hi. ive found a 2015 q7 tdi prestige for sale at a dealership, and when we went to go look at it, the battery was shot dead. after looking at it better, someone left the parking lights on and locked it. the key isn't unlocking the door cylinder lock for some reason, as if its not for it. We have no idea how to go about for this, and i was wondering if someone knows what i could do, maybe another cylinder lock somewhere, or some terminals to jump. thanks

 

Welcome to the Q7 and its' mysterious ways.

Unlike other cars, the Q7 doesn't play nice when the battery goes completely flat /dead-dead...there's a lot more electronics on the car than meets the eye, and the entry systems are all security system based. The key hole in driver's door is basically an electronic switch the key turns in rather than a mechanical-linked lock, which is why you can't get in. Everything's electronic/electrical driven.

The only method/ way to regain access w/o breaking something in order to get into the hood or interior of car, is to apply power/jumper/charger cables to the under-hood jumper terminals via removal of the left front wheel, opening up the fender liner to access through to where those jumper terminals are nearby, etc. Using a charger with the smaller clamps those have would be a lot easier to maneuver in that closed space. The positive post is vertical with a plastic cover over it close to the back firewall, etc., so a little bit challenging if you don't know the car, but you could locate it by feeling around after watching a video, etc. There are videos of this online and recently posted onto same question asked by another person on here too.

I guess technically, if you could locate another 'live' positive cable beneath the car to hook onto, but that's more risky on this car, so probably best just to let the dealer 'deal' with it.

 

Here's the link to same recent inquiry thread:

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q7-...-help-3083299/

 

Holy. Wow. I did not know the key switch was electric. That’s actually insane though lmao. I’ve heard the door handles can cause parasitic draw and i’ve had one of my q7’s battery go flat so many times because of it. Basically the dealership had a guy with a lockout kit and i have no clue what they did but they got it running and on. Removing the tire and the fender liner seems smart too, never would’ve thought of that. But thank you for responding to that. I never knew

 

Im not too sure in that statement that key is electric. At least door handles are mechanic, and not like Tesla and some other new cars where they electrically need to pop out, and then you have an accident and door handles dont pop out and people burn in a car, like it happened in Toronto few months back in a tesla Y

 

This thread concerns a late model 'Prestige' trim 4L Q7 (top trim level in North America market), which comes equipped with the Audi Advanced Key entry system and push-button starting, etc. I've got the same exact vehicle trim, and so I'm aware of what's inside the door panels as I've had them off my car to disconnect the wire harness to the driver's door handle proximity sensor and the external locking button...the fancy bits integrated into the handles ground out and create parasitic battery drains, so you either disconnect them or replace them when that happens and they start throwing fault codes internally.

This is not a new or one-off issue by any means, if you have the Advanced Key entry system, which was optional on the early models and in later model years it became standard equipment on the top trim level, at least in North America. If you have a Premium or Premium Plus trim level Q7 (the 1st and 2nd tier trims in North America), and don't have the purely electronic Advanced Key entry system, then hopefully it won't ever be a problem/concern for you. I don't have one w/o the Advanced key system to test that theory on. When I turn the key in my Advanced Key system door handle it is merely rotating a switch, right to lock or left to unlock, etc. If I hold the keyed switch to the right it rolls up all my windows and shuts my sunroof. If I hold the switch to the left/unlock side, then all my windows roll down at same time. It's just a keyed switch made to appear as a standard mechanical type door lock mechanism, and so long as the car battery is good you'll never think any different, unless you already know. Again, on entry and mid level trim cars, your mileage may vary, as those didn't come standard with the Advanced Key entry system.

It seems pretty common these days for new, mid-level and higher cars to have just a key fob for entry combined with push button starting....there's no physical key for entry or engine ignition. Luxury cars brands implemented the same technology much, much earlier, and now it's become commonplace.

 

you must be a teacher or something in school or one of the rare dudes that talks more then a girl

 

door handles are mechanical from what i know but from what he said it sounded like the door key switch is electrical rather then mechanical. i’ll test the keys out again if i can with power do the car. if they work, the locks are electric strangely…

 

other solution is to get one of those professional services, lock pickers that can open anything, and make you a copy of the key/new key. They come on site and do it.

 

The problem is that the door lock is electric. having a lock picker won't do anything, because they can't. I have the key (i have yet to test if it works now with power in the door lock) but with 0 power, the door lock is useless, because it's not mechanical. Only way i can see getting in is what this person said.