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What condition activates the immobilizer, and what gets it deactivated

Timeisflat

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Car(s)
2016 VW GSW Manual
So I had an issue with the Golf a few days ago. Go to start it and it doesn’t crank, I just get a click. After several attempts I get an “Immobilizer activated” message on the dash.
Was in a hurry so I switched to the wife’s car. When I got home grabbed I tried to start it again before I began troubleshooting and it started just fine. No hesitation, no codes, no problems since with either key.
Obviously I’m worried about it happening again in the future. While I’ve found plenty of posts from people troubleshooting an active immobilizer I haven’t figured out it works. What actually causes it to engage, and what actually turns it off?
 

DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
@Timeisflat: As an aside and with my apology - no it's not! Teddy Einstein proved that time, like space is curved! In fact and much to the disgust of Zac Newton, he proved that time and space are inseparable and they are never the same for 2 or more observers! Of course everyone was OK with Einstein's view of time until quantum physicists started publishing their nonsense (i.e. stuff like quantum entanglement and quantum teleportation - which was the topic of this year's Nobel prize in physics.

Anyhow - Hi.

Sounds like you need to read VW's document called Self-Study Program 890293 - Immobilizer Systems. You can get it from the web. It's an exposé on the history of VW's immobilizers dating back to Immobilizer I in 1998. MQB platform cars like the mk7 Golf use Immobilizer V and unfortunately the SSP stops at Immobilizer IV. But this shouldn't matter for your purpose because the evolution of version-four to version-five is really only important for servicing Immobilizer problems (there has been no changes to the user's operation of the immobilizer).

As you will read in the SSP, the immobilizer uses an RFID chip that's inside the key - there is an RF coil near the key lock that reads the chip data when the key is inserted into the lock barrel. It has never happened to me, but I understand that the immobilizer can get confused if both registered keys are inside the cabin at the same time. I'm also aware that other devices that also use RFID chips (like tollway passes, office security passes) if left inside the cabin could interfere with the immobilizer process. Were any of these options likely to be implicated in your case?

Don
 
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Timeisflat

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Car(s)
2016 VW GSW Manual
Haha, very true on Einstein! My username is taken from season 1 of True Detective, which I consider the best season of televisio ever made (avoid season 2 at all cost)



Thanks for the document info, I found a PDF pretty easily.
 
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