Locked in

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | letter to the editor

[Willie Green]

Recently I was a passenger in a new car with child-proof door locks. You can't get out until the driver says so. This applies to the front passenger also. Why?

Young children are supposed to be in the back, strapped and locked in. But a grown, mature person could easily become a captive if accepting a ride from a person with other than friendly intentions. You don't have a chance of getting away.

[Willie Green]

Automobiles are designed by federal bureaucrats.

[widowithfoursons]

I agree. OTOH, a mature, responsible adult would not accept a ride from a maybe iffy character.

[honeygrl]

I've never seen child locks that worked on the front passenger door. Normally I'm certain they only are on the back doors. The exception I guess would be on a truck or a car which has only front doors. These things are wonderful for children because many carseats are made where they can very easily reach the door handle and children (like my 2 year old) delight in opening the door. And really, the days of safe hitchhiking are long gone.. even minus the childproof doors it's way to dangerous to consider anymore.

[Alberta's Child]

And tort law is designed so that nobody in their right mind should ever have anyone but a family member in their car anyway.

[KarlInOhio]

Do these always work now? The ones on my car have a lever on the edge of the door to turn them on or off, but I haven't looked at a new car recently.

[Registered]

I'm sure some trial lawyers filed this note under potential work...

[goodnesswins]

There are options for child locks in our Ford P/U (4-door)....the driver can press a button which disables the unlocking function, as well as the windows, and it DOES affect the front passenger seat.

[asformeandformyhouse]

But a grown, mature person could easily become a captive if accepting a ride from a person with other than friendly intentions.

Just shoot them and escape when the car stops.

[History is truth]

Automobiles are designed by automotive companies. DOT gives safety standards they must meet. No car has child safety locks on the front doors. Child locks on the rear doors can be disabled by the owner if they don't have children.

Many automobiles lock the doors automatically when the transmission is put in gear. Perhaps the problem was that the person who couldn't get out of the front door was too stupid to unlock the door before they tried to get out.

[Willie Green]

Do these always work now?

I honestly don't know.
I can remember back in "the good old days" when getting out of a car was pretty easy. All you had to do was pull the handle to open the door. If it was locked, the lock would automaticly open. The few cars I remember having to pull the lock button up first were a real pain in the neck, but I can't remember whether they were designed that way or if it was simply because the lock-opening mechanism had broken.

Nowadays, with all the electronic pushbuttons, recessed handles, etc. etc. I have a tough time figuring out how to get out of any car that I'm unfamiliar with.

[IYAS9YAS]

Yes, but a mature, responsible adult could be placed in the situation of needing to exit the vehicle rapidly (fire, accident or other) and could not. What if the driver was incapacitated?

Here's another thing...have any of you noticed the conspicuously missing keyhole on the front passenger doors of many new cars? Many new cars seem to only have a keyhole on the driver's door.

[dark_lord]

You want some real fun, fly into some city and rent an unfamiliar car - at night - and try and figure out where the headlight switch/knob/lever/rod is - while sitting in the dark in the rental lot.

[Willie Green]

You want some real fun, fly into some city and rent an unfamiliar car - at night - and try and figure out where the headlight switch/knob/lever/rod is - while sitting in the dark in the rental lot.

Yeah, Detroit sure spends a lot of money on R&D to design these modern inconveniences.

They call it "progress", but when I stop to think about it, I'm not so sure that it is.

[Indrid Cold]

You can, however, exit the TRUNK whenever you want to. Have you seen the little yellow tag next to the interior trunk release that shows a stick figure hopping out of the trunk and running away?

[Willie Green]

LOL! You're right!
I completely forgot about that!

[CSM]

"Here's another thing...have any of you noticed the conspicuously missing keyhole on the front passenger doors of many new cars? Many new cars seem to only have a keyhole on the driver's door."

That is true, it was done as a cost savings. I am not sure of the actual per vehicle cost save, but that was the intent. You can always unlock the passenger door with the key fob. The only key access for most cars would be if/when the key fob is lost or the battery dies. In those cases the driver can still access the vehicle via the driver's door.

This savings and others like it are not a function of the OEM's adding to the bottom line, instead it is an offset to the added costs related to incorporating federally mandated items every year. The OEM's generally can't pass the increase on to the customer, of course if the added cost actually adds value to the customer some cost can be added to the price, but generally it is not a value that is seen by the customer.

I am not sure about the "child safety" lock issue on the front passenger door. This does present a major safety problem. What vehicle was this?

[SoothingDave]

Here's another thing...have any of you noticed the conspicuously missing keyhole on the front passenger doors of many new cars? Many new cars seem to only have a keyhole on the driver's door.

Chivalry is dead.

SD

[IYAS9YAS]

I am not sure about the "child safety" lock issue on the front passenger door. This does present a major safety problem. What vehicle was this?

Don't know, I've only been in vehicles that automatically lock when you put the car in gear or acheive a certain MPH (usually around 20MPH).

I have window lockouts that are used to allow only the driver to control the windows, but the comment on the front passenger door was made by another poster.

[CSM]

A guy can still be chivalrous (sp?) by using the key fob.

[CSM]

Sorry, I was hoping someone would read the post and let me know the vehicle model that was being referenced.

Willie,

What kind of car was it?