The door will not close. It appears that the lock is in the closed position and will not allow the catch to close fully and engage. The m/c is mid cycle so I have switched off at the main socket

Quite a lot of cars have automatically locking doors - when the car reaches around 15 mph the doors lock or a minute after the ignition key has been removed. Other than these times the system must receive a lock doors command either from the plip or by using the key to lock the driver door and sometimes the front passenger door.

You didn't say whether the problem was happening while the car is moving or when stationary but that aside, when a command to lock the doors has been received the system will attempt to comply but if it can't comply it will often make subsequent attempts and sometimes it will keep attempting to lock the doors.

Usually the reason it can't comply with the command is because a door isn't fully closed or the system thinks a door or the tailgate isn't fully closed because at least one of the devices in each door that should tell the system all the doors are closed isn't working.

That device on some cars is a switch buried in the door catch that is operated when the door striker is fully engaged in the catch. Often maladjustment and a lack of lubrication causes an abnormally high degree of wear in the catch and especially of the striker preventing the striker fully entering the catch and operating the switch.

I am not familiar with the model but door mechanisms tend to be similar between makes and models and a thought occurs...

When a door is closed the catch is pushed over the striker and when it is fully home the catch latches and holds the door closed. That is what happens when everything is in good condition and correctly adjusted though sometimes some designs of catch can be defeated when the door is allowed to swing with insufficient force to close it, resulting in the catch latching in the closed position while the door is open and consequently the door won't close until the catch is released.

Many but not all door catches will reset when the door handle is operated - some must be reset using a rod or screwdriver mimicking the door striker while operating the door handle. The child safety lock generally immobilises the internal handle but leaves the outside handle and the catch/latch to operate normally.

If the door does not operate predictably as per the owner's handbook, you should assume there is an internal fault - mostly caused by maladjustment and/or a lack of lubrication.

It is probably unlocking because the brain doesn't think the doors/tailgate/bonnet is closed and therefore won't allow them to lock.

One such case I was involved with had a switch buried in the driver door catch which is supposed to be operated by the striker when the door was fully closed but many closings of a maladjusted and poorly lubricated door wore away the nylon coating from the striker resulting in the door striker failing to enter the catch far enough to operate the switch leaving the brain believing the door was open.

there must be a problem with the lock or the catch or something has been pushed in the hole for the catch i would check that there is nothing in there first. they not adjustable when the door is closed a pin is closed on the lock when it is turned on for a was cycle.

Sounds like the door latch is not returning to the closed position.

It appears that the door is not closing far enough for the latch to move to the second position in it's movement. ie on not closing the door properly you will see that it is latched but not closed . Push it harder and it closes properly. Lubricate the latch mechanism and you may have to adjust the catch position to allow the lock to go to the fully locked position POssible rubbers to cold and stiff to allow the door to close easily

If door won't close and you don't have a child-lock, just push the door closed a lot harder than you normally would - NEFF manual says to do that, and it worked for me! I think it just forces it to engage and 'releases' the catch, as after that it closed with just normal pressure applied.

Hello,
Check that something has not got wedged behind the top basket stopping it closing fully.If that is ok what can happen is that if there is something causing the door not closing fully ,when you try to close door to do a wash instead of the little hook actuator in the door switch fully engaging with the clasp on the body of unit,it closes down before it engages.It is like a finger hooking over say the top of your trousers.If you turn power off and get 2 small screwdrivers and carefully put them either side of the hook on door then try to bring it back to its open position.

Hope this helps.

I have seen some times the latch assemblys get rusty or dirty and the inside or outside door handles are pulled and the latch assembly siezes in the open position not allowing the door to latch closed..but this may not be the case .. check to see also if the child lock switch position is not stuck in the halfway position, also check if the latch has not flipped to the close position before the door was closed thus jamming the striker latch..this can be fixed by pulling the catch out while opening the door handle..hope this helps good luck...

is not actuallly physically closing??? perhaps the lock/ latch has partially engaged prevetning door from closing, and with the door oopen it cannot do anything for safety reasons. can you see a door /light switch thtyou can depress by hand??? if so push and hold it in the light should go out, and at this point continue to hold in switch and try starting a self clean cycle ( dont worry it wont actually start cleaning right away)it then should activet the latch assy to fully engage and suppoedly lock door, still depressing the button then press thecancel button and the latch should return to the normal resting position and you can close the door