Question: This morning we went out to the garage to get in the MINI and noticed that the windows were cracked open the way they do when you open the doors. The car was locked.

Last night when we got home, we had the doors open for a few minutes while we were getting stuff out. Then we closed the doors and locked the car.

Is this normal? Is there a time limit within which we have to close or lock the doors or something? I'd hate to have this accidentally happen when I'm parked outside in lousy weather or a bad part of town.

 

Sounds like the same electrical gremlin that I had in my '01 Audi TT which did the same roll-down/roll-up thing when the door was opened/closed. I haven't had that problem at all (knock wood) with my '06 MCS, though.

Are you sure the windows were rolled all the way up before the engine was turned off and the door was opened?

 

In order for the windows to "index up" (as it's called) when you close the door, the windows need to be all the way in the up position. If your windows are slightly down, they stay exactly where you left them when you open/close the door.

What usually happens is you activate one of the auto-opening buttons unknowingly for a second or two causing the windows to begin rolling down a tiny bit (either by press/holding the keyfob if activated, or by press/holding the unlock toggle slightly too long).

If that 'blips' the windows down a bit, they won't index up when you close the car because indexing requires them to be rolled all the way up to work.

Did you know that by holding the unlock toggle switch inside the car you activate auto-opening? (Auto-opening will automatically open all windows and sunroof simultaneously until you let go of the toggle). This can be done by pressing the unlock button of the keyfob on some cars (not available on earlier MINI's, and available but disabled by default on 06's--you can request it to be activated).

The reason MINI defaulted to disabled on 06's was for the reason you experienced--people complained that they were accidentally running down the windows while the keys were in their pocket.

If the feature is enabled and you don't like it, the dealership can disable it for you too.

The third way to auto-open (and even auto-close) the MINI is by inserting the key in the drivers' door lock and holding it to the right or left.

 

There are two possibilities here that I have experienced (there may be others, but these are my guesses):

1. I have unknowingly bumped the key while carrying items, shoving them in my pocket, etc. and lowered the windows remotely - just a smidge. This probably also explains the locked doors.

2. If it was both windows, this seems less likely - but if the windows are not completely up, they will not "bounce" correctly and may appear to be stuck up. Just hold the toggles in the up position for a second or two with the doors open, until you see them "bounce" and they will be reset.

 

I've had this happen to me. And no, it wasn't an accidental push the windows down driver error.

If this continues to be a problem there is a fix to "reset" the windows so they know how far to go up when the car is closed.

Turn your ignition to the "A" position (Don't start your car, just turn the accessories on"

Push and hold both window toggle switches all the way up for 10 seconds.

You're done. Windows are now reset.

Good luck. This method has worked for me on a couple of occasions.

-- Jay

 

The car, an 06 MCS, was actually in at the dealer yesterday for a "we owe" iPod installation, so I mentioned my experience with the windows. They checked and found "no codes" so I'm assuming this is operator error. I'll be more careful about the key buttons.

It's actually not as bad as it might be, our Honda Odyssey has buttons on the key fob for opening the automatic sliding doors--we've gone out to the garage in the morning and found the door wide open because it is possible to both unlock the car and then open the doors if the buttons bump against other things in your pocket.