How to Use the Secret Subaru PIN Code to Lock Your Key Fob in Your Subaru

Plenty of SUV manufacturers like to advertise their vehicles as suitable for people with active lifestyles, but how many truly understand the needs of such individuals? Subaru does, and there is no better example than the Secret Subaru PIN Code. How secret is it? Most Subaru owners have no idea it exists. However, with this Twin Falls Subaru post, you are about to be the exception. 

Let’s start with the type of scenario this feature was designed for. Say you are engaged in some kind of water sport. It could be canoeing, windsurfing, jet skiing, or even just going swimming in the lake. You’ve driven to the lake/beach, and everyone in the car is heading to the water. Where do you put your car keys? It is too easy for them to get wet if you take them with you, and leaving them behind risks your car getting stolen. This is why Subaru came up with the secret PIN code. It enables you to leave your key fob in the car, lock it, and still get in your car. It is a feature found on Outbacks, Foresters, and other Subaru models with liftgates and the keyless entry system. This is how you set it up.  

Setting Your PIN 

To start, you need to set up your PIN code. This involves hearing some not-too-loud beeps from the car, so you will need to find a quiet place. Ideally, this should be near a wall on the passenger side, so the sound, which comes from the passenger side, can bounce back to you. Additionally, you set the code using a button on the liftgate, so be sure you have easy access to it.   

• This first step only applies to models with the hands-free power liftgate. You don’t want the sensor to inadvertently open the liftgate while you are setting the PIN. You can disable the system by going to the dashboard of the car, where there is a button to the left of the steering wheel that has an icon of a car with the liftgate open and “OFF” underneath. Push that button. 

• Next (or the first step if you don’t have the hands-free feature) is to locate the PIN button. It is on the liftgate, in the overhang above the license plate. This button is on the far right, as opposed to the unlock button, which is in the center. 

• Using your fob, lock the car. 

• Now, press and hold the lock button on the fob and simultaneously hold the tailgate PIN code button for a few seconds until you hear a repeating beep from the car. 

• Press the unlock button (Subaru logo button) on the fob. The car is now ready to receive your PIN code. 

• The code is five single-digit numbers of your choosing. Just make sure it is something you can remember. As an example, we will use 1,2,3,2,1. 

• Press the tailgate button once and wait for a single beep, which acknowledges the first number. Then press it twice, wait for a single beep, then three times, and so on, until you finish the fifth code number. At this point, the car will beep repeatedly to confirm that the code has been set. 

• Now, repeat your code on the tailgate button. Once you enter it a second time, the car will unlock, as indicated by the familiar unlock click sound and the taillights illuminating once.  

• Your secret PIN has now been set.

Setting Your Fob to Sleep Mode 

Normally the car will not lock when it senses the fob inside, so you have to put the fob in sleep mode. This is a simple procedure: 

• Press and hold the lock button. 

• While holding the lock button, press the unlock button twice in rapid succession. 

• The light on the fob will flash more than once to confirm it is in sleep mode. 

• Pressing any button on the fob will take it out of sleep mode. 

With the fob in sleep mode, you can leave it hidden in the car. Lock the car by pressing the grooves on the door handle. When you return to the car, use your PIN code on the liftgate button, and the car will unlock.  

We recommend practicing this a couple of times at home (with the second fob handy) to ensure everything works as planned and to help you remember the PIN. You don’t want to try it for the first time at a remote location.  

Now you are ready to engage in any of the water activities mentioned above—or backpacking, mountain climbing, or any of the other activities that SUV commercials love to showcase—without worrying about your fob getting lost or damaged. You can also do this when leaving the car at the airport, so you don’t have to worry about losing your keys during the trip. This is just another example of how Subaru walks the walk when it comes to understanding its customers’ needs. If your current car doesn’t have this feature and you want one that does, come look at the meticulously engineered Subaru models at Twin Falls Subaru.