So what would cause a vehicle to start with no key?

My mom called me and said her Routan was running in the driveway when she got home from going shopping. Doors locked and no key in it. All I've seen online is the opposite problem with not starting so I'm drawing a blank.

It already has issues with the windows randomly going down or the doors locking but that's apparently because of the crap vw stuffed in the doors to control it. So is this another instance of the germans making a chrysler less reliable somehow or is it something else?


E: I forgot it has died on her before and then started again if she let it sit for a bit.

Did she push a button on the fob by accident?

Doesn't have remote start, it just has the normal stuff for the doors.

Did she buy it new or used? Aftermarket remote starts trigger when you hit lock 3 times or something.

Does her key rob have a circle with x2 inside of it?

I found out by accident that some cars' remote start is triggered by hitting "Lock" three or four times.

Walking away from the car:  *lock* (sound of doors locking) *lock* (horn chirps) *lock* (engine starts) "...?"

Many cars also have a feature where you hold unlock in a certain code and it rolls down the windows for you.

What year routan?

Is it push button start or key insert? 

Is this happening regularly, or sporadically?  If regular, might be a bad remote. Possibly.

Does it stay running or shut itself off after 15-30 minutes?

BTW, if it's in a garage there's a carbon monoxide hazard for the whole house. Be careful!

Completely different vehicle,   but our F350 Plow truck at work had the Starter relay go bad,  it shorted out and caused the truck to randomly start in the parking lot overnight.

I have a grand caravan and it has remote start from the factory. Like Steve Jones says, the button is a circle with a 2x in it. 

No circle with x2 on her key or she would have started it many times before accidentally. We thought the windows going down was because of her hitting the key in her purse but it's happened with it out and nobody touching it. As far as year it's a 2011 SE I want to say, since it has the 3.6 instead of the 4.0


In reply to Robbie :

Used so I guess I'll try smacking all the buttons but panic until it starts.

I'm going with "demonic possession."

1988RedT2 said:

I'm going with "demonic possession."

More like "Germanic possession". Ba-dum-cha.

NickD said:

1988RedT2 said:

I'm going with "demonic possession."

More like "Germanic possession". Ba-dum-cha.

Germanic possession is nine tenths of der Gesetz.

Well... you will know it's really gone bad when it starts robbing banks.

Seriously, the weird issue possible with all the automatic things on cars could get silly.  Imagine what sort of strange stuff a autonomous car could do?  "Hey Fred, your car is at the strip club again"

GF has a 2016 Beetle with numerous problems like this as well.

Hers will sometimes put the windows down all by itself, and about once a month she'll hear the radio turn on in the garage while she's not even near it.  Hers is key start, no fancy remote start, just lock/unlock.

VW dealer told her that they have to have it when the problem occurs so they can duplicate it.

Good luck, dealer.  She'll need a loaner for three months.

My guess is that your Routan (even though it's basically a Dodge) has enough VW DNA in it that things are going funky.

My dad's Santa Fe starts on it's own from time to time. It did it once with me at his place. His fob was nowhere in sight and it fired right up. He lives near a major road and possibly a errant signal is triggering it to start. 

On my LS400's, if you hold the key's unlock button down long enough, all the windows will roll down and the sun roof will open.  Also, the unlock button can be pressed by other keys, etc., in your pocket.  Huge PITA.  Fortunately, Toyota put the ability to turn that off if you have the Toyota "Talk to the Car" software (Techstream.)  That's the first thing I turned off when I got that.

As for your VW, dunno.  Does sound like some kind of remote issue.  Maybe they put that remote start software in all of them but only sold it as an option.  Best fix:  Gas cap trick.

Dumb question: Can you go into the settings and disable all the "keyless" functions... She would need to use the key to enter adn start, but it may solve her problem.  

The number of random RF signals flying around us at all times is dumbfounding.  

Show me.

Did she buy it new or used? If she bought it used, did a previous owner have an aftermarket remote start installed and removed at a later point? We had a Lumina-based Monte Carlo that someone had had a remote start hacked into and then removed before they sold it. That car was prone to starting itself randomly and it would run until you either noticed it or it ran out of fuel.

For those commenting on "the Germans" - remember these are quite literally Grand Caravans with VW badging and allegedly different suspension tuning.

That said... Cerebrus.

Brake_L8 said:

For those commenting on "the Germans" - remember these are quite literally Grand Caravans with VW badging and allegedly different suspension tuning.

Most of the German comments were jokes. But also, the Chrysler RT platform was introduced in 2008 which means it was developed several years before, during the dark days of DaimlerChrysler. So, still kind of German anyways 

My Google-fu came up with:

1. A lot of people report this happening.

2. Everyone makes jokes.

3. There is no consensus about how this could happen. 

I expect 90% are "I didn't know I had remote start," or perhaps a prank using another key fob, but there is 10% left with "I donno?" FCA products seemed to be the majority that exhibit this. My pet theory is automobiles with remote starting in the software but not equipped with the hardware are starting on their on. Perhaps key fob vs. not equipped with remote starting but still things can get mixed up with 80 billion lines of code in the software?  Just my two cents.

That's pretty dangerous.  What if you have it parked at night in an attached garage?

Dr. Hess said:

That's pretty dangerous.  What if you have it parked at night in an attached garage?

Your unfortunate death would be ruled a suicide.... Until they realize the key isn’t in the ignition.... then they’ll call in Sherlock Holmes.