Auris 2010, 5 door - cannot lock the car when back seats are down

[Martin G]

Hey guys, I am new to these forums, I just recently got my first car and it is used Toyota Auris 2010, 5 door 1.6 petrol. Lately I've been trying to take some bigger stuff in the car, so I had to pull the back seats down (which works normally as should). However, for some reason, I am unable to lock the car once the back seats are down. Have anyone of you encountered similar problem?

Another thing to mention is(however unrelated to the first problem - at least I hope so) - I am always locking the car with remote car key. I am not able to lock the car manually with normal physical key. I cannot lock the car with neither one of the two physical car keys that I have (I will have this checked soon but I am 100% sure that the keys are original and the doors were not changed ever). - I am only mentioning this because I am not sure if it may or may not be relevant to the first problem

I don't know if these two things can have anything to do with each other, but I was curious as to whether someone ever had similar issue.

Wish you all nice day and many safe miles and kilometers.

[TonyHSD]

Hi and welcome.

If the doors are not properly shut then you can’t lock the car, perhaps something that might have connection to the folded seats, better double check. Try make the car lock with the keys, if you can turn it’s likely because lock itself is stuck due to a lack of use, try to spray wd40 or similar lubricant and make it work., then try again. I never experienced something similar and have no idea exactly what can be. 🚗👍

[FROSTYBALLS]

When you fold the rear seats down where are you stowing the rear seat belts?

[Martin G]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi and welcome.

If the doors are not properly shut then you can’t lock the car, perhaps something that might have connection to the folded seats, better double check. Try make the car lock with the keys, if you can turn it’s likely because lock itself is stuck due to a lack of use, try to spray wd40 or similar lubricant and make it work., then try again. I never experienced something similar and have no idea exactly what can be. 🚗👍

Thanks for the tips. I thought it might be because of the seatbelts. So I did take them out of the seatbelt notch before bending the seats down.

Referring to the mechanical keys not working - I cannot actually turn the key to the right, only to the left. So, I can unlock the car with mechanical key, but I cannot lock it with them.

[Martin G]

4 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

When you fold the rear seats down where are you stowing the rear seat belts?

Yes I am. First time this happened I did not stow them but I figured it might have been the reason why it is not working. So then I tried to stowed them and I still can't lock the car when the rear seats are bend down 😕

I thought it might be because of the seats registering the pressure - like something being on them. But I do not think the rear seats in this model have such capabilities.

[FROSTYBALLS]

So do you insert the seat belt tongues into the slots in the interior trim or just leave them hanging? If in the slots, do both doors close properly with them in place?

[furtula]

Had my seats down plenty of times on the 1st gen. Never really bothered with the seatbelts, or anything, just straight down, and haven't had issues with locking.

When you try to lock the car, it unlocks immediately, or just beeps, or something?

As for the mechanical key, as said above, the mechanism is stuck due to not being used, there are topics on the forum of people using pliers to move the key, so it's a known issue. Try to wiggle, apply slight pressure, put more lube, etc.

[yossarian247]

Seats being folded down and/or seatbelts won't stop the car locking, that must be a coincidence. When you are having this problem look at the dash display and see if its showing one of the doors or the boot being open? If so it could be one of the catches sticking and fooling the central locking into thinking one of them is still open.

[Martin G]

On 1/6/2021 at 9:18 PM, FROSTYBALLS said:

So do you insert the seat belt tongues into the slots in the interior trim or just leave them hanging? If in the slots, do both doors close properly with them in place?

Actually I just leave them hanging when I take them out of the trim that is on the top of the seat(it is on like a shoulder of the seat). So the first thing I do, is take the seatbelt out of something like a trim that is placed on the top shoulder side of the seat. This way, when I put the seats down, the seatbelt does not stretch down with the seat. But I think it should not influence whether the doors close or not. I think the doors do close properly 🤔 I will have to try this few more times properly in order to see if every door is properly closed and all...

[Martin G]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:10 AM, yossarian247 said:

Seats being folded down and/or seatbelts won't stop the car locking, that must be a coincidence. When you are having this problem look at the dash display and see if its showing one of the doors or the boot being open? If so it could be one of the catches sticking and fooling the central locking into thinking one of them is still open.

Thanks for the tips, I will have to try this again and check the display and everything.