Citroen C3 You - No Electronic Locking?

[DimeDozen]

Hi all,

Sorry in advance: I know almost nothing about cars. I recently bought a Citroen C3 You, which is a 2024 model. I'm very happy with it overall, but the one problem with it is that it has no remote locking, only a manual key. I did not know they even made cars like this in 2024. I assume this was done to keep costs down, which is fine, but I want to install electronic locking with remotes.

I went to a garage today and asked about it, and the guy reported that it is impossible to install electronic locking to this model of car because there was nothing compatible on his system. However, I think he made an error when looking it up: He seemed convinced that it was actually a base C3 from 2023 because he was identifying it via bodywork, which looks like this. I'm not surprised that nothing compatible came up on his system, because the base model C3s (not the You) all have electronic locking already.

Is it actually impossible to install this on my model of C3? Doing a bit of digging I find stuff like this which seems like it would be compatible, and even other ones which claim to be universal.

Also, they claimed that it was impossible to duplicate the key because of something to do with a transponder - but the car has no electronic locking, so the key is just a piece of plastic and metal and doesn't even have one. Was this an error too?

Thanks in advance for any help

[PaulC5]

The transponder will be a chip in the key which is recognised by the immobiliser so nothing to do with the locking of the doors.

[Rp0thejester]

Well you do have electronic locking, you lock it via the the key, not like the old vehicles where you had to push the door 'knob' down before shutting the door.

[DimeDozen]

The transponder will be a chip in the key which is recognised by the immobiliser so nothing to do with the locking of the doors.

Ah, that's unfortunate. Might need to get a new one from Citroen themselves if that's the case.

Well you do have electronic locking, you lock it via the the key, not like the old vehicles where you had to push the door 'knob' down before shutting the door.

Yes, at least we have that. Still, I want my remote

[Richard_C]

The OP is in Italy, I think UK spec C3 You will have had remote locking. Was it purchsed new or pre owned, and are you sure the seller handed over both the original keys?. All of our recent cars have had 2 fully functioning keys but I remember earlier ones had one remote and one 'dumb' key. Citroens used to come with a plastic card in the handbook pack, the card had code so that a Citroen dealer could obtain the correct keys. Do you have anything like that?

I have a new C4 which says you can lock and unlock with the MyCitroen app on Android or Apple phones. I think its part of Citroen Connect Plus which you get for a year for free then becomes a subscription service. Not very sure about it and haven't had a need to use it. Maybe download the app, enter your VIN and see if anything works.

I had a Dyane with central locking - you could reach all the door locks from the driver's seat.

[DimeDozen]

The OP is in Italy, I think UK spec C3 You will have had remote locking. Was it purchsed new or pre owned, and are you sure the seller handed over both the original keys?. All of our recent cars have had 2 fully functioning keys but I remember earlier ones had one remote and one 'dumb' key. Citroens used to come with a plastic card in the handbook pack, the card had code so that a Citroen dealer could obtain the correct keys. Do you have anything like that?

I have a new C4 which says you can lock and unlock with the MyCitroen app on Android or Apple phones. I think its part of Citroen Connect Plus which you get for a year for free then becomes a subscription service. Not very sure about it and haven't had a need to use it. Maybe download the app, enter your VIN and see if anything works.

I had a Dyane with central locking - you could reach all the door locks from the driver's seat.

Awesome, thanks a lot for the information. I will try this. It is pre-owned, and the dealership actually screwed up with the keys - they gave us only one dumb key, and no remote or other dumb key. They're currently chasing it up to get it sorted, which might end up with them having to go to Citroen to get a new one. It's possible, then, that the key they apparently misplaced was the remote one, and not another dumb one like I imagined, and that the car itself has electronic locking already. This would make a LOT more sense than a car made in 2024 lacking remote locking, and I was unable to find any mention of this anywhere else online - you'd think it would be mentioned in reviews or something since it is so abnormal. The Italian You model is different to the English one (I believe the English one lacks AC, at least according to what I saw online, whereas a car without AC would not sell a single unit here), so it is possible that the Italian one lacks remote locking, but I just can't see that being the case.

I will let the dealership know, since I am pretty sure they were looking for another dumb key, and it is possible the remote is just sat on a shelf somewhere. I will also check the documents today to see if I can find that code - and I will try the app too! Thanks a lot for the information, it is very helpful