[StephanieDiane]

I'm not sure I can present this question in an intelligible manner, so please bare with me as I try to explain what we encountered last night.

My husband and I decided to set up his profile after he drove my car, and I decided he needed his own darn settings. I did a bit of reading on other forums, and we may have done extra steps we didn't need, but the process we went through was:

1. Set mirror
2. Set seat
3. Make sure my profile is selected
4. Make sure the "seat position automatic" was marked in settings
5. Turn off car
6. Lock car with my key

Then we repeated the steps exactly for him, with his key. My understanding was that locking with the key was basically what "set" the settings on the currently selected profile to your key, and this is why you must then unlock the car with your key for the profile to be loaded when you get back in the car. You can't just open the door and start the car - honestly, I think the car should know which key is being used to start it, but that's another issue.

So, as we were playing with all this last night, we each locked the car after our respective turns. However, this is where I start to get confused and my question comes in. During our initial attempt, we did something wrong, and his profile got saved on my key. I *think* I locked the car with his profile selected, but I'm not sure. I do know that when I got back in the car his profile was active on the iDrive screen.

SO - let's say he's driving. We get to our destination. We both get out and for whatever reason I pull my key out and lock the car. Have I just linked his profile to my key and lost my own settings? If my understanding of how you set up your initial profile is correct - choose settings, lock car - then how do you prevent this from happening?

Ok, phew. I hope someone can follow that.

[sstarrx3]

Ok...be sure to do this because it is important. Set one profile at a time and make sure you have ONLY that fob with you. When you are finished take that fob in the house and leave it...grap the other fob and set up that profile.

[hoppy6698]

Originally Posted by sstarrx3

Ok...be sure to do this because it is important. Set one profile at a time and make sure you have ONLY that fob with you. When you are finished take that fob in the house and leave it...grap the other fob and set up that profile.

This. We did the same, make sure the other fob not being set up is over 30 ft away to be safe.

[jrbundy]

Originally Posted by StephanieDiane

SO - let's say he's driving. We get to our destination. We both get out and for whatever reason I pull my key out and lock the car. Have I just linked his profile to my key and lost my own settings? If my understanding of how you set up your initial profile is correct - choose settings, lock car - then how do you prevent this from happening?

I find the profile/key relationship to be a little confusing, too. First - don't worry about losing your profile. The profile is stored in the car. There are three personal profiles and the guest profile. Each remote is "assigned the last active profile" according to the manual. Changes are saved to the currently activated profile. This part is key - "Unlocking the car activates the profile that is stored in the remote control."

I just went and sat in my car, which has two profiles. I unlocked it, turn the ignition on, and check the profile. It was mine. Then I turned it off, unlocked with the other remote, and the profile was set to the second one. I repeated a few times, then tried unlocking using comfort access. This behaved the same - whichever remote was recognized when I unlocked it got the last profile.

I think the car remembers which key unlocked it, and then which profile was set. Then, when you unlock, it goes back to the profile. I personally don't believe that any profile information is actually stored on the key.

There is a way around this. You can have the iDrive prompt you to enter the profile you want each time the car is started, or you can manually go select the profile.

Bottom line, as long as you don't change the seat, mirrors, buttons, etc. when in the wrong profile, you'll be fine. You can change profiles manually under the settings menu.

A way to test this is to go unlock the car with your key. Turn it on and verify that it has your profile. Turn it off and go switch keys. Unlock with the second key and check which profile it selects. If it isn't the second profile, then select the second profile. Turn it off, switch back to your key again, and you should be back on your profile.

Let me know how it goes!

JB

[horsepower_and_hounds]

Well hypothetical,
If both my wife and I have fobs and I drive to the restaurant, get out and lock the door. We both come out after eating and she gets to the passenger door first and puts her hand on it and unlocks. Will it resort to her settings automatically since she is the one who activated the unlock? Does it matter which door is unlocked first? When we go somewhere together we only use my fob and if she drives she has to adjust her settings all the time in fear the car will get confused with 2 fobs in one place.......

Just curious if this has been thoroughly tested by someone. Thanks to the OP for bringing up the question

[CE750Jockey]

Originally Posted by ehagerty

Well hypothetical,
If both my wife and I have fobs and I drive to the restaurant, get out and lock the door. We both come out after eating and she gets to the passenger door first and puts her hand on it and unlocks. Will it resort to her settings automatically since she is the one who activated the unlock? Does it matter which door is unlocked first? When we go somewhere together we only use my fob and if she drives she has to adjust her settings all the time in fear the car will get confused with 2 fobs in one place.......

Just curious if this has been thoroughly tested by someone. Thanks to the OP for bringing up the question

The wife and I did this to test. Our experience is as you suggest. Whoever's FOB "gets to it first", that's the profile that'll be active/set when you get in the car. So if you drive there, and you plan on driving back, don't let your wife unlock the car with her FOB/Hand or the car will change the seat/mirrors/etc. from yours to hers and you'll have to lock the car and then have you unlock it to get yours back.

[horsepower_and_hounds]

Originally Posted by CE750Jockey

The wife and I did this to test. Our experience is as you suggest. Whoever's FOB "gets to it first", that's the profile that'll be active/set when you get in the car. So if you drive there, and you plan on driving back, don't let your wife unlock the car with her FOB/Hand or the car will change the seat/mirrors/etc. from yours to hers and you'll have to lock the car and then have you unlock it to get yours back.

That is what I thought.......I am the first "gentleman" she has ever been with and still seems to open her door if she gets there first instead of waiting. She is still in training

[StephanieDiane]

Originally Posted by jrbundy

A way to test this is to go unlock the car with your key. Turn it on and verify that it has your profile. Turn it off and go switch keys. Unlock with the second key and check which profile it selects. If it isn't the second profile, then select the second profile. Turn it off, switch back to your key again, and you should be back on your profile.

Let me know how it goes!

JB

This is exactly what we did. A lot of running back and forth into the house to switch keys! Once we were satisfied that my key pulled up my profile, and his key did the same for him, we called it a night.

What had confused me was during our initial attempt when I unlocked with my key, his profile was still active, and my seat setting was gone (even when I manually selected my profile). Obviously we did something wrong that first time, but it's what got me wondering about what happens if he's driving and his profile is active, and then *I* lock the car. What prevents the car from assuming I am now updating the key-profile again?

I assume once you have linked a key to a given profile it won't "switch?"

I'm OCD about my seat. I'm still trying to get it back in place from losing my settings the other night. It may takes months... years... and therapy...

I don't necessarily mind manually going into iDrive and changing the profile. I'm concerned more about accidentally getting my fob linked to his profile, bottom line.

[jrbundy]

Originally Posted by StephanieDiane

I assume once you have linked a key to a given profile it won't "switch?"

I'm OCD about my seat. I'm still trying to get it back in place from losing my settings the other night. It may takes months... years... and therapy...

I don't necessarily mind manually going into iDrive and changing the profile. I'm concerned more about accidentally getting my fob linked to his profile, bottom line.

The fobs can and will "switch" based on which profile is active when the fob is used. And by "used" I mean which fob was used to unlock the car. When you unlock, the car will switch to the profile that was last active with that fob.

I just did a bunch of tests using comfort access. I did not hit a single button on the fob, and I did not ever lock the car. I have two fobs and two profiles.

To unlock the car with comfort access, I only have to grab the handle. There is no way to not do this action, so every test starts with me unlocking.

First, I verified that fob 1 had profile 1 and fob 2 had profile 2. I did this by unlocking (car wasn't locked, but I grabbed handle), turning car on, and checking profile. I manually swapped to profile 2, turned car off and left.

Then, I verified that fob 2 had profile 2 by unlocking, turning car on, and checking. I manually switched fob 2 to profile 1, turned car off, and left.

Now, fob 1 had profile 2, and fob 2 had profile 1. I repeated the sequence a few times and verified that they stayed switched. Then I switched them back.

Then I tried to go in through the passenger side. It appears that this will not switch the profile, again using comfort access. If you hit the unlock key on the fob, I think it links the car to that fob. So, I tested that next.

Again fob 1 = profile 1 and fob 2 = profile 2. I unlocked with each and checked by turning car on. I saw that each each profile was still linked to the fob. Then, I just sat in the passenger seat with the door closed and hit the unlock button. What I found was no matter how many time you use the unlock, the car will choose the last fob used before it is turned on.

So, if you want to make sure your profile is used, make sure to hit unlock with your fob before turning the car on. Even if it is already unlocked.

Something else that you can do for peace of mind is to back up your profile to USB! You could even keep the USB stick in the car.

Finally, if you want iDrive to ask you which profile to use when it starts, go to the main menu and hit the options button. There is an option to have it display profiles right away. There is also a shortcut to manually switch profiles right there.

JB

[chaswyck1]

I think my head just exploded!