steveaz

Had a strange event happen and need to figure it out. I "think" it's centered around the C7 theft deterrent system, or a leftover from the dealer. (I bought my 2016 LT1 used 6 months ago and there were 3rd party theft deterrent stickers on the vehicle). Thoughts and directions to documentation would be appreciated. At the risk of being called an idiot, I can't figure it out, and can't duplicate it. I can't find anything helpful so far in what little documentation I've found.

Mine is a daily driver. I wanted to save putting miles on it for one night, so I took wife's SUV for the night. She decided to go out and drive it for the first time to the store. Here's the sequence as best as I can piece it together. I am unaware of theft deterrent being turned on and have driven the car for > 6 months, every day, no problems at all.

- She drives to store and parks it far away from everything else (as directed)!
- She locked it using the remote (as do I, every day)
- Comes back from store and pushes remote. Nothing heard and it won't unlock.
- I'm 30 miles away and she has to get groceries home.
- She calls me on cell. I walk her through pulling out the key and unlocking trunk
- Alarm goes off when trunk opens, then shuts off some time interval later
- I explained how to pull the cable to open the door. She did, and alarm goes off again, then shuts off like before
- She loads groceries, gets in
- Car starts fine
- Message on console says "Theft detected"
- Doors lock her in and she can't open them no matter what. (At this point she is slightly unhappy)
- She drives home, figuring she'll at least be in driveway safely
- At this point I call OnStar to check with them for whatever they may know and have them remotely unlock door just in case.
- They say "not our problem, not theft, nothing detected"
- When she gets home and puts the car in park, the doors unlock and the message disappears
- I get home, test the exact same sequence with her remote, then with my remote (kept far away from car until I was ready for it), no problems at all

The key was valid, the remote seems fine... I can't figure it. Procedure issue? Remote issue? Bad Karma? I changed all the batteries as a preventive maintenance measure, but would really like to figure it out.
All thoughts and pointers to documentation would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

KenHorse

Change FOB battery (batteries)

laserdude2215

Perhaps the unnamed "3rd party" wants you to pay the bill.

BELVIN20

I have no idea what has caused your issue, but you & your wife need to desperately be aware how to get out of you car if it happens again. It seems most Corvette drivers from the C5 to he C7 are not aware of the manual door release lever beside each seat. These are emergency door open releases in case of issues where the doors do not open in the normal manner. These releases are covered in the owners manual, but after asking a number of Corvette owners, very few seem to know they exist. Knowing about these door release could very well save you life in a emergency.

steveaz

To clarify a few things....

- Yes, FOB battery was changed (I changed all of them). I waited 2-3 days before changing to try and replicate the problem, which makes the most sense as a low FOB battery, but no joy.
- I realize you're being somewhat facetious about the "3rd party" and the bill, but there is a small chance something's connected that shouldn't be, although I doubt it. Will be calling dealer to check their thoughts and get info on what the 3rd party option is/was.
- Good to mention the emergency door release. In my case, yes I know about it, as with key location and cable location. However, as mentioned, once she got in the driveway it released on its own. Since I haven't mentioned it to her, I'll point it out. However, it's interesting to note that the door stayed locked even with a known good car battery. I wonder if that would override the manual release... Naw, couldn't be, but if/when I duplicate it, I'll check to confirm the potential scenario.
- Still interested in the failure of OnStar to be aware of the alarm. Will call them to see what they do have for theft detection.
-Circling back to the original question... Any good documentation links? I find the lack of info on Google, Youtube, and the manual re: theory of operation, what is generating that message, etc. a bit unbelievable. I must be missing something.

Thanks for the replies so far, and any other thoughts.

Civilengineer

The almost exact thing happened to me. I have a 2016 Z51 LT3 convertible. I bought used about 1 year ago. Just recently, it “locks up” after sitting for a day or so. The fob does not work and the horn sounds when the trunk is opened. The fob works if tried up to one day. It acts like a timer issue. I am going to change the batteries and see if that fixes the problem before going to a dealer for help.