I recently purchased a 2012 VW passat automatic, all was going well until something strange happened today. I had parked in a car park to take a phonecall, put the car in park, turned off ignition but the key was still in the ignition. About 10 mins later the engine started up by itself, I didn't touch anything, my feet were not on any pedals, would anyone know what might cause this,? I haven't had an automatic prior to this but I don't imagine it's normal for this to happen. Any thoughts on the cause, thanks?
Car engine started by itself when in park.
- Thread starter Polly 123
- Start date
Thanks Clubman I wasn't aware of this feature, it looks like it requires pressing a few buttons at the same time, the keys were in the ignition but not shoved in fully that would light up the dashboard, unless just by chance I had pressed them in my pocket before leaving the house, it's something il be aware of going forward.
iamaspinner
Registered User
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- 286
Your car became self-aware. Expect Skynet to strike any minute now!
Nope, it's KITT!'
Sarah Ryan
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Best. Programme. Ever. FACT!
What's most likely is you put the gear selector in Park and the engine stop/start feature kicked in and shut the engine down rather than you fully switching it off via the ignition. After a while, the engine will always kick back in again to prevent over-draining the battery.