Citroen C3 / C5 Aircross Forums

My wife attempting to start the car when it flashed up " depress clutch fully" she did have the clutch fully depressed but tried again. Then the "engine fault repair needed" came up on the screen. All the warning lights came on and the car refused to start. Apart from the obvious fault of the car not working, the locking system failed. It was teatime and she was not in a great area. She was a vulnerable female in a broken down car that could not be secured. The key would only lock the drivers door leaving access to the other three and the boot. She couldn't leave the car unsecured and she wasn't happy to have to sit there with doors unlocked. She managed to get through to a Citroen mechanic to be told they are closing and to ring the RAC. My question is: Is there a way to secure the car once the engine management fails? This seems to be a design fault that should be addressed unless there is a way to do so and the Mechanic in his haste to clock off just couldn't be bothered to explain how.
After sitting there for a while the car did start and she managed to get it home. We have a 68 plate C3 Aircross Flair 1.2 Petrol.

Yes, you can secure the car. Page 46 of the online manual. You have to lock the driver door with the key, take out black plugs on the passenger doors to slide a latch and diconnect the battery to lock the boot. A bit of faff but it can be done. Assuming you have a spanner to diconnect the battery it's a 5 -10 min job for regular person. Mind you, diconnecting the battery means that the alarm won't work.

Not a very nice experience for your wife Meggie144. Disconnecting the battery is definitely too much of a faff - plus I haven't carried tools in the car since the 1980's! (other than wheel spanner & jack of course). Your wife may have used this to get hold of Citroen but just to mention the Assistance Call button near the interior light (black with Citroen logo) - pressing this for 2 seconds is supposed to put you through directly to Citroen (as you have a Flair I assume that you have this as standard, I haven't tried it BTW). Of course if there was a battery fault this might not work I saw the "depress clutch fully" message on a test drive after start/stop kicked in, but in my case I may not have had it fully depressed.