Audi Remote Lock Problem - POLL RESULTS

[Mark Quinn/HNS <Mark_Quinn@notesgw.hns.com>]

Some days ago we had a thread going on certain intermittent
problems with the Audi factory remote locking system as used
on the A4.  I asked for responses from anyone owning 96/97
Audi's and this mail is to detail the results.

Firstly, let me be clear and restate the particular problem 
that I polled for responses on.  That is: within a short period
(hours or a day) of previous use, the remote-lock keyfob 
occasionally and randomly seems to go mute and fails either 
to lock or unlock the car.  Simply locking & unlocking the door 
with the key apparently resets the system and fixes the 
problem and the remote will again begin to work.  Some
respondents reported this happening only once or twice, others
more.  I have personally experienced this a total of seven 
times since I took delivery of my car in Nov '96.

OK, on to the results of the informal poll.  Note that the 
response have been divided by model year as the remote
locking system was changed between the '96 and '97 Audi's.
There were 17 responses (incl myself) of which:

 11 respondees have '97 model year A4's
  8 of these have had 'the problem'
  3 of these do not have 'the problem'

  6  have '96 A4's, none of which have the problem!

This seems to indicate that:

 a) this intermittent remote lock problem is a 
    'feature' of the '97 A4 locking system (only).
 b) it is NOT a rare problem!

I would be interested to see if these figures carry over to 
the A6 which also got the new lock system in '97.  Unfortunately,
only A4 owners responded to the poll (possibly due to the 
original thread having "A4" in the subject title!).  Any others
who wish to send me their experiences may do so, I will 
continue to maintain the poll responses and will republish
later if I get more significant numbers.

One suggestion that has been made is that this is the spurious
EMI detection/protection mechanism of the lock at work.  I
don't really believe this, but even if true, it would seem far
too easily triggered (the problem has happened with my car at 
my house which is out in the back of nowhere).


The question is: "Where do we go from here?".  Opinions anyone?

-Mark Quinn
-----------

For the detail-oriented, I include a table listing the individual
poll responses below:

                    Has      Model
Name                Problem? Year   Other Probs/Notes
------------------- -------- -----  -----------------------------------------
Shakil Ahmed        y        97        
Bob Cotton          y        97        
Mark Blum           y        97        
Sean Reifschneider  y        97        
John Legelis        y        97        
Mark Badger         y        97        
Jason E. Teller     y        97     occasionally returns to find car unlocked
Mark Quinn          y        97        
Doug Fine           n        97        
Gregory C. Heidt    n        97        
Robert King         n        97        
George Economou     n        96     has to 're-train' remotes after high EMI
Seehack (?)         n        96        
Osman Parvez        n        96        
Ti Kan              n        96        
Randy Canfield      n        96     dealer replaced lock/alarm unit
Kawo (?)            n        ?96    dealer replaced LHS door lock unit