Selective passive door lock functions for vehicles

1. A method of selectively carrying out a vehicle passive door lock function, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a vehicle operator's exit from a vehicle having at least one lockable door for passenger entry and exit, wherein the vehicle is configured to automatically carry out a passive operator departure process in a first mode, wherein the first mode comprises carrying out two or more door lock functions following the operator's exit, and wherein a first one of the door lock functions comprises automatically locking the vehicle door, and a second one of the door lock functions comprises automatically providing a notification indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked;

(b) determining whether the vehicle is at a lock function exempt location;

(c) automatically carrying out the passive operator departure process in the first mode when it is determined that the vehicle is not at the exempt location; and

(d) automatically carrying out the passive operator departure process in a second mode following the operator's exit when it is determined that the vehicle is at the exempt location, wherein the passive operator departure process in the second mode comprises carrying out at least one of the door locking functions performed when in the first mode while foregoing the second one of the door lock functions, whereby no automatic notification is provided indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked.

2. The method set forth in claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the operator's exit from the vehicle further comprises detecting movement of a passive entry control device out of proximity to the vehicle.

3. The method set forth in claim 1 , wherein step (b) further comprises accessing current vehicle location data from a global positioning system (GPS) module on the vehicle and comparing the current vehicle location data to stored location data indicative of the lock function exempt location.

4. The method set forth in claim 1 , wherein the lock function exempt location comprises a home location for the vehicle and wherein step (b) further comprises detecting data indicative of the vehicle being at the home location.

5. The method set forth in claim 1 , wherein the lock function exempt location comprises a home garage location indicating that the vehicle is located in a garage of the operator's home, and wherein step (b) further comprises detecting data indicative of the vehicle being at the home garage location.

6. The method set forth in claim 5 , wherein, in step (d), carrying out the passive operator departure process in the second mode further comprises leaving the vehicle unlocked when the vehicle is determined to be within the home garage location.

7. The method set forth in claim 1 , wherein the second door lock function comprises an audible alert indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked.

8. A method of configuring a vehicle for selectively carrying out a vehicle passive door lock function, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a first input instructing the vehicle to carry out a passive operator departure process in a first mode, wherein the first mode comprises carrying out two or more door lock functions following exit of an operator from the vehicle, wherein a first one of the door lock functions comprises automatically locking the vehicle door, and a second one of the door lock functions comprises automatically providing a notification indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked;

(b) receiving a second input instructing the vehicle to carry out the passive operator departure process in a second mode following exit of an operator from the vehicle when the vehicle is at one or more identified geographic locations, whereby the one or more identified geographic locations comprise lock function exempt location(s), wherein the passive operator departure process in the second mode comprises carrying out at least one of the door locking functions performed when in the first mode while foregoing the second one of the door lock functions, whereby no automatic notification is provided indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked;

(c) obtaining data indicative of the presence of the vehicle at the lock function exempt location(s); and

(d) configuring the vehicle to automatically detect if the vehicle is at one of the one or more lock function exempt locations when the operator exits the vehicle and, if not, to automatically carry out the passive operator departure process in the first mode and, if so, to automatically carry out the passive operator departure process in the second mode following exit of the operator from the vehicle.

9. The method set forth in claim 8 , wherein the second input is received at the vehicle via a touch screen input on a vehicle user interface or as speech received by a vehicle microphone.

10. The method set forth in claim 9 , wherein step (c) further comprises obtaining location data indicative of the location of the vehicle at the time the second input was received.

11. The method set forth in claim 8 , wherein the first input, the second input, or both, is received via a web portal or mobile device.

12. The method set forth in claim 8 , wherein step (c) further comprises obtaining location data from a remote location.

13. A method of selectively carrying out a vehicle passive door lock function, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving one or more location inputs via one or more human-machine interfaces included in a vehicle, wherein each of the one or more location inputs defines a lock function exempt location;

(b) detecting a vehicle operator's exit from the vehicle having at least one lockable door for passenger entry and exit, wherein the vehicle is configured to automatically carry out a passive operator departure process in a first mode following exit of an operator from the vehicle, wherein the first mode comprises automatically locking the vehicle door and automatically providing a notification indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked;

(c) determining whether the vehicle is at one of the defined lock function exempt locations;

(d) automatically carrying out the passive operator departure process in the first mode when it is determined that the vehicle is not at one of the lock function exempt locations; and

(e) automatically carrying out the passive operator departure process in a second mode following the operator's exit when it is determined that the vehicle is at the exempt location, wherein the second mode comprises automatically locking the vehicle door without providing the notification indicating that the vehicle door has been automatically locked.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein step (e) further comprises: determining a present time of day, carrying out the passive operator departure process in the first mode following the operator's exit when the present time of day is not within a predetermined time range, and carrying out the passive operator departure process in the second mode following the operator's exit when both it is determined that the vehicle is at the exempt location and the present time of day is within the predetermined time range.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of receiving an input indicating one or more times, wherein the one or more times are used to define the predetermined time range.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving an input for each of the lock function exempt locations, wherein each of the inputs indicates one or more times used to define a corresponding predetermined time range.