You can't still turn it off in vehicle settings? I know that's how I did it.

[AwesomeM3]

First of all, congrats on your X5M! Secondly, I too find the double horn honk extremely annoying. I don't know of any way to get rid of that besides coding. If someone knows how to disable it using the iDrive and vehicle settings, please advise.

[JNoSol]

Hi Alan. Congrats on your new X5M. The horn is going off because you're locking while in Neutral, the gear isn't engaged and it's not safe. With DCT (I know the F85 isn't a DCT, it behaves like one), you need to leave it in D or R, pull the hand e-brake, then turn the car off. Think of DCT as a manual transmission (or DCT style shifter), when you park a manual car you must leave it in gear to reduce the chance of rolling.

As for the "beep" "beep beep" when lock and unlock, you can disable it in Setting > Door/Lock

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by AwesomeM3

First of all, congrats on your X5M! Secondly, I too find the double horn honk extremely annoying. I don't know of any way to get rid of that besides coding. If someone knows how to disable it using the iDrive and vehicle settings, please advise.

Leave the car in D or R when shutting off. Problem solved. Explanation above.

[UrbanExtant]

I have decided that putting someone in one of the BMW M cars with these particular shifters is a perfect test of someone's problem solving and adaptability prowess.

I have seen, in my car alone, everything from flat out denial that it works as I've indicated, to people putting it in neutral with no parking brake on, and then trying to get out. That latter one makes no sense to me. What car has anyone EVER left in neutral, let alone with no parking brake when they shut it off?!

The funniest instance was when a friend's five year old figured out the shifter before his parent did!

EDIT-

I will say this, though, at least for me, it's a b*tch going back to the standard BMW shifters after having the DCT style shifter. Every blasted time I drive one, I pull to a stop, put the parking brake on, let my foot off the brake, and the thing lurches forward and stalls out LOL. It is so much easier, and so ingrained in me now, to just leave it in D, pull the parking brake, and shut it off!!

[onfireX5]

My method: park with engine running, engage park brake, leave it in D, open the door and it defaults to P, wife locks from inside.

That's the only way I am comfortable knowing that it is in P and parking brake combined whilst running. She hits the lock button. No horn.

[Alan l.]

Thanks guys. The F85 is a completely different beast compared to my 35i with MPPK. It really does feel like a entirely different car.

I know how to get the car into Park if i was shutting it down completely.

My issue is that I don't want to turn the car off because i want to keep the AC running since my wife and kids are still in the car. The proper way to do this according to the delivery specialist and from what I gathered here is to put the car in Neutral and engage the parking brake. I'm not leaving the car in neutral and walking away if that's what some of you are thinking I am doing.

Now from what you guys are saying is that its safer to leave it in D, engage the parking brake and then open the drivers door to force it into Park compared to putting the car in Neutral with the parking brake on?

As for the horn sounding its good that coding can take care of that. Apparently this happens on the F15 as well if its a recent build because mine didn't do it but my buddies F15 went in for a software update and his started doing it afterwards.

I am dreading the first time i have to park this car in a parking lot. I am going to have to give the parking attendant a lesson on how this transmission works every time. lol

Alan

[UrbanExtant]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

Now from what you guys are saying is that its safer to leave it in D, engage the parking brake and then open the drivers door to force it into Park compared to putting the car in Neutral with the parking brake on?

Alan

Yes, this is how I do it everyday. It's better to force it into Park with the parking brake on, than to leave it in neutral with the parking brake on. It's just safer all around. I leave my X5 M running and locked this way often. I can't say I've ever heard a horn go off when locking, unless I left it in neutral and locked it. Running, in Park with Parking Brake on, and then locking, no horn sound for me, just the beep beep of the electronic alarm. One thing to consider when locking the car with people in it, is to hit "lock" twice so as to deactivate the interior motion sensors, otherwise the people inside could set off the alarm just by moving.

[Alan l.]

Got it. Its like learning how to drive all over again with this transmission. Years of driving has my brain wired to go through a sequence of tasks when driving a automatic but now most of that is out the window with this car. Its fine i'll adapt. I've driven manual for years too so this is like merging both systems into one.....sort of.

Alan

[onfireX5]

Now from what you guys are saying is that its safer to leave it in D, engage the parking brake and then open the drivers door to force it into Park compared to putting the car in Neutral with the parking brake on?

That's it. I leave it running , engage the brake and open the door. Forces park.

[AwesomeM3]

Originally Posted by UrbanExtant

I can't say I've ever heard a horn go off when locking, unless I left it in neutral and locked it. Running, in Park with Parking Brake on, and then locking, no horn sound for me, just the beep beep of the electronic alarm.

The horn "beep beep" started after I had a software update a few months ago. You probably haven't had the update yet.

[AwesomeM3]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

Leave the car in D or R when shutting off. Problem solved. Explanation above.

As Alan stated, the situation doesn't occur when the engine if off, only when it's running:

My issue is that I don't want to turn the car off because i want to keep the AC running since my wife and kids are still in the car. The proper way to do this according to the delivery specialist and from what I gathered here is to put the car in Neutral and engage the parking brake. I'm not leaving the car in neutral and walking away if that's what some of you are thinking I am doing.

[JNoSol]

Originally Posted by AwesomeM3

As Alan stated, the situation doesn't occur when the engine if off, only when it's running:

ahh, yes. If you leave it in D, pull e-brake, then open the door it will kick into "P" then you can safely lock the doors while the engine is running.

[AwesomeM3]

Originally Posted by JNoSol

ahh, yes. If you leave it in D, pull e-brake, then open the door it will kick into "P" then you can safely lock the doors while the engine is running.

Correct, but the horn will "beep beep" when doing this. It's annoying, and didn't happen before my software update.

[UrbanExtant]

Originally Posted by AwesomeM3

Correct, but the horn will "beep beep" when doing this. It's annoying, and didn't happen before my software update.

Since owning BMWs since I was 17, 22 years ago, I've learned, don't do the software update, unless you need it! They like to feed irritations into the mix. I'm happy with my X5 M the way it is, so I've avoided any unnecessary software updates, as I've not gleaned that anything by doing the update is groundbreaking enough to warrant the risks. The horn thing sounds like a pain in the tuckus!

[AwesomeM3]

Originally Posted by UrbanExtant

Since owning BMWs since I was 17, 22 years ago, I've learned, don't do the software update, unless you need it! They like to feed irritations into the mix. I'm happy with my X5 M the way it is, so I've avoided any unnecessary software updates, as I've not gleaned that anything by doing the update is groundbreaking enough to warrant the risks. The horn thing sounds like a pain in the tuckus!

Yeah, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have requested the software update. I don't even know what was updated besides the annoying double horn honk.

[Alan l.]

Yeah this latest "feature" is the most annoying one i've seen from BMW in awhile. I just test it out today and even if the car is in Park (engine on, hand brake on) and I lock the doors with the handle or the key the horn goes off twice.

Just imagine getting up early starting the X5M is already loud enough as is but to make it worse it honks its horn twice as i run back into the house to grab something.

Going to try to code this off tonight if i can successfully update my laptops software to read this car.

Alan

[stewy604]

First off, congrats on the new F85...did you trade in your F15? My X5 is actually in the shop right now for service, and they are trying to code the horn honk "feature" off, and are having issues. Has anyone been successful in this?

[Alan l.]

Yes i successfully coded mine off myself. Check out the post by Opasha up top. I followed his directions and was able to turn this annoying "feature" off.

Alan

[raz2133]

Originally Posted by opasha

Yes, Alan, it's a simple code in BDC_BODY. VAM_HORN_AT_SECURE. Change it to nicht_aktiv. It was discussed recently a few weeks ago in my coding thread because some new update (which I assume happened to your new X5M since it is on the latest software) ended up making this code aktiv by default I assume for safety reasons.

hi, can i do it with BIMMERCODE? i cant find the BDC_BODY in app..
i have f22 m240i