2000 golf keyless door lock gone nutso

My sons Golf has developed a mind of its own. If I leave the car, leaving the key in the ignition, or even laying on the seat, in about 30 seconds the door autolocks. Now the keys are locked inside with no possible easy (or cheap) way to get at them He bought the car used and has only one key. When it's locked inside we're hooped. The remote works 100% fine to lock and unlock, and arm the security.
This activity started after a minor collision last year. How do we go about resetting the unit to factory behavior.

While im not to familiar with VW's factory security settings...Does this car have an aftermarket alarm...? On some units...30 seconds after the door shuts...The doors will lock and the alarm arms...! The name given is passive and active arming...This is default on some units...So after the fender-bender...Maybe power was disconnected and the unit went back to default settings...Is the remote a factory remote...? Or...if unsure...Maybe describe the remote...! Or peek under dash...Is there a siren that chirps...Or is it a horn honk...?

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M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!

Factory units shouldn't do that, I was doing some audio work on an 02 Mk lV today, left the key on sear and forgot, no problems. 2 answers, if the problem is a factory alarm gone silly, get it reprogrammed by a dealer to remove the passive arming, or go to an alarm specialist to see if there's an after market alarm on the vehicle. Leaving the key in the ignition should over ride factory AND aftermarket alarms if correctly installed.
Passive arming is a curse!

Gets you 10% off your insurance...

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M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!

And it's still a PITA especially arm and lock.

This is a factory unit. Not a starter system, just lock and alarm. Spoke today with the VW dealer and 2 guys there said it sounds like the driver's door "actuator" has failed. About how much????   Oh around 450 for the part and around 2 hours labour. Cofff, Cofff, CHOKE.   600 bucks sounds like a hard swallow. Anyone else been through this grief.
Hey 50 miles per gallon is fantastic but when things go wrong with a VW turbo diesel, be prepared to give them your left gonad. Fantastic engine, in a tinfoil wrapper me thinks!!!!

$450 for the part? Fudge its a bloody 5 wire motor shove in an MES motor for $10! They can't try that trick here we have nationwide motor factors such as Europarts e.g. Waterpump for my Mits stealership, £200 ($300), factor price, £35 ($50), Porsche Cayenne front pads, don't ask, factor price (and Alfred Teves the same make) £50 ($75).
Rant aside, the actuator hasn't failed, it's micro switch has, otherwise the lock wouldn't work still. Bet if you cut the two trigger wires or just the lock trigger in the driver's door you will still get the keyless entry from the remote.

But howie if we cut the lock trigger wire were going to lose something. I'm betting we might lose the ability to unlock and lock the door using the arm rest button. No big deal, all the other 3 doors would still work, and the drivers door would open with the handle,,,,right????

At least if we totally screw up the system by cutting that wire, we could just splice it back??? Can you tell I'm guessing?

Yes I'm guessing; did this on a Rover 800 (Rover gone and forgotten except when one comes back to haunt you with electrical problems, and by God did they have em!) But I cut the motor wire to drivers door. The keyless still worked on the other doors.
Actually the door button should still work because they are separate circuits. The door button locks unlocks, the key or remote fob activates factory alarm if present and deadlocks the vehicle.

If the drivers door actuator is locking and unlocking the door properly, I am sure it is not bad.  Have you timed it to make sure it is exactly the same amount of time from the time you close the door to the time of the arming of the alarm?  If it is exactly 30 seconds, it sounds as though the alarm reset itself to arm automatically after exit.  This should be able to be changed by programming.  I have no idea how to program a VW alarm.  I bet the dealer knows how, but the 450 dollar actuator, that they will not change sounds to be a more profitable route for them.

Yes I agree it is in the programing. The doors lock and unlock using the remote. The same using the switch on the door. It timing seems to be exactly 30 seconds. Then all doors lock and the red alarm led blinks and a beep is heard. Remote Unit works perfectly to reopen the door locks and shut off the alarm. Only problem it needs no human interaction. If the key is accidentally left in the ignition or sitting on the seat, your hooped. I would prefer to be able to TELL the car to lock itself. Just try to remember to pull the key when you slip out to open a gate or pick up your newspaper. I'll tell you it dives you nuts to come back to a locked car. Rolling down the window so you can get the key back is not an option here in Saskatchewan Canada. It gets cold here and the power window system on ALL Golf is an out right joke. No way the window motors last more than a few years, complete junk. Parts are out of the world costly.

Now back to the dealership, another joke. They all but refuse to try program the entry system. Keep steering me towards the very costly "door actuator" which would no doubt also have to be programed????? I hear the dealer 80 miles north is much much more cooperative than our local shop. Maybe I'll give them a call.

Just phoned the out of town dealer, who by all reports is much much easier to deal with. After explaining the issues to the service rep, he said it sounds like a "short" in the door latch. Pretty much the same as the local guys. His cost to change the drivers side mechanism ran about 400 bucks also. He said the issue is common and he has dealt with it before I guess therefore my solution is to not drive my sons Golf, and he and his girlfriend have become accustomed to this insanity, and in no way can afford this repair.
Lesson learned, I shall stick to my Fords and Toyota Camrys, they are building better cars. Curse you VW all to heck for shoddy parts and cheap engineering.

It's not what the dealer says that's a load of garbage. If it was a short it would blow the bloody fuse!!! What you described is the facory alarm set to passive arming! Do you mean the LED on the driver's door?
As a rule European manufacturers all went down the path of inceased processors to control and diagnose everything, in fact European GM, Opel and Vauxhall are nearer in the electrics department to VW than to say Chevrolet, Euro Fords also have a load of these features. By the way if there's a second LED NOT on the door it ain't a factory alarm.
Incidentally the comfort/alarm control module CAN be programmed by a stealer, they would rather take your money. My Autodata (UK version of Mitchells) says that this programme and others such as key programming can only be done on the dealership's diagnostics, trouble is as my learned friend the Idiot and I pointed out telling you the motor has to be replaced is absolute rubbish.

Yes the red LED is indeed on the drivers door, about 1/2 cm from the manual lock button, imbedded in the same plastic trim piece as the knob. This keyless entry is 100% stock VW. The remote is the switchblade factory VW squiggly key unit type. I also used the word short in "brackets" to kinda indicate I was suspect of their diagnosis just as you are. Yes I do not understand for the life of me why both dealers are seeming to steer me away from a simple re-program. Must be way more profit in selling the latch plus a reprogram??????

Yeah...Much more...! I'm "pretty" sure if you ask for this Specific task...they "will" do it...! Only problem is...That might  be followed by "Well...We tried the re-program and it didnt fix the problem"..."So you can either pay us $100 for the failed reprogram"..." Or let us go ahead and fix/replace the actuator and we wont charge for the failed programming"...There really arent alot of shops that do VW...Shops are very leary of them...So i would recommend finding a "foriegn" car specialist/mechanic in your area...And stay away from the Stealerships(as one said)...! I know in my area there are a few foreign specialty shops...Maybe even calling some not around you would lead to a "clearer" answer...! Just thinking aloud here...!

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M.E.C.P & First-Class
Go slow and drink lots of water...Procrastinators' Unite...Tomorrow!

The car was in a local shop who are into VW's to get the timing belt replaced. Thats why Dad was driving the kids car and accidentally locked the key in the car. The shop owner said he can not get the reprogram method. Only the dealers get this info. His girlfriend drives a Golf and it also has the exact same issue with the key. This is a well known and common thing with VW. Maybe it's a good thing that persons on the shady side such as thief's and chop operations cannot reset keys. Then again it might be a blessing to have this VW vanish, the price to replace the timing belt $1096.17. Cheap to operate,,,yeah sure.

What I told you so again? I've been offered rogue copies of the manufacturers' software but I'm loathe to try it. There's a related problem here with Vauxhall, Opel E30 BMW and all Peugeots where after a time the microswitch in the motor gets displaced and the car's processor thinks someone has openend the door, thus it unlocks the others! That's one reason for priority locking (paranoia apart) It's also the reason why when I'm adding actuators, I only connect the 5 wire on the driver's side, unless you get the front door units dead level, those micro switches work against each other. On Euro Fords in the early 90s motors one side were Swiss and the other side Italian, you know what's coming here don't you. By the way that price isn't exhorbitant if you include skimming the head and valve guides etc. Any modern 4 valve engine will cost that sort of money. If this were Germany you can insist the dealer turns the passive arm off. also US BMWs the owner can turn it off via the I drive.