Last week was my last goof-off trip of summer as I plan to move within the next month. Up in Canada, I had two rental cars...an Allure (LaCrosse) for a week followed by a Camry for a day.

In the Allure and in all GM products, when the door locks are in the closed position, you cannot open the door from the inside.

In the Camry (and I believe in Chrysler and Ford products), when the door locks are in the closed position, you still can open the door from the inside.

Maybe I'm showing bias for GM (so what else is new), I think that the closed door lock should also mean one cannot open the door freely with the handle inside the car. I've never understood why Toyota and others would do this differently.

Your preference and thoughts?

Edited October 9, 200717 yr by trinacriabob

My Millenia is the same as GM products, but I think the Camry's system would prevent someone from being locked inside of a car. That, by all means, is a good thing.

In our Bimmer and VW, pulling the door handle once unlocks the door, and pulling once more opens it. I think it's a good compromise.

The Intrepid won't let you clock the car while it is in park and the engine is on...

I love the fact that it unlocks when I pull on the door handle...I hated that the Cobalt did not have that feature...it's so inconvenient...I guess I was "spoiled" by the Shadow having it too.

I mean...how stupid would you have to be to pull on teh door handle to unlock/open it from the inside while the car is in motion anyway?

It would be smart for only the passenger side doors to open when locked. You know how many times I nonchalantly open up a door to nearly have it ripped off on the drivers side? ALOT!!

My Millenia is the same as GM products, but I think the Camry's system would prevent someone from being locked inside of a car. That, by all means, is a good thing.

Locked inside a car? Um. If your occupant is that stupid/retarded, they should be under constant supervision anyway.

My Jeep has a lockout button for the rear doors (and one for the windows), but the front doors still open from the inside when locked....

I've gone to lunch w/ fiends before and stepped out and walked towards the restaurant, only to turn back after hearing people hollering/pounding on the doors, locked in the back...

Edited October 9, 200717 yr by moltar

Locked inside a car? Um. If your occupant is that stupid/retarded, they should be under constant supervision anyway.

It could happen.

Either way, it'd be a nice feature. The front door to my house is like that.

it's more of a safety thing. it's the driver's responsibility to make sure people get out or stay in the car. otherwise that's why there's a manual unlock "thingy". lol

Oh yeah, unlike the Shadow the passenger side door can unlock from the inside when the door handle is pulled. The rear doors do not unlock from the inside but that's what doing it yourself is for...or the front occupants can unlock all doors at once for them....and of course it has child safety locks.

My car autolocks/unlocks when put into park and, yes, its programmable, so to go back to the beginning, this is a non-issue for me. It also won't let me lock the doors from the inside while the key is in the ignition. And when you hit the unlock button on the fob, it unlocks the driver's door and illuminates the interior; a second press of the button unlocks all doors and flashes the headlamps once; a third press sounds the horn quickly and flashes all exterior lighting while keeping the headlamps illuminated for several seconds - and that's not programmable - the car is just intelligent.

The ONLY time I wonder about this is if the car has been involved in an event that would cause it to go off the road...like down the side of an enbankment or wedged between trees in a forest...whatever...and the person had to get out of a mangled door when the door lock mechanism was in the locked position. Then, which design would make more sense?

i curse my ford the way it wont unlock the effing doors. i have to hit the unlock twice as i leave the car, just so that i can open the passenger door to get something out of the front seat. i've wanted to torch the car because of this.

Bob's latest post in this thread reminds me of that scene in "Jackass: The Movie" when they rent that Ford Contour (?) and bring it back completely destroyed just to see the look on the rental car guy's face. What exactly are you doing to those poor rental cars, Bob?

Anyway, seriously, I don't quite get the issue put forth here. You can still unlock the door with the manual button on a car with electric locks. In the event of an accident, a door will more likely be jammed shut because the bodywork is crushed than anything else, making the door lock question sort of moot, imo.

My car autolocks/unlocks when put into park and, yes, its programmable, so to go back to the beginning, this is a non-issue for me. It also won't let me lock the doors from the inside while the key is in the ignition. And when you hit the unlock button on the fob, it unlocks the driver's door and illuminates the interior; a second press of the button unlocks all doors and flashes the headlamps once; a third press sounds the horn quickly and flashes all exterior lighting while keeping the headlamps illuminated for several seconds - and that's not programmable - the car is just intelligent.

Mine is kind of like that.

When I press the unlock fob once, it unlocks the driver's door and illuminates the interior. Twice will unlock all doors. When I lock it with the fob the lights will flash and the horn will briefly sound to conform I have locked it.

The car will lock itself when you've reached a speed of 20mph or so.

Nice features to have.

Edited October 9, 200717 yr by Dodgefan

I like the doors to lock to outside intruders (if that situation arises) and open up when I want or need to get out.

The ONLY time I wonder about this is if the car has been involved in an event that would cause it to go off the road...like down the side of an enbankment or wedged between trees in a forest...whatever...and the person had to get out of a mangled door when the door lock mechanism was in the locked position. Then, which design would make more sense?

If the door is mangled it might not matter what system it is. In that event, I always have my trusty combination window hammer/seatbelt slicer.

Locked inside a car? Um. If your occupant is that stupid/retarded, they should be under constant supervision anyway.

Locked inside a car? Um. If your occupant is that stupid/retarded, they should be under constant supervision anyway.

For the saftey of children, when the door is locked the door should not open.

the Camry's system would prevent someone from being locked inside of a car. That, by all means, is a good thing.

Even with this system the camry would lock the occupants in the car and not let them out in the early 90s. As the person would pull the handle the power system would force the lock back down. At times the lock system would not even let you unlock the car manually.

In our Bimmer and VW, pulling the door handle once unlocks the door, and pulling once more opens it. I think it's a good compromise.

I like this the best.

I mean...how stupid would you have to be to pull on teh door handle to unlock/open it from the inside while the car is in motion anyway?

Kids don't know any better sometimes.

I would like it if the drivers door did this (unlock no matter what) and the passengers doors did not.

I think being able to get out while the door is locked from the outside is convienent. That and you never have the issue of looking like an idiot when you want to get out and you forget the door's locked.