Auto Sleeper Stanton

I have recently purchased a new Stanton on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis.

Can anyone tell me if the auto lock function can be disabled.

When I open the van using the key fob and enter through the rear door the van auto locks after a very short time UNLESS I open and close one of the cab doors.

On two occasions whilst the van has been at my home I have unlocked it using the key fob, entered and exited via the rear door left the keys inside and forgotten to open one of the cab doors.  The van has auto locked itself with the keys inside.  

I was able to unlock using the spare key fob but it could have been a real problem had I been away from home.

I am sure there must be a solution to this problem!

Read these threads, I think you'll find the answer...

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t12005-mercedes-auto-central-locking-after-40-second

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t468-auto-lockout-mercedes-based-suffolk

Thanks everyone for your replies.
We shall be making a phone call to Auto Sleeper on Monday as this kind of problem is not acceptable on a flagship motor home costing £60,000.
My husband is an electronics engineer and says he could probably resolve the situation but is not prepared to do so because it will invalidate warranties.

Hello and from Leicestershire

Hi there and a big welcome to the forum 

Ours is the same and we got used to it quite quickly. Now second nature to just open a cab door or we use the lock on the hab door which doesn't require the use of the key fob.

Chesterlucky wrote:I have recently purchased a new Stanton on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis.

Can anyone tell me if the auto lock function can be disabled.

When I open the van using the key fob and enter through the rear door the van auto locks after a very short time UNLESS I open and close one of the cab doors.

On two occasions whilst the van has been at my home I have unlocked it using the key fob, entered and exited via the rear door left the keys inside and forgotten to open one of the cab doors.  The van has auto locked itself with the keys inside.  

I was able to unlock using the spare key fob but it could have been a real problem had I been away from home.

I am sure there must be a solution to this problem!

Hi,
I worked for Ford for a number of years, and this was known as self re-locking, and was intentional. 
Imagine that someone in the same car park as you, with the same make of vehicle (doesnt need to be a motor home), has used their remote key to open their car and just happens to have the same code as you. Yours will unlock also. They will hop in their car and drive away, yours on the other hand would be open and vulnerable to thieves. The manufacturers therefore arrange that it self re-locks after (say) 60 secs if your door has not been opened. Since the habitation door is not part of the original central locking system, entering via the habitation door will not "tell" the van that you are in control, so it will self re-lock the door to prevent theft.
I assume Mercs are similar. It may be possible to disable it, but its not a good idea.
I hope that makes sense, Richard

Agreed, the self-relocking function is intentional, but not primarily for the reasons you state. Remote locking systems these days are extremely sophisticated - they use both a long code to identify the key and also a set of additional "rolling" codes, both of which must match before the lock will operate. Both of these codes are so large that the chances of someone else in a car park having a key that transmits the same combination is vanishingly small. I haven't done the maths but I suspect that the chances of this happening are significantly lower than those of you winning the National Lottery.

My understanding is that the self-relocking is mainly meant to guard against accidental operation of the key fob (e.g. pressing against something else in a pocket) leaving the vehicle unlocked.

I personally can't see any problem in having the function disabled. In my opinion, unless you happen to have parked in a neighbourhood filled with opportunist thieves, the probability of having someone try the door, find that it's open and then have the means and motivation to go on and steal it (overcoming the built-in immobiliser) is very low, while the probability of ending up with your keys locked inside the vehicle is significant, unless you are very disciplined about what you do with your keys, every time you enter the van.

we collected our AS Suffolk less than a week ao and it is already becoming second nature to just open the passenger cab door as you pass before opening the hab door.

I am guessing it must be possible to override though as some ambulances do it (many of us have found that out to our cost) yet some dont and they are mostly all Merc Sprinters.

We might consider our vans to be "flagship motorhomes" but they are actually parcel delivery vans

Man arrives at address, gets out with key, puts key in pocket, opens rear of vehicle and gets a couple of large parcels- which leave no hands for fiddling about with keys, slams door with shoulder/foot and walks to delivery point, door locks automatically after a few seconds to keep robbers at bay.

I discussed this with the M-B Service Manager just after we got our Stanton and he said there was no easy work-around for this designed-in feature on the (cheapo) spec-level chosen by A-S.

We just got used to cracking open a cab door; not difficult, even with Silver Screen fitted. Not been locked out so far but I have fitted a hidden water-proof box with a hab-door key and hab-door extra lock key in..... just in case!