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Doors open while locked?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by cpatch, Sep 4, 2009.

  1. cpatch

    cpatch New Member

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    I just discovered yesterday that the doors in my Gen III can be opened from the inside when locked (the front doors at least...I didn't check the back). Pulling the door handle unlocks the door, even while moving. This seems like a major safety issue...can it be disabled?
     
  2. rachaelseven

    rachaelseven New Member

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    A major safety issue? Really? The back ones have child safety locks (all cars in the US have for a while, afaik) that prevent operation from inside and I would hope the grown-ups (theoretically at least) driving the car would know not to get out while it's moving?
     
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Most cars work this way. Not being able to get out is also a major safety issue.

    Tom
     
  4. bokone

    bokone Junior Member

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    I love that feature. I'm smart enough not to exit the vehicle while moving and as mentioned the rears have a child safety switch. My friends Honda drives me crazy having to unlock the door to get out. In an emergency (fire perhaps), I know I would be pulling at that handle in desperation and in vain. Just my $.02
     
  5. Salsawonder

    Salsawonder New Member

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    After I bought my 2010 I crawled in the back seat and closed the door then freaked out thinking the childlock might have been set. Thank goodness it was not on, I am not good at crawling over the seats. I have met a woman recently who did attempt to jump out of the car while moving........she was on a 5150 for danger to self. She spent quite a long time in our unit.
     
  6. cpatch

    cpatch New Member

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    Really. (OK, maybe not major.) I've had passengers in an inebriated state try to open the door while moving in the past. And while I do see the benefit of having the doors unlock automatically in the case of an emergency, it's not that hard to manually unlock them either.
     
  7. spinkao

    spinkao New Member

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    Well, they shouldn't be allowed to drive a car then... :eek:
     
  8. jay_man2

    jay_man2 jay_man_also

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    Passengers don't usually drive the car. Otherwise we wouldn't call them passengers.:car:
     
  9. cpatch

    cpatch New Member

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    Which is exactly why I was driving and they weren't.
     
  10. downeastah

    downeastah Junior Member

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    :party:
     
  11. pfreeus

    pfreeus New Member

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    If the childlock was set, couldn't you just roll the window down and used the outside door handle? Assuming the car was in ready or assessory mode that is...
     
  12. namasteflc

    namasteflc New Member

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    A related issue(perhaps another thread?): if you're stopped at a traffic light in a 'bad' neighborhood and someone tries to get into the drivers door from outside, what's stopping the unlocking feature from working? (Just your foot on the accelerator?)
     
  13. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I don't understand your question. If the bad person is already inside the car, the lock doesn't make much of a difference. If they are on the outside, then auto-unlock isn't an issue, since it only works with the inside handle. What sort of a lock would allow anyone to open it from the outside? It's no longer a lock if it does that. Or perhaps you are talking about the Smart Key System? That's not what this thread is about, but if you are talking about the SKS, it won't allow anyone on the outside to open the door if the car is locked with a fob on the inside.

    Tom
     
  14. bluemonday

    bluemonday New Member

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    The car knows whether the fob is inside or outside the car.
     
  15. rachaelseven

    rachaelseven New Member

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    Ok, fair enough. I can see where it would be somewhat of an issue with an inebriated passenger. To that I could only answer that if they are not sober enough to keep the door closed while the ride is in motion, perhaps they should be in the back seat with the child locks set. Just a thought.
     
  16. 32kcolors

    32kcolors Senior Member

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    We have something called survival of the fittest. Embrace it.
     
  17. JRitt

    JRitt Bio-Medical Equip. Tech

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    If you can open the doors while the car is moving and they are locked then why have an auto lock feature (locks the car when put into drive ) anyway?
     
  18. spinkao

    spinkao New Member

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    My apologies, that was just my bad English, I am not a native speaker ;). I should probably said "not allowed to drive in a car", or "travel by a car" ;). I realized they were not driving themselves :D.

    Well, in such a case, they could still be seated in the rear with the child locks engaged :cool:?
     
  19. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    If this is changed, it will become a major dissatisfaction issue for loyal customers of certain other brands who have been accustomed to this lock behavior for many decades.
     
  20. MikeDS

    MikeDS Member

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    I much prefer it this way....my wife's Civic doesn't do this and people are always trying to rip the handle off trying to open the door. I have my locks set so they won't unlock when you put the car in park, so the doors are always locked until someone in the car tries to open the door. Perfect.