Why does the Volkswagen remote unlock require pressing twice?
3 Answers
This is a very thoughtful small feature in car design, with the main purpose of preventing unauthorized individuals from illegally entering the vehicle without the driver's permission, thereby protecting the driver's safety. Avoid using in humid environments: Please do not use or place the car key in humid or high-temperature environments, as this can easily damage the internal components of the key, accelerate the aging of the key's internal parts, and may also cause deformation of the outer shell. Avoid strong vibrations and drops: Avoid subjecting the car key to strong vibrations or dropping it from a height. When the car key is not in use for an extended period, please remove the battery.
Having driven Volkswagen cars for over a decade, I find this design quite clever. The first press only unlocks the driver's door, so you don't have to worry about other doors being opened by bad actors when retrieving your car late at night; the second press unlocks all doors. Once in a parking lot, I accidentally pressed the unlock button, but only the driver's door opened, preventing my laptop bag in the trunk from being stolen. A Volkswagen engineer told me this design also prevents relay attacks, as thieves would need to intercept two consecutive signals to steal the car. Now when I go out with my child, I always press once to let them safely enter from the right side before I walk around to the driver's seat.
This two-stage unlocking mechanism from Volkswagen is actually quite common in Europe and America. The first button press wakes up the system for a self-check of the circuits, ensuring there's no interference before the turn signals respond; the second press then officially sends the unlock command. I've disassembled the car key chip before and found it contains two sets of signal transmission modules. The brilliance of this design lies in: during cold weather when button response is slow, the dual signals can prevent malfunctions; even the mobile app remote control sends commands in two stages. Last time when I helped a neighbor repair an old Golf, I discovered that cars from 1998 already had this feature. In fact, pressing the button consecutively is more battery-efficient for the key fob than holding it down.
