BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A mother has a warning for drivers with the keyless entry feature after her child gets locked inside.
- Woman claims glitch in car feature locked son inside car
- Stephanie Inghram says keyless entry feature locked car
- Car should not lock if the key is inside, according to car's manual
Stephanie Inghram says she was wrapping up her day at the Brevard Zoo and after putting her 11-month-old son Chip in his car seat, she closed the trunk and that's when she says a feature in her car glitched. She claims the car locked her son inside the car but it shouldn't have because she had her smart key inside the vehicle.
According to the car's manual, if the smart key is inside the vehicle, it shouldn't lock, but she said it did with her child inside.
"I closed my car, and walked around and it was locked," Inghram says
She says after calling 911, she kept on trying to open the car and seconds before first responders arrived, somehow the trunk of the car opened.
According to a mechanic Inghram went to, they have only heard of a similar case twice in 10 years.
"It may be the battery of the fob going out in general, but it shouldn't have done that," Mike Goltz said.
However, Inghram took to Facebook and found out she's not the only one this has happened too. It's happened with different makes, models, and years of quite a few vehicles.
An interstate battery specialist told Spectrum News 13 that most keyless entry issues are battery related.
"It was her car battery, she had keyless entry and it wouldn't unlock because the battery is bad," Jamal Lewis, Interstate Battery Specialist, said.
Inghram says her dealership wasn't able to find the problem. She has a warning for parents and pet owners to prevent this from happening to them.
"Don't trust technology, it could have hurt my son," Inghram remarks.
Spectrum News 13 ran Stephanie's vin number and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, her vin came clear with no recalls related to this type of issue.
According to the manufacturer, he sent a statement to Spectrum News 13 about this issue once we contacted them.
"We've looked at this some more and can't replicate what the customer is saying. The one instance where the key fob can be locked in a vehicle is when a SECOND key fob is used to lock the doors. If the first fob is inside, the vehicle will still lock with the second fob. This would be a highly unusual circumstance, of course."