I have this happen several times a week when I’m alone. I think it has to do with the amount of time you wait when walking away and where on your person the fob is. I find if you stand for a second after closing the door and wait for the initial beep it works better than just closing and walking away.
Also, if the fob is in a pants pocket away from a cell phone it seems to work better.
That’s my experience anyway.



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Chirping also indicates a door ajar.


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My wife occasionally shuts the door leaving it slightly ajar. The Ridgeline will not beep or chirp at all if all doors are not fully closed. You also cannot lock it with the key fob. If you get the chirps, you can open and reclose a door and have it try again. The usually works for me. Stuff in my pocket with the key fob sometimes shields the signal preventing it from locking properly.

 

Check the settings on both fobs, particularly your wife’s. It may not be set to walk away auto lock-but if yours is it’s locking normally when you depart but possibly does not with hers.

The other replies regarding how fast you walk away are correct. Moving away too fast from the vehicle will cause the auto lock to miss.

 

My 2017 MDX does the same thing. Normal!

 

The chirping is usually because the vehicle did not see the key leave. It wants to confirm where the key is. This is a known "issue" with Honda (though they did not inform us at the dealership until the 17 CRV came out...did not have an explanation for it on the 16 Civics for clients that experienced this) So, the answer is smart phones and/or thick wallets in purses. When you exit the vehicle and auto lock is turned on, the instant all the doors are closed the car starts sending a weak signal that your key can barely pick up. As long as the key responds then the car knows you are within 5 feet. Once it does not get a return ping from the key, it knows you have moved away and auto locks. The issue here is that it needs a return signal on the first "ping" from the car, if it does not get one, the car assumes the fob may have a dead battery and since it can not confirm if it is in or out of the car, it does not want to possibly lock you out of the car if you indeed left it in the vehicle. The initial signal that the car sends is weak enough that a smart phone or a thick wallet (if the key is up against them) can block the signal so the key never responds. (this may explain why when your wife had the key and it chirped, I assume she had her key in a purse loosely near her wallet, phone, or both) Honda reps let us know that the best practice is to keep the fob in a separate pocket from your phone, and when it comes to purses, to try and keep it in an outer pocket, again, away from phones. You don't have the same issue once you are in the car for starting because the start confirmation signal is much stronger, being sent and received from multiple angles.

Hope that helps.

 

This great Honda feature has spoiled me for my other cars with vicinity key fobs.
The Ridgeline is my daily driver, so very often, I just walk away thinking the cars will lock themselves. 0

To recap, close the door, wait for the beep, walk away, listen for the second beep. :wink:

 

This great Honda feature has spoiled me for my other cars with vicinity key fobs.
The Ridgeline is my daily driver, so very often, I just walk away thinking the cars will lock themselves. 0

I do this too. I walk away from my wife’s car as if it had autolocking as well. It doesn’t, so when we get back to it, we find that it’s not locked. As you said, the Ridgeline has me spoiled. :grin:

 

Who got out first? My wife and I are almost always in the truck together. We've discovered (at least we think we did) that when I (driver 1 with a fob) get out and close the door even a split second before she gets out, the thing goes nuts when she forgets her fob. A quick press on the fob locks the doors but we've started to just be sure her door "latches" before mine and all appears to work properly.

 

Is this feature available on the RTL version or only on upper trims?

 

Mine "misses" once in awhile too. On these occasions you can also just touch the black button on the outside of the handle and it will instantly lock.

 

Or just press the 'Lock' button on the fob, if you're already walking away like I usually am. I had to train myself to listen for the beep or beeps but now that I'm used to it I like it. The four beeps come quickly and are pretty loud and annoying, so I don't have to worry about forgetting to lock it. :wink:

 

2019 BE and this happens all the time. I get out, with or without anyone else present and a single fob, and I get the door ajar 4 beeps and doors do not lock. So I open and close the door until it stops. At first I thought I wasn't closing it hard enough, but now realized has nothing to do with how hard I close the door. Even re-closing it lightly works. Kind of annoying. Scheduling an appointment to check it but since it is intermittent I'm sure they will find nothing.

 

The four beeps is not a door ajar warning, it’s a key not detected warning. Read post 7 on this thread for a good explanation. Usually, there is other items in your pocket with the key blocking the signal or you’ve walked away too quickly.

 

Mine works just fine, I cant believe how easy the doors close solid with a lite push. Cant stand that other passenger at times (friends) that gets out and drives one of those others and SLAMS it.

 

Watch it, you're talking about my Wife here!

 

Remember this... your fobs are transponders, little CB radios, phones, whatever works for you to understand two way communications.

When the vehicle is turned off, those comms continue with all fobs in a specific range based on how Honda engineers placed antennas to read them. The signal and expected decay of a zone outside the vehicle sets off the first beep once all doors are locked. This happens only if that signal drop off meets certain thresholds compared to the model programmed in vehicle memory. They know what a fob looks like walking away really slow and fast within preset times and tolerances. In other words, some distance sensing is used and there’s timing involved (I lost you in an ok way or not so ok way but just in case I’ll wait a little in case you pop up again). This is the lag between first and second beeps if you stand near back row door. In a Honda tent video, Pro Jason demonstrates the built-in pouch inside tent aft of the gas fill is outside fob detect range so truck stays locked with key there zipped in with you.

If the vehicle can’t discern fob signal due to noise from any kind of RF interference, most commonly a phone but not necessarily from one of its primary transmitting frequencies, it could be an intermediate freq one (think of one signal made by an oscillator in your phone produced or mixed with another to produce, decode, or modulate another signal). It is possibly a harmonic of a phone frequency causing this interference.

The most likely cause of the chirps that mimic door not shut completely are, can you guess the obvious?

The OTHER transponder fob you may have on your key ring!

Don’t get hopes up thinking this is a fixable quirk. My ‘17 does this about weekly and this happened AT the dealership service bay when dropping it off for the Fuel Pump Recall. I’d had it in for just this issue with and without scheduled service before. TWO service writers stopped and turned saying they do that, there’s nothing we can do before I could ever say, there, you can’t CND it now. I was a bit shocked but quickly said, how about we have a bigger problem as they all do that doesn’t make it right!

I’ve learned to open and close any door or wait more than 8 seconds in range then try again.

 

Is your cell phone in the same pocket with the key fob?

 

Happens to be constantly with the 22 RTLE. It sounds like you have enabled the auto door lock function; but unlike my wife's Chevrolet that will automatically lock the doors (assuming there is not a key fob in the car); Honda has some sort of functionality that needs to communicate with the fob outside of the vehicle. If you get out quickly and start walking away you will get the rapid beeping. Has nothing to do with having 1 key fob versus 2, except with a second one the Honda may have a better chance of reaching one of the fobs. One of quite a few electrical complaints I have had with the Ridgeline.

 

When you were in the truck, who was in the driver seat?

 

My 2023 just started to chirp as soon as I close the drivers door. Then I walk to the passenger front door open it and close it and the walk way works. So it's working with my fob #1 on passenger side but not on drivers side. This just started to happen and it's with me only using the Truck.

 

I’m sure it is just interference at the time of closing the driver’s door. It doesn’t take much to impede the fob detection as stated earlier in the thread.

 

By “chirp” I assume you mean the multiple beep indication that the FOB is has not detected. Try the other key FOB and don’t keep your cell phone next to the FOB.

 

Or is it the triple chirp indicating fob inside vehicle?

 

That is what I thought at first, but my wife's fob is back at the house. I do have a fob for the condo we are staying at so I will do another check maybe there is some interference. Thank you guys