A couple of days ago I was out in the car with my wife and stopped at a shop to pick up my newspaper. She remained in the car. As I always do by habit, as I walked away I used the key fob to lock the car. Unfortinately, I got chatting with a friend who was in the shop. When I returned to the car my wife was spitting feathers - she had decided she wanted something from the shop whilst I was in there, but couldn't get out of the car. The door handle would not open the door and the small unlock lever could not be moved.
After doing some experiments I confirmed this behaviour
You learn something every day !
With time on my hands today I decided to verify the problem - sure enough If I sit in the car and lock it with the fob, the door handle does nowt and the lock lever above it is not moveable, hence the doors do not unlock.
Furthermore, the unlock button in the drivers armrest is muted and cannot open the doors.
I appreciate that it is an unlikely scenario for driver to lock the car with the fob whilst there is a passenger in the car - but I did.
Had I have realised that I had locked management in the car as I walked away, and used the fob to unlock the doors, they would unlock - but - if didn't open a door within 30 seconds, the doors would automatically lock again thus creating the same problem. Its a no win scenario
If this is standard behaviour for a 2021 UK Niro HEV 3 I have some concern about safety.
I have made this video to demonstate the problem. T'would be nice to know if the cars of owners of similat Hyundai models have the same behaviour.
https://youtube.com/shorts/-s4I3qMWIPU?feature=share