Skip to content
Car Fault Index

Electrics · No confirmed fix yet

Jaecoo 7 keyless entry and door lock faults

Owners of the Jaecoo J7 and related Chery and Omoda models report keyless entry that does not always respond, a door that sometimes would not open from outside, a rear door handle that stopped retracting and walk-away locking that misbehaves. No cause or dealer fix has been confirmed in these reports, and some of the faults showed up only in rain, slush or frost.

Affected versions
1.6 TGDI petrol, SHS hybrids (SHS-P, SHS-H) · 7-speed dual-clutch, hybrid DHT · 2025, 2026
Owner reports
14 owners: Chery Tiggo 7 Pro 5, Omoda C5 2, Jaecoo J7 (Russia) 3, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max 3, Jaecoo 7 (UK and Australian owners) 1
Typical mileage
Not enough reports gave a mileage
Most common fix
Owner disconnected the 12 V battery terminal to get the car to unlock again (1 of 14 reports)
Covered by a recall?
No UK recall found
Last updated
November 2026

What owners report

  • On a J7, one door now and then refused to open from the outside. The dealer told the owner to return only when the door would no longer open at all. [3]
  • A rear door handle on a 2023 J7 no longer retracted into the door after 25,000 km. [13]
  • In frost the locks on a 2024 J7 play up, and the owner has to use the button to get in. [11]
  • The walk-away locking on a Tiggo 7 Pro does not always lock the car, and sometimes it opens every window and closes them again before the alarm sets. [1]
  • The touch sensor on an Omoda C5 driver's door handle responds first time only about 7 times in 10. [4]

Evidence comes from: Chery Tiggo 7 Pro (5), Omoda C5 (2), Jaecoo J7 (Russia) (3), Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max (3), Jaecoo 7 (UK and Australian owners) (1). Keyless entry, door handles and locks are body electrics on the same T1EJ body for petrol and SHS cars, but only a minority of these reports are from J7s; the rest come from Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, Tiggo 7 Pro Max and Omoda C5 cars whose door hardware may differ.

Some reports are tied to wet or freezing weather: a keyless sensor that hesitates in rain and slush, and locks or rear doors that freeze in Russian winters. UK winters are milder, so frozen doors are less likely, but wet-weather hesitation could still apply.

Known causes

No confirmed cause yet. None of the reports we counted names one.

How dealers have fixed it

What was doneReportsOutcome reported
Owner disconnected the 12 V battery terminal to get the car to unlock again1 of 14Not stated
Dealer would act only once the door failed completely1 of 14Not fixed

Reports that did not say what was done are left out of this table, so the rows need not add up to 14.

What to ask your dealer

  • “Can you read the body control and keyless entry modules for stored fault codes, even though the fault comes and goes?”
  • “Is there a software update for the keyless entry or door handle modules on my car?”
  • “If a door handle fails to pop out or retract, will the handle unit be replaced under warranty now rather than after it fails completely?”
  • “Can you test the handle sensor on each door and check that both keys are coded correctly?”

Is it safe to keep driving?

These faults do not affect how the car drives, but a door that will not open from outside, or a car that does not lock, is an access and security problem. Check the car has locked before walking away, and report a door that sometimes will not open, because one dealer would act only after it failed for good.

Questions

Have UK testers seen anything similar?
Autocar's long-term 1.6 petrol AWD car set off its alarm when locked with the button on the door soon after being switched off. That is an alarm quirk rather than the faults above, but it involves the same locking system, so mention it to the dealer if it happens.
Is there a known fix?
Not yet. No owner report names a cause or a dealer repair; one owner got a car that would not unlock working again by disconnecting the battery, and one dealer declined to act until a door stopped opening completely.

Related faults

All 24 known Jaecoo 7 faults, ranked by owner reports

Sources

Facts are restated in our own words; nothing is translated word for word. Follow the links for the originals.

  1. Owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, 2022, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  2. Owner review, Omoda C5, 2024, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  3. Owner review, Jaecoo J7, 2023, 1.6T DCT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  4. Owner review, Omoda C5, 2023, 1.6T DCT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  5. Owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max, 2023, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  6. Owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, 2023, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  7. Short owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, 2021, 1.5T (drom.ru, in Russian)
  8. Short owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, 2021 (drom.ru, in Russian)
  9. Short owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, 2022, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  10. Short owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max, 2023, 1.5T CVT (drom.ru, in Russian)
  11. Short owner review, Jaecoo J7, 2024, 1.6T (drom.ru, in Russian)
  12. Short owner review, Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max, 2024 (drom.ru, in Russian)
  13. Short owner review, Jaecoo J7, 2023, 25,000 km (drom.ru, in Russian)
  14. UK owner post (forum), 2025 (pistonheads.com, in English)
  15. UK owner post (forum), 2025 (pistonheads.com, in English)
  16. UK owner post (forum), 2025 (pistonheads.com, in English)
  17. Autocar long-term test: Jaecoo 7 1.6T AWD at 6000 miles (autocar.co.uk, in English)

Last updated 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us; we correct errors within 72 hours.