quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

These things are all pretty standard for cars made in the last five years.

....or so....

...vehicles have been built with this feature since the early 1980s

quote:

Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
I prefer the Pre-Lock Fords.

How about a new Caterham/Lotus 7? No doors!

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

These things are all pretty standard for cars made in the last five years.

....or so....

...vehicles have been built with this feature since the early 1980s

Indeed.

I hate those child safety locks... Never really had any issues with them until I started dating a gal (my fiancee now) who's son (10 at the time) was flipping the lever on the back doors - usually on his way out so the next time I had people in the back seat, they were locked in.


I'm sure he thought it was funny - except when he got locked in the back and got no sympathy. He's 18 now and, thankfully, no longer pulls that stunt.

I think this problem points out a big issue with new cars, in that in a lot of ways, they're designed by lawyers. I don't know if customers with families were lobbying the automakers for those child safety locks. More likely some kid opened a door and ejected themselves while the car was in motion, spawning a lawsuit. Seeing the potential for legal losses, the automakers felt the need to look like they were trying to fix the problem.

This is really an issue? It's been a feature of rear doors for decades on many cars...

quote:

Originally posted by Jus228:
This is really an issue? It's been a feature of rear doors for decades on many cars...

Apparently.

Of course I am aware of pretty much no one that actually uses them, so no one thinks they are there...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stoic-one,

Unnecessarily complicated cars is not a recent thing.

Back in the 1980s I would travel for work. One night I flew into Oakland CA from the east coast. After delays, I arrived at midnight. I rented a new Firebird. In the dimly lit parking lot, I sat for an hour trying to figure out how to turn on the headlights! I could see my motel, with the nice warm bed, but I couldn't get the headlights on.

quote:

Originally posted by Hay2bale:


Back in the 1980s I would travel for work. One night I flew into Oakland CA from the east coast. After delays, I arrived at midnight. I rented a new Firebird. In the dimly lit parking lot, I sat for an hour trying to figure out how to turn on the headlights! I could see my motel, with the nice warm bed, but I couldn't get the headlights on.

You should have just googled it or used the flashlight on your smart brick phone

Outside of the child safety locks which have been on cars since the 80's most vehicles today are turning into rolling entertainment systems, heck even my new Harley has an "infotainment" system, the book on this system is twice as thick as the owners manual on the bike.

They even have videos (7 of them) on the HD owners web page on the features of the system and how to use them. It has BT, connects to the phone, I can use siri through the voice command system, play Prime Music, send and read text (while stopped so don't freak) heck you can't tell I"m on the bike when on a phone call at 70 mph. It's crazy stuff.

At one time BMW's I drive was considered absurdly overcomplicated.

I think that's why the mediainfotainment me crowd is clammoring for self driving cars, so they can ride to the store or work with their heads down buried in self absorbed social media apps.

One day there will be an online system to help people with that problem of attachment to infotainment, I bet they make an app for it...

quote:

Originally posted by Hay2bale:
Unnecessarily complicated cars is not a recent thing.

...In the dimly lit parking lot, I sat for an hour trying to figure out how to turn on the headlights!

Reminds me of the time I attended a charity event at a private home were they provided valet parking.

I was driving a Porsche 911 that evening and the poor valet, while retrieving my car, didn't know where the ignition was located (left of the steering column). I could see him peering everywhere around the interior. The same thing happens when they have to retrieve a Saab (between the seats)

So I leave the airport with my rental car and my grandkids in the back seat. We're in an accident, the car catches fire and they can't get the doors to open to escape. Is this still a "safety feature" or has the law of unintended consequences just kicked in?
Many cars, not my 2017 Subaru, lock all 4 doors, when you put the car in DRIVE and either unlock, when you turn the key off or when the driver hits the UNLOCK switch on the door. Isn't that a better and ultimately safer system. Bear in mind, we're talking a rental car with an unfamiliar driver, who discovers his passengers can't exit the vehicle without his assistance.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

I was driving a Porsche 911 that evening and the poor valet, while retrieving my car, didn't know where the ignition was located (left of the steering column).

Kids these days just don't follow endurance racing like we used to!

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
So I leave the airport with my rental car and my grandkids in the back seat. We're in an accident, the car catches fire and they can't get the doors to open to escape. Is this still a "safety feature" or has the law of unintended consequences just kicked in?
Many cars, not my 2017 Subaru, lock all 4 doors, when you put the car in DRIVE and either unlock, when you turn the key off or when the driver hits the UNLOCK switch on the door. Isn't that a better and ultimately safer system. Bear in mind, we're talking a rental car with an unfamiliar driver, who discovers his passengers can't exit the vehicle without his assistance.

Auto locking doors are a different thing altogether. The purpose of auto locking doors is to keep the door closed in an accident. Someone did a study and figured that there's a greater chance that a door will unlatch itself in an accident if the door is unlocked. A door that stays closed and latch does a better job of protecting the occupants. A auto locking door doesn't keep children from opening the door because they can just unlock the door from the inside as per usual. On my BMW, they don't even have to unlock the door--they just tug on the door handle twice to open it.

A child safety lock (which, by the way, is always optionally activated), is to prevent a child from opening the door. Not only does this prevent children from opening the door unintentionally while the vehicle is in motion, but it also keeps overly excited children from flinging their doors open and jumping out into traffic. A car pulled up next to me once at the Disneyland parking lot and the fucking kid was so excited that she basically kicked the door open--right into the rear quarter panel of my car, leaving a sizeable ding and chip.

When I have children, I will definitely use the child safety lock. I've seen my young nephews. Those guys get too excited too often, and I can easily imagine those guys unbuckling themselves from their booster or child seats and bailing out of the car the moment the vehicle stops moving.


Lastly, an unfamiliar car, first time using the door, with child safety locks on by happenstance, plus an immediate accident, causing a fire, plus an unconscious driver AND front passenger? Really? C'mon. I don't think I've EVER read about a situation where a child safety lock as caused someone to unnecessarily die in a car wreck.

Chances are if there's a wreck bad enough to kill or incapacitate the driver, you are probably better off staying inside the vehicle and not moving or risk further injury. But if you REALLY needed to get out, chances are the windows are also probably busted out from the wreck. If you are so severely injured that you can only egress out of your own door, the car is on fire or on a train track or something, your window miraculously didn't break, the driver and front passenger are both incapacitated (why would you be sitting in the back as the only other passenger in the car? ?) the vehicle is on fire, AND nobody sees you wreck (including any other vehicle you might have collided with), then you should probably count yourself as the unluckiest person ever and just embrace it.

Lastly, the auto locking mechanism means that if there's a wreck and you are unconscious, the doors are locked against potential rescuers. Usually not a problem, as people will probably just bust open your window to get to you, but if you are coming up with wild scenarios, you might as well consider the one where you have a child in a child seat in the back that is able self extricate, but can't unlock the front door to get to you.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
I think this problem points out a big issue with new cars, in that in a lot of ways, they're designed by lawyers. I don't know if customers with families were lobbying the automakers for those child safety locks. More likely some kid opened a door and ejected themselves while the car was in motion, spawning a lawsuit. Seeing the potential for legal losses, the automakers felt the need to look like they were trying to fix the problem.

They did need to fix the problem, because someone won a lawsuit over just that set of facts. You do need to make it impossible for Junior to open the back door and jump out of a car, when someone gets awarded a lot of money when some 3 year old manages to do it.

I drove a new Honda on a dealer trade last week and never could figure out how to turn the front wipers on. The rear one was real easy, but not the front. When I needed the wiper, i just used the squirt feature.

First I've heard of the issue. Of course, I've never owned a 4-door car....

flashguy

From 2007 to mid-2016 I rented 40+ cars a year. They're all a bit different but I never had any issue adapting.

I found surveillance video of NK402 returning the unnecessarily complicated Escape to the rental agency.

And I thought this was going to be about the Cadillac CT6 Platinum with 20 way power adjustable seats with 15 massage settings, 34 speaker Bose stereo, and night vision.