[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Sorry if you have explained this in an earlier post. But just how did your son manage to lock himself up? Accidentally does not really explain things much :(

This is what happened. We had just returned home to find out that someone had parked in front of my gate. My son was with my sister in law and mother in law at the back. I parked the car and everyone got down (or so we thought). My son is normally the first to get down and rush home. I went in search of the owner of the other car while the others went into the house. He was not missed as each of us thought that he was with the other. I am by nature a very careful person who takes only calculated risks if forced to.

But stuff does happen and it did this time. All I can say is that we were very lucky.

[vivekz]

This is one thing which I have grown to like about Polo. Even if central locking is engaged, you can open all 4 doors from inside (except when child lock is engaged). So no chance of anyone being trapped inside.

Another thing I have noticed is that if I open the driver side door from inside after engaging central lock, the driver side door does not get locked from outside even though other doors/ boot remain locked. It helps because this prevents you locking your key inside the car.

[pranav4x4]

On the original issue of the post - This Skoda case is the first time I am hearing that the front doors of a car cannot be opened from inside. Rear doors, of course, can be child-locked on most cars, but front doors I thought were supposed to be openable from inside under ALL circumstances.

On the secondary issue of getting out of a jammed car which kept coming up in the replies... I dont think a hammer is needed...

Originally Posted by anekho

I know somebody who is paranoid about situations like these. She keeps an Emergency Hammer (link) in the glovebox of her car all the time.

Benefits include the ability of easily shattering glass and cutting through your seatbelt.

Interiors of cars are deliberately designed to not have any hammer-like objects which can become projectiles in an accident or any protruding/sharp objects on the dashboard, etc. Agreed this can become a risk when doors get jammed due to some reason... like during Mumbai floods... but keeping a hammer in itself is a risk... much better way is to just pull out the head restraint of the front seat in an emergency - you get two reasonably sharp spikes, with a nice cushioned grip... to break your way out of the side window (don't try the front windscreen... you'll never get through all the layers of laminate)

Second option, if the boot is accessible, is to fetch the spanner or other tool from there.

As for cutting through seat-belt, normally it is possible to slide out of a seat-belt by adjusting the seat - unless the car has caved in after a collision.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by pranav4x4

...interiors of cars are deliberately designed to not have any hammer-like objects which can become projectiles in an accident or any protruding/sharp objects on the dashboard, etc. Agreed this can become a risk when doors get jammed due to some reason... like during Mumbai floods... but keeping a hammer in itself is a risk... much better way is to just pull out the head restraint of the front seat in an emergency - you get two reasonably sharp spikes, with a nice cushioned grip... to break your way out of the side window (don't try the front windscreen... you'll never get through all the layers of laminate)

Second option, if the boot is accessible, is to fetch the spanner or other tool from there.

As for cutting through seat-belt, normally it is possible to slide out of a seat-belt by adjusting the seat - unless the car has caved in after a collision.

What about cars which don't have head restraints? That's where hammer would be useful. Please check the last few pages.

What problem would it cause if you put the hammer in the glove box?

[zenren]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

What about cars which don't have head restraints? That's where hammer would be useful. Please check the last few pages.

What problem would it cause if you put the hammer in the glove box?

Counter question: What about cars like Nano? It neither has glovebox nor removable headrests.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by zenren

Counter question: What about cars like Nano? It neither has glovebox nor removable headrests.

The current breed of NANOs (special edition) come equipped with lockable Glove boxes in one of the variants. It should be a easy retrofit in the NANOs which do not have it as a standard fitment.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

The current breed of NANOs (special edition) come equipped with lockable Glove boxes in one of the variants. It should be a easy retrofit in the NANOs which do not have it as a standard fitment.

In Nano's case, you dont have power windows at the back. So you can roll it down manually and get out instead of breaking the glass using the hammer and risking minor injuries from broken glass.

Thats why I mentioned it as what can be done on "cars like Nano", in case there is some car with all power windows but doesn't have glove box and has integrated headrests. The fact that Nano sells without glove box except for limited edition means a car with above description would still be street legal in India. Scenario is hypothetical but possible with the current rules we have.

[pganapathy]

The alto has a mechanical lock (pull up bolt type) and the doors can be opened that way. Of course if the alarm is activated, it will go off. Also, if you have a motion sensor inside the vehicle, it will set the alarm off with movement alone.

The esteem too has a mechanical lock (separate push switch next to the door lever) and the rest will be the same as above.

It so happens that both my cars have manual windows (all for alto and back for esteem). Thus people can open the windows if air is needed and get out that way.

Both the alto and esteem have a child safety lock on the back doors, so check that if you locking people in the car.

The alto unfortunately does not have a boot release lever in the car. The esteem does but the back seat cannot be folded down.

[acurafan]

On a lighter note:
I think this is a design problem in most European cars. First time I heard this and verified it was on a BMW 3 series. I heard it on the very popular car radio show called "Car Talk" in USA. One caller called to describe this problem and it was sad yet quite hilarious. Apparently the guy was dating his girlfriend for a while and decided to marry her. He wanted to talk to his girl friend's father before he popped the question. So he took the old man out for dinner in his new BMW 3 series and the conversation on the way to the restaurant was quite delightful. When they reached the restaurant, the guy got out, closed the driver's door, locked the car and went inside the restaurant. After few minutes he realised that his guest was no where to be seen. When he went back to his car, he saw that the old man frantically trying to get out. Long story short, it took many months for the guy to break the ice with his future father-in-law.

[Shanksta]

In my Toyota Innova the central locking provided by toyota is brilliant.Well let me explain
suppose you are locked inside the car just pull the driver side lever, you don't even have to change the lock from lock to unlock position,and the door opens(only from inside after being locked).
Now this is the cool part suppose you start the car with the driver side door open and still the central lock locks the doors(my aftermarket ones) and you slam the driver door shut by mistake you might think that the car is locked but when the driver door is closed the lock automatically changes from lock to unlock position. Now i did not get this done aftermarket it is a Toyota feature standard on all Innovas(hope so).

[anoop_lamba]

That sounds scary. Good to hear all is well.

Not sure about Skoda but I think almost all security systems have manual override to prevent such cases.

Horn is directly connected on battery in many of the cars (can be blown without key) but not in many too.

Parking lights and hazard lights are two things which can definitely be turned on independent of the key on all vehicles. I think these can be used to draw attention.

It would be hard to teach kids these tips and tricks and these may not work in case of closed parking spaces.

I have the habit of checking all doors and to check if i have not left anything expensive on the dashboard. I think this kind of a walk around would help preventing such cases.

SC's order of banning all tints would also help.

[sridhar24]

Thats one scary incident and thank god that all went well with you.
Its shocking for me to know that doors don't open from the inside when locked
Somehow i feel the Skoda's are a bit over engineered in some areas, and the doors don't have a dedicated lock lever too. Too much dependency on electronics is sometimes bad.
And sometimes a kid can open the door accidentally while the car is in motion by just pulling the door lever. I have seen this happen in the Fabia.
I prefer the simplicity and sensibility of say a Japanese/Korean cars in such things.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by sridhar24

And sometimes a kid can open the door accidentally while the car is in motion by just pulling the door lever. I have seen this happen in the Fabia.

What have you seen, doors can be opened from inside while locked or a kid opened the doors?

This is one of the most fail safe mechanism that doors don't get locked from inside and can be opened.

I prefer the simplicity and sensibility of say a Japanese/Korean cars in such things.

You may call that simplicity but in reality those simplicity become cause of fatalities because the doors, which can be locked from inside are more prone to stuck in emergency situations.

For instance, most of the cars have electrical locking system. In case of any mishap like flood or fire, the electrical system usually fails and the door locks also get stuck in locked position. Now that becomes reason of fatalities in such cases.

Its very thoughtful mechanism in current VW, Skoda cars that doors can't be locked from inside and they remain unlocked in all situations. Atleast probabilities of getting trapped inside the car is far minimal compared to those simple Japanese/Korean door lock mechanism.

My humble advised to all the car owners that if you haven't yet, than please do read your car's user's manual to understand it's functions and use/operate them in the way they are supposed to.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by sridhar24

And sometimes a kid can open the door accidentally while the car is in motion by just pulling the door lever. I have seen this happen in the Fabia.
I prefer the simplicity and sensibility of say a Japanese/Korean cars in such things.

Doesn't Fabia come with child lock (manual or electronic) at the rear? If it does and the kid opened the door while child lock was not engaged, it is the fault of the owner and not Skoda. If there is no provision of child lock in the car, it is indeed oversight from the manufacturer.

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

This is one of the most fail safe mechanism that doors don't get locked from inside and can be opened.

You may call that simplicity but in reality those simplicity become cause of fatalities because the doors, which can be locked from inside are more prone to stuck in emergency situations.

For instance, most of the cars have electrical locking system. In case of any mishap like flood or fire, the electrical system usually fails and the door locks also get stuck in locked position. Now that becomes reason of fatalities in such cases.

While I agree the safety aspect with door getting locked due to electronics going haywire, it is equally dangerous if kids can open the doors at their will and parents have no control on it.

If the car doesn't have child lock, a 4-5 yr old in the back seat could just open the door and run into the road before the parents sitting in the front gets a chance to park properly, assess the road and let the kid out under their supervision. Not all kids in that age group show a great deal of patience or diligently obey what their parents say.

I've seen some cars come with features like impact sensing door unlock, which could be more safe than allowing the doors to be always openable from inside.

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Its very thoughtful mechanism in current VW, Skoda cars that doors can't be locked from inside and they remain unlocked in all situations. Atleast probabilities of getting trapped inside the car is far minimal compared to those simple Japanese/Korean door lock mechanism.

Are you saying all Skoda/VW cars can be opened from inside even if locked? If it were the case, I don't think we would be discussing this topic in the first place. This thread started with the experience of a Skoda Laura owner where his kid got stuck inside after he accidentally locked his car before the kid got out and was trapped inside!

[sridhar24]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

What have you seen, doors can be opened from inside while locked or a kid opened the doors?

What i meant to say was that the kid can open the door(front), i am aware none of the cars have child lock for front passenger door. So i felt that a dedicated lock lever must be there.

I don't know if the doors can be opened from inside after being locked using remote in a skoda. If so wanted to know how it works. I was expressing shock over this!