I know I’m likely in the minority saying this, but I enjoy looking through the owner’s manual when I buy or drive a new (to me) car. I find the little technical illustrations very endearing and cute (awww, they made the car, but small), and there is almost guaranteed to be at least one hidden feature that I would never have known about had I not actually looked inside the manual. I work at a Subaru dealership and have a personal interest in unique car features, but even I did not know about the feature I’m going to share with you today: Subarus can be unlocked by inputting a 5-digit numerical passcode using a special trunk button.
What I particularly enjoy about this feature is that it’s just convoluted enough to be a bit funny. The steps that you have to go through in order to set it up are reminiscent of inputting old video game cheat codes; anyone remember up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start and you’ll get 30 extra lives?
The feature is intended for the very specific use case of leaving your key, purposefully disabled, inside the car so you won’t risk losing it while embarking on an outdoor Subaru-owner-esque activity like hiking running or canoeing. Then once you return to your car, you can input the code, unlock your doors, and reactivate your key fob, which is safe and sound and not at the bottom of a lake! 
Since I work at a Subaru dealership as mentioned previously, I knew I had to try this out for myself. The instructions as printed in the owners’ manual are a bit needlessly confusing, so I’ve tried to reproduce what I did here in more of a plain-English way.
To begin the process of setting up the trunk PIN code, I made sure the ignition was off and all doors were closed. Then, I simultaneously held down the key fob LOCK button and the button on the right side of the trunk handle until I heard the Subaru chirp several times in a row.
Next, I pressed the UNLOCK button on the key fob. According to the manual, I could then input my new PIN code. To do this, I pressed this special trunk button (which, as far as I can tell, exists specifically for this feature) the same number of times as the digit I wanted, then waited to hear the car chirp. After I entered all 5 digits and the car had chirped to register each one, I entered the same 5 digits again to confirm. After I’d done this a second time, I was all set! I opted to input “12121” as my test code like you’ll see in a few tutorial videos online, because it’s easy to remember and requires relatively few total button presses.
To delete a PIN code, you have to go through that same registration process but enter “22222.” Then there will be no PIN code access until you register a new one. If you make an error during the process, simply pressing the UNLOCK or TRUNK RELEASE buttons on your key fob will cancel it, and you’ll have to start over from step 1.
Lastly, since this is intended for situations in which you’d want to leave your key fob locked inside the car, the PIN code vehicle-unlocking function can only be performed while the key is disabled, which you can do by rotating the driver’s door lock lever forward to lock the car manually, then pressing and holding the LOCK and TRUNK RELEASE buttons on the key fob simultaneously for 5 or more seconds. Once the Subaru chirps, your key fob has now been disabled, and it can be locked inside the car. So you better hope you remember that PIN code.
According to the owner’s manual you can also disable the key by opening and closing the driver’s door in a specific pattern and hitting the UNLOCK button inside the door at certain points during the pattern. It’s so silly!:
Imagine, someone’s sitting inside their 2015+ Subaru, flapping their driver door open and closed a bunch of times just so that they can lock their key in their car, and then returning to the car after a jog or bike excursion and having to stand by the trunk hatch for a minute or so while they tap a hidden button a bunch of times just to get back in there. It’s delightfully endearing that it exists at all!
I always appreciate a practical and creative feature that’s useful, even if a bit convoluted. It kind of reminds me of using the paperclip method to read OBD-I codes on my 1992 Previa — using a paperclip or other metal wire to connect two ports in a diagnostic connector together, then putting the car in accessory mode and counting the number of Check Engine light flashes. That stuff always makes me feel a little bit like a CIA agent solving puzzles and decoding ciphers to gather intelligence. [Ed Note: On my OBDI Jeeps, I just turn the key on, off, on, off, on. Then the check engine light flashes to tell me the code, which I match up to a list to figure out what’s wrong. -DT].
Interestingly, during my brief research on this topic, I did not find any other car manufacturers that offered a code entry system that didn’t use a numerical keypad. Ford’s SecuriCode is by far the most commonly known code-based entry system on passenger vehicles, as well as one of the simplest — a small keypad with 5 buttons and 10 digits (two per button) allows you to preset a PIN code and use that code to lock or unlock the vehicle without getting out your key.
It’s super useful, but it’s not as fun as this hidden Subaru feature, which uses a tiny dedicated trunk button in a really primitive way to create a PIN to access the car. I love that it exists, and I love how ridiculous it is.
Top credits: Subaru; Konami/Nintendo
what a useless “feature”.
Subarus chirp? That’s adorable!!! This is a little bit like finding out that bald eagles also chirp, instead of making majestic screeching sounds.
this is why the keypad on the door is so useful. GM actually makes one as an accessory for the full size SUVs and Trucks, I have one on my escalade.
I’m so happy that my cars are so old that they have real, metal keys. I usually wire tie a copy underneath somewhere and never worry again.
I need this ! Surfers use little safebox attached to the car to “hide” the key. Youtube explain how to open them in 5 minutes…
As long as my T4 lives, I’ll keep my rusty 23 yo key around my neck
Just reading this was exhausting …will never do this with our ’17 Legacy …
The current gen BRZ and GR86 have a very similar feature but its more for when you’ve lost the FOB or when its battery dies. I dont think any owners use it becuase its so convoluted.
I’d just leave the car unlocked.
I always RTFM, usually before buying the car.
Me too. My wife drove our ’18 MDX for several months before saying the one thing she missed from her previous X5 was the heated steering wheel. I told her, “come with me” and showed her where the magic button to turn it on was located. She was gob smacked. But in her defense, it was out of sight and unilluminated on the left side of the steering column. And the manual for that car was 699 pages long. The annoying thing reading through the FM was learning that Canadian models had some extra features (headlight washers for one) that we in the states didn’t get.
LOL – my BMWs are the same. The heated steering wheel switch is well hidden, though it is illuminated I believe. But it’s completely hidden from the driver. Amusingly, on my cars the heated wheel was standard, but heated seats were not. Thankfully, both of my cars have that option, and the wagon has the full winter package with headlight washers and the ski passthrough in the rear seat (because I ordered it that way).
Now if I could have a word with the cheapskate Yankee who was willing to stump up $40K for a BMW convertible, but the extra $250 to have Bluetooth was just a bridge too far! That car was a Euro Delivery order too, so not like the dealer did it.
I thought this was needlessly complicated. So much so I never even bothered to try and set it up on my old Outback, there were too many steps and I knew I’d throw the key at the rear window and break something… I just used to take the key and put it in a zip lock bag, inside another zip locked bag inside a dry bag whenever I went kayaking. In fact I still do this with my current car.
If you don’t feel like using the “fob disable” feature but still want to lock your key inside your Subaru, just keep a hunk of aluminum foil handy. If you wrap the key fob completely with aluminum foil it will inhibit RF communication, and the car will not detect the fob’s presence inside the car. I have done this and it works.
Another option, if you dont have any aluminum foil with you, you could take the battery out of the key too
This doesn’t really help you if you lost your fob on a trail, right? You still can’t start the car. I guess being able to shelter in the car is better than nothing, but you’re still up a creek until you can find a fob.
2 thoughts. Leaving stuff in the car is convenient, but door codes (Ford) or app based solutions are far better.
Second is, when will we hear of some dealership person going and setting codes on cars before their sold and then going and staking them out to then enter them and steal stuff without the owners ever knowing?
Whew that is a rough user interface lol. And I say that as a computer programmer.
Neat it exists, but I can’t really see using it very often.
I always read the user manuals, just for fun if nothing else. Sometimes I read the manuals for cars I am merely thinking about purchasing. The last two cars I’ve bought, I found myself telling the salespeople about features that they didn’t know about. Which is kinda stupid, honestly. I never sold cars, but when I did sales, I considered product knowledge to be the most important arrow in my quiver.
Jeez. Maybe hide the key under a rock or something instead.
I remember in 1986 my grandfather bought a Nissan Maxima that had a keypad on the door handle. Later we had a Ford with the same feature on the B-pillar.
Seems like having a keypad that disables the use of the physical/proximity key and opens the door would be a better option than this “turn sunwise six times, sacrifice a chicken…”
The current-generation Goldwing motorcycle has something very similar as the “emergency start” procedure in case the fob is lost or broken, however they made it somehow even more confusing, convoluted, and unlikely to be possible if ever actually needed.
Inside the fob is a hidden physical key. This key is necessary for the procedure, so right off the bat this is a shitty system, since if you lost the fob, you’ve also lost the backup key unless you read the 400+ page owner’s manual and read/understood this backup procedure, so you would know to remove that key and hide it somewhere else, either hidden on the bike somewhere or at least in a separate location from the fob. Each fob has a unique code associated, which is pre-programmed into the bike. You need to note this code and save it somewhere (the manual even suggests saving it as a contact in your phone).
-Pry off a trim piece by the license plate to reveal a key slot. Use key. This will open the saddebags (which are normally electronically opened). The bags MUST be open for the rest of the procedure to work.
-Turn the ignition “knob” and hold for 10 seconds. The bike will chirp. Because you speak fluent computer and memorized the owner’s manual, you will know this means it’s ready to input the code. Helpfully, it will NOT wake up the infotainment screen or give any indication on HOW to input the code. Using the d-pad? Jog wheel? NOPE!
-You will then use the kill switch rocker to “tap in” the code using short and long presses. Tap 3 times quickly for 3, hold for a second until it beeps to “enter” and then repeat for each digit. It’s a 6 digit code. If done correctly, after entering the final digit, the ignition will power on and you can start it. Once.
So this “lost fob” procedure requires you to have the key kept in the fob present, as well as know the pin code which was on a little tag with the fob. I bought my bike new, so it did have said tags and I did save them as contacts in my phone, but secondhand the chances of getting those codes and the backup key are hardly certain in which case you are SOL if the fob is lost or broken. There is no way to view or re-set the codes in the bike without a dealer.
That’s wild! The amount of times that’ll ever be useful to someone has to be pretty small
Unless I missed something, it sounds like this is for a dead key fob battery. Still hopelessly convoluted…
I usually bring my keys and phone in a drybag, but I do think of the circumstances where I either lost that bag somehow or someone else needed to access the car in an emergency. But I don’t think trying to explain this whole process in an emergency would be very helpful.
I do miss the days where I could tuck the key on top of a frame rail or something and just tell the person where it was.
I seem to remember some car having optional wrist bands you could use as a key? My memory is saying Jaguar, but that doesn’t seem to track with the brand.
I would like it if I could use my Garmin watch to unlock the doors via NFC.
Oh- it is Jaguar, but probably first developed for Land Rover. They both have it, I had just only seen it advertised for Jaguar and didn’t put together the JLR connection.