I parked the car well away from other cars on a slight incline in an empty area behind the bank, gently put the handbrake on and sw off the engine. My wife opened the passenger door and went off to the post office. The key fob was still docked. I turned on the radio and adjusted the volume.

Just above the drivers door release, on the inside, I noticed the black lever which was sitting in the 'open' position and I wondered if it would lock all doors if I moved it to the closed position. It did, so I moved it back to the 'open' position and it unlocked the doors. Radio is playing nicely - a few moments of calm....then,,

In preparation for the returning passenger I thought I would swing the car around to make ready to leave but on pressing 'start' with foot on brake pedal all hell broke loose and I got the 'system failure ' messages, Hill decent problem reported, amber engine management warning light on dash too. Also, finally, an unhelpful 'opened book' symbol for me to ponder about.!!!! I tried to un-dock the key but it refused to budge.
However, the systems engineer (retired ) in me suspected that all this was just nonsense and so I pressed Start/Stop. This seemed to reset things as the key was now able to be un-docked .

I put key back and started up OK again just as my wife returned - oblivious to the aforementioned drama.

I guess more owners have had same issues - or worse. Not bad for my first fault ( 3,000 miles driven )

Never tried what you did; i always use the 'lock' and 'unlock' on the fascia.
As wrong as it may be, it's hardly a 'total systems failure' is it? You got it going in seconds.
More of a slight pain i would have thought.
As for myself, a retired 'automotive engineer', FL2 is one the best cars cars i've ever driven.

freeatlast
I have used the small black door handles on a number of occasions to lock or unlock the FL2's doors & tailgate without incident. However as Pegleg commented, I have defaulted to using the centre console mounted "lock/unlock" switches as they are more convenient and comfortable to use (also without any mishap.)

It is very difficult to comment on a particular incident but it is good practice to acknowledge the car's system management warnings and report them to your LR dealer for a further and full investigation. The FL2's ECU will have recorded this incident for the service engineers to interrogate and respond accordingly. So pop along to your LR dealer before anything truly sinister happens.

Finally I'm no engineer, however Freel2's very able resident technical moderator "Alex" may be along to offer an in-depth comment on what may have occurred that day.

Flat battery could have caused the symptoms you mentioned, might be worth while having it checked

I have also sat in my car, key in, and been unable to start it until I had taken out, lock/unlock the car and reinserted it, dealer said something about imobiliser needed resetting Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Rule #1 - Dont fiddle with things that your not sure off.
Rule #2 - Best go shopping with the wife and not sit in the car fiddeling

Realy though, never heard of anything quite like that before. 2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

Similar thing happened to me the other day. I got in my FL2, put the key in the dock but kept the door open to speak to my old man - the beeping started to tell me I had left the key in the dock with the door open so to stop it I shut the door, pressed stop/start to switch on the ignition, fired the drivers window down and pressed stop/'start again to switch off the ignition. All was well until I wanted to go and it started up with an error message saying 'terrain response fault'. Set off as normal and everything was okay other than an annoying flashing warning symbol and terrain response 'unresponsive', got home, switched off, gave it a couple of minutes, switched back on and everything fine!

I would normally use the buttons on the dash to lock or unlock - wasn't really fiddling - just exploring , can't help it.
Thanks for the suggestion/ rules AndyC - and others,,, but shopping hmmmmm!

I do remember now that the Key fob dock's 2 green leds were OFF with the key stuck after the error messages which would prevent removal of the key as it had powered off the 'system'.

I've just tried to reproduce the fault in the same way - without actually moving the car off the drive - no problems to report. The battery appears to have plenty of life. I don't usually use the FL2 for short journeys - obviously got upset that I only did 2 miles yesterday. Long run on Friday to Wakefield and Shefield - might even get the revs up to 4000 soon as I've been trying to run it in as per forum guidance

I will ask the dealer to look next time I'm going that way - maybe,, but, as they say, if it works - don't fix it

Have had 2 faults in the last 2 days where I put the key in and I guess I was to fast to push the start button and the car just doesn't do anything. After about 5-6 tries putting the key in and out it starts..... Just waiting for this to happen when my girlfriend is out alone somewhere.......  FL2, TD4 HSE
The flaming Orange!

Hi Redlabel,

Just a thought as I know modern keys store/log quite a lot of info.
This is just my thinking as an computer engineer but I'm new to LR,, If you were using, say, key fob no2 instead of your usual key fob no1 does the system try to 'update' or do 'catch up' when a key fob is docked after a period of absence - ie not being used and not docked This could perhaps explain the delay in getting you started.

I'm sure someone will know better how it all works - and enlighten us.