[SafeDrive]

Last month, my 9 year old son was accidently locked inside the car. The car was parked just outside our house and none of us had realized that he was locked in. He tried opening the door from inside but it would not open. He then tried calling out to people outside but he could not be heard. He tried the horn but there was no sound. He panicked and started crying. Luckily I had forgotten my mobile in the car and went back to get it around 5 minutes later. He was really releived.

This incident got me thinking and I started looking at ways of getting out of the car if this repeats. In the Laura I realized that the boot can be opened from the inside. So yesterday, my son and I got into the car and my wife locked us in.
- I tried opening the door but it would not open. Normally a double yank unlocks the central locking when we are inside
- I tried the central locking button but that too did not work
- I tried the horn but it seemed disconnected
- My son and I then folded the rear seat and gained access to the trunk
- In the trunk, we used the lever to open the trunk and come out

The size of the car and the fact that Skoda gave the lever in the car makes it easy to do this in the Laura. But what of other cars? I'm starting this thread to compile the options that we have on different cars.

Cheers,
Safe Drive

[mpksuhas]

Hope your son has recovered from the stress caused.

Is it common for all cars with central locking to disable horn on locked? I was not aware of the same. Remember a friend from Muscat saying (some 10 years back) their SAAB car was recalled since horns wont work if car is switched off hence was thinking all cars or European ones will have horns working always.

The trunk lever on the inside is part of a US regulation to avoid carjackers kidnapping the owner of cars. I guess that was made mandatory for all cars sold there few years back. It seems in US most of carjacking happens when owner of car is present and the owner eventually finds them kidnapped inside trunk.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

Last month, my 9 year old son was accidently locked inside the car.

OMG... That's scary

In most of the cars, one can just open the door from the inside even if the car is locked using the remote from the outside.

For vehicles equipped with an after market security system, it would trigger the alarm but still disarm the doors.

This problem seems to be unique to SKODA. An aftermath of over engineering perhaps?

And why should the horns go dead?

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Is it common for all cars with central locking to disable horn on locked?

Yes, horn does not work in my Safari, if it is locked and keys removed. But it can be opened from inside using lock opening lever. I feel Skoda provides internal locking mechanism (central being there is almost all cars where you can control opening closing of doors from driver side) to be more precise and no one can open the door from inside. That is bad.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

The size of the car and the fact that Skoda gave the lever in the car makes it easy to do this in the Laura. But what of other cars? I'm starting this thread to compile the options that we have on different cars.

Cheers,
Safe Drive

Thank god that you forgot the mobile in the car and remembered about it!

In the Swift and the i10 the door can be unlocked from inside even if the security system is armed. The door lock levers are only mechanically connected to the latch. In the Swift the horn works with car locked and security system armed and in the i10 i haven't checked if the horn works.

In the Laura is the car door lock lever electrically connected to the actual locking latch? Why did it not open when yanked from the inside? From what you have explained it seems that there is something in between the lever and the lock that is electrically controlled and that upon arming the security it cuts power to various sub assemblies in the car, and i guess thats why even the horn didn't work.

[zeemmee]

This is a very serious issue & without proper precautions any such event can turn out to be pretty ugly, following is an article from gulf news
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/c...-oman-1.851375
I have always locked myself in for a quick nap & when I leave my wife inside the car for a quick errand,she locks herself through the central lock button on the passenger side & Thank GOD we never faced such a issue, I have driven mostly japanese cars like civic, corolla, accord & currently on Camry.I have even installed a complete remote setup with central locking for my Nissan Patrol & even that has no such issues.But as a precautionary measure I started leaving my car keys with remote when my wife's in the car. Be safe.

Edit : A very simple solution to cars which have power windows & fail to open from inside is , by keeping a hammer in the car at all times as a fail safe thats basic, but can save lives.

[mempheS.D]

Oh boy!! I can relate to that incident. Thank your son's stars that the mobile was left behind.

I had a similar incident myself about a year ago when I just parked to get some take-aways from a restaurant. While I collected the parcel and was walking downstairs my mom was continually ringing on the cellphone. I ignored it, thinking that it's probably enquiring why I am taking so long, as I was almost near the car.

I unlocked the car from outside using the remote keys and onlyto have a mouthful of scoldings from mom. She was sweating and frightened. So was I. She told me she couldn't unlock the doors from inside once she started feeling breathless.

I was . Tested it myself and realized that she was right. Learnt it the hard way.

[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

I was . Tested it myself and realized that she was right. Learnt it the hard way.

This is the kind of scenario that I am afraid of. What do we do in these cases? I've figured it out for the Laura and from an above post, it looks like the Swift can be opened from inside. So I'm set on both cars, but let's start compiling for different models to help our members out.

[dhanushs]

IIRC, Ford IKON, Ford Fiesta, Ford Fusion, Ford Figo can be unlocked from the inside. Just need to pull the lever.

The Skoda way is scary! What if the electronics give away and you are locked? I think there would be some other way to open the car, other than the boot?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

IIRC, Ford IKON, Ford Fiesta, Ford Fusion, Ford Figo can be unlocked from the inside. Just need to pull the lever.

Thats scary event man

@dhanush - Does this hold true after the immobilizer kicks in for the Fiesta. Would be trying out probably today to find out.

[harshaguduru]

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

- I tried opening the door but it would not open. Normally a double yank unlocks the central locking when we are inside



Cheers,
Safe Drive

Does the skoda come with a child lock for front doors.
Normally the rear doors have this feature where we can disable the lock from the inside. Useful when you leave kids/pets in the car or to prevent accidental unlocking the door open lever is messed around with.

[SafeDrive]

Originally Posted by harshaguduru

Does the skoda come with a child lock for front doors.
Normally the rear doors have this feature where we can disable the lock from the inside. Useful when you leave kids/pets in the car or to prevent accidental unlocking the door open lever is messed around with.

I'm not sure on the child locks on the front doors, but I know for sure that they were not set as I had just opened them before I asked my wife to lock us in

[harshaguduru]

Originally Posted by SafeDrive

I'm not sure on the child locks on the front doors, but I know for sure that they were not set as I had just opened them before I asked my wife to lock us in

Then it is not a minor problem. Because of two reasons.

a) As it has happened when a child or an elderly person gets trapped inside.

b) In case of emergencies(cashes/driver is unconscious etc) when the doors don't unlock.

thank you for showcasing such a small yet valuable point. just checked my cars both the figo/nhc open by from inside when doors are locked.

Will definitely keep that in mind while buying a car next time and spread awareness about it.
Thanks again

PS does boot unlock work from inside when the doors are locked?

[itwasntme]

Scary! Children die with depressing regularity in the West from such accidents.

Will check in my Cruze and Polo about the ability to unlock from inside and revert. Have 2 youngsters so should try myself immediately, without learning the hard way!

The Cruze I know has 2 relevant safety features. One is that it has the internal pull-type opener in the boot (fluorescent to make it easy to see), but seriously doubt if kids can fold the heavy 60:40 rear seat to gain access to the boot itself.

Secondly, the security system arms itself after 30 seconds during which does a self-check and internal sensors ensure that there us nothing moving in the car. THEN it arms itself. There have been many cases where pets have died in locked cars.

Interesting as to why the burglar alarm didn't go off? Aren't the sensors meant to pick movement up?

[Warwithwheels]

On a related note, the much bashed about feature on the figo aka the lack of power window in the rear actually works for good in this case.

I strongly feel every manufacturer should implement the same across segments.