Buying a brand-new car is supposed to eliminate worries, not create new ones. But for Norwegian owner Morten Berggren, his new Voyah Courage has become the source of a surprisingly modern automotive headache: every time he walks away, he’s left wondering whether the car actually locked itself.
It’s the kind of problem that sounds almost trivial—until you discover your vehicle sitting unlocked in a public parking lot. Again. And again.
According to Berggren, the issue has plagued his all-electric SUV since he took delivery in the fall of 2025. On dozens of occasions, the Courage has simply refused to lock after he exited the vehicle, despite appearing to behave normally. The result? A growing lack of confidence in a feature most drivers barely think about anymore.
And confidence is everything when it comes to keyless entry systems.
Fifty Chances for Something to Go Wrong
Berggren estimates the malfunction has occurred at least 50 times, enough to convince him this isn’t an isolated glitch or simple user error.
One incident proved particularly embarrassing. While leaving the vehicle at the dealership during a test drive of another car, employees noticed the Voyah sitting in the parking lot with its door handles extended, exterior lights illuminated, and—most importantly—completely unlocked. The dealership reportedly documented the event on video before notifying the owner.
That’s not exactly the ownership experience most EV buyers expect.
The Explanation That Sparked Headlines
The story might have remained a relatively ordinary software issue had it not been for the explanation Berggren says he received during discussions with the service department.
According to the owner, he was told that his height—an imposing 202 centimeters (6 feet 7½ inches)—might actually be contributing to the problem. The suggestion was that he could be walking away from the vehicle so quickly that the keyless system failed to recognize the electronic key had left the car’s proximity.
Berggren’s response was understandably skeptical.
Yes, he’s exceptionally tall. No, he insists, he doesn’t sprint away from his vehicle after parking.
Predictably, the explanation quickly spread across automotive publications and social media, where it became the most talked-about part of the entire story.
A More Technical Explanation Emerges
The dealership has since offered a different and considerably more plausible explanation.
According to the sales center’s director, the issue may occur if the driver presses the brake pedal again after shifting into Park. In certain circumstances, the vehicle may remain in its active—or “Ready”—mode instead of fully shutting down. If the car still believes it’s operational, the locking system may intentionally refuse to secure the doors.
That behavior isn’t unique to Voyah. Many modern vehicles prevent locking when they detect the vehicle hasn’t fully powered down, helping prevent situations where a running car is accidentally left unattended.
The dealer also noted that owners can disable automatic locking and manually lock the vehicle, while acknowledging that the case requires further investigation because the Courage remains a relatively uncommon model in Norway.
Software, Not Stature
The Norwegian importer doesn’t believe the issue rises to the level of a defect warranting cancellation of the sales contract. Instead, it points to the possibility that the vehicle is remaining in Ready mode rather than suffering from a fundamental hardware failure.
Berggren, however, argues that the technical explanation misses the bigger point.
When you can never be completely certain whether your car will remain locked after you walk away, trust in the product inevitably begins to erode.
And that’s difficult to quantify.
How Keyless Systems Are Supposed to Work
Modern keyless-entry systems rely on multiple antennas positioned throughout the vehicle to determine whether the electronic key is inside the cabin or safely outside. If the software concludes the key remains inside—or believes the vehicle hasn’t fully shut down—it will often refuse to lock the doors as a safety precaution.
When these systems malfunction, the culprit is typically far less dramatic than driver physiology. Software bugs, calibration issues, sensor inconsistencies, or communication errors between electronic control modules are all considerably more likely explanations than the owner’s height.
In other words, while Berggren’s 202-centimeter frame certainly makes him stand out in a crowd, it shouldn’t confuse a properly functioning keyless-entry system.
The Voyah Courage case highlights an increasingly common reality of modern automobiles. Today’s vehicles are rolling computers packed with sophisticated electronics that deliver remarkable convenience—until one small software hiccup undermines an everyday function drivers have long taken for granted.
Whether this particular issue ultimately proves to be a software bug, an operational quirk, or something else entirely remains to be seen. But one thing is already clear: blaming an unusually tall owner has generated far more headlines than any routine software update ever could.
Sometimes the most memorable automotive stories aren’t about horsepower or lap times.
Sometimes they’re simply about whether your car locks when you walk away.
Source: Automotive News
