car locked itself with my key inside it, locked out
 

I've read other posts about this happening, and in 5+ years of driving this car it hadn't happened to me. But I'll tell ya, this is no fun at all. Had my key fob in my briefcase the way it always is, put my briefcase in the back seat, closed the back door, car locked itself (without me touching any buttons) with they key inside the car. I was locked out. Fortunately was able to call my wife and get her to bring me the spare key, but this was a major hassle. One possible diagnosis: I've noticed that if I unlock the car but don't get in the car for a few minutes, the car will automatically re-lock itself. I wonder if the car somehow thought it was time to re-lock itself. So two questions:
1. any known fixes to this dreadful problem?;
2. is there a specific way to VAG-COM out the "re-lock the car after i've unlocked it" function?

I believe once a front door is opened, the "relock 30 seconds after unlocking" function is cancelled. Not so for rear doors. As long as your car does not have the no key required to be in the ignition to start; I'd consider having a key planted away somewhere beneath the vehicle. Careful, the old magnetic key cases cannot cling to too many surfaces there. However, there are some. I'd consider having to swing down the bottom engine cover. You can usually borrow a screwdriver or use a dime.

i do have the keyless start feature
 

Thanks, Mister Bally. That makes sense, and it usually is about 30 seconds after. What makes this particularly odd is that my car DOES have the keyless ignition feature, and it is supposed to know to not lock the car when the key is in it. But the keyless ignition feature isn't flawless (sometimes I'll be driving along, not moving or changing anything, and all of a sudden the warning light "key not in vehicle" will appear for a few seconds, then go away by itself a minute later.)

maybe low battery in the key fob?

Sounds like your key fob is low on batteries. Because I use my keyless entry and keep the keys in my pocket almost 90% of the time I drive. So when I get out of the car to help someone open a door or carry something to the car the "no key in car" warning goes on and about 2 seconds after I enter it goes away. Never comes on randomly though.

Is your briefcase metal/aluminum? That can definitely affect radio frequencies. Not the case with leather or wood.

have found another thread that might be useful
 

my briefcase is leather, but i still don't doubt that some sort of random RF itnerference could cause this. As could a low battery, which is also quite possibly my problem. The more fundamental problem, though, is the design of this "feature" that re-locks the car automatically. Given that RF isn't 100% reliable, and given that these key fobs will eventually drain their battery, does Audi really want to lock us out of our cars when one of these things happens? The thing I'd love to do is to simply disable the "relock after 30 seconds" thing. I haven't been able to find VAG-COM instructions to do it, but i'll keep digging and will let you know if I find out.
Also, in doing more digging, I found another thread about this which you might find interesting...

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...php?p=22523812

I was in the exact same situation last week
 

I had my fob in the brief case, opened the rear door and put the case in, as soon as I closed the door, the car locked itself. And then had to have my brother bring me the spare keys.

I think, it has to do with the rear door, if you do not unlock your car using the front door, it will lock itself as soon as the rear doors are closed with or without the fob inside, I have not tried it, but will try tonight. However, as most of you said the fob might be low on battery, as I do sometime get the warning light even when the key is in my pocket.