# Can you lock yourself into your car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816 "2017-11-16T23:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/21 "2017-11-17T18:10:01Z")
No; Subaru Outback. I don’t think I could even get trapped in some random Dopers car. I know where most of the hidden trunk releases are and with what I usually have on me I could pop or disassemble my way out out of anything I know. Worse comes to worse some random window is history. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/22 "2017-11-17T19:07:57Z")
My car locks all the doors automatically when I start driving. You have to unlock them with the lock switch on the door. As far as I can tell, there’s no manual unlocking system (the handle does not unlock the door). I have to unlock it with the switch on the door or with my key fob. I’m assuming these are both connected to the same electronics, which means that if there’s a problem, I might not be able to unlock the door at all. Although, I guess in theory I could roll the window all the way down and then use my key to unlock the door from the outside. I’ll have to check on that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/23 "2017-11-17T19:13:55Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That deadbolt seems like a lot of security considering there’s a lot of glass that can be broken pretty nearby. But having to break a window and then drive away in a car with a broken window adds difficulty to a potential theft. Same thing with robbing the contents of the car; it’s a lot harder to lift things out through a broken window than through an open door. A lot of security systems are designed around the “outrunning the bear” principle. You just make this particular car more difficult to break into than the one down the street so a car thief steals that one instead. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/24 "2017-11-17T19:27:15Z")
I think it’s impossible to lock me (or someone else) into the car. I have child imprisonment lock options in the backseat, but all one needs to escape the front is to press the autolock button, lift the doorlatch, or use the remote. I have the car enabled so just touching the exterior front door handle unlocks/locks all four doors. Even a vaguely sentient kid would be able to get out by leaning or climbing over into the front seat/dash area. If all else fails, there’s an “SOS” button on the dash that routes through to 911, even if the car is off and the keys absent. I call BS on some of these stories about older kids dying in locked cars (BS on the parents, not you!) My other, older car doesn’t have all these bells and whistles, but it’s still very escapable. :dubious: In Ye Olden Days of manual locks where a key was needed and the pop-up locks were subject to failure (can’t grasp/they fall down into door panel) I can see kids being trapped. With today’s cars? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/25 "2017-11-17T19:33:38Z")
With my car, if it’s in park and you open either of the front doors they automatically unlock and open so unless something really broke, I couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/26 "2017-11-17T19:37:08Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Yes it can happen. My 1992 BMW 535i had what I called a “dead bolt”. If you locked the car from the outside with the key, you could turn it an extra 45 degrees or so and it would throw the dead bolts. You could hear it. When activated, nothing what so ever moved. Interior door handles, the locking knobs, exterior door handles. You could reach in through an open window and try all you want. > > It would not do this with the remote locking fob, only the actual key. However - it would release the deadlock (by design) if the car was bumped and moved a bit. There was a section on the door locks in the manual I forget what the logic was for the bump and release. In fact, it may have unlocked the car not just the dead bolts. > > The BMW engineers loved their keys. If you held the key in the dead lock position it would close all the windows and sun roof sequentially. I loved to watch it. Far side front window first, then far side rear, driver’s front, driver’s rear, sun roof. It waited a few seconds after each window started down before starting the next one, only two moving at any time. I’m able to use the remote for my '02 530 to open the windows and sunroof, but can’t figure out how to _close_ them with the key. I’ll have to haunt some forums to see if there’s a trick to it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/27 "2017-11-17T20:21:08Z")
I don’t think I could in any of my cars, especially the convertible or the Jeep Commando. Can’t even get the door to shut half the time! ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/28 "2017-11-17T20:56:22Z")
[It takes all kinds.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjEbvqkxqU) ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/29 "2017-11-17T21:31:29Z")
Circa 2001 or so I worked in a call center for General Motors, in a marketing support group where we talked a lot to people thinking of buying a car. Got a call from a lady interested in getting an SUV because she just got rid of a Ford Explorer and she told me the following story. Apparently Ford had a big issue with some part of the ignition switch system getting overheated and it would cause the vehicle to just shut down. Sometimes this would occur on the highway at speed, which caused much consternation because there they’d be at 70mph with no steering since of course the wheel locks when the engine shuts down. Also, the doors wouldn’t open either from the inside because they had automatic locks that engaged when the car was started and stayed that way when the engine shut down. Anyway, this lady had been experiencing this problem with her car and had taken it back to the dealer multiple times and every time they said she was crazy, nothing’s wrong with the car, etc. Since she’d been locked in the car several times waiting for the switch responsible to cool down so she could restart the car or get out of it, she was not taking this party line quietly. Finally, one of the honchos at the dealership offered to take her vehicle for a week or so to drive it around as he normally would to prove to her that she’s full of shit. She said fine, got a loaner and a couple days later she got a panicked call from the guy. Seems he and several other guys from the dealership were in the vehicle driving to a sales meeting in Ojai (southern California, very warm in summer–and it was in the height of summer when this happened) on a winding road out in the middle of freaking nowhere when the car did its thing and shut down. On a winding road. In the middle of nowhere. With four guys inside. In 100+ degree heat. She laughed like a loon and said “Well, I’ve been telling you it does that and you’ve been saying I’m crazy. Have fun with that!” The guy asked her what she did when it happened and she blithely informed him he’d just have to wait it out and that once she was stuck for over an hour so just be patient. This escalated a bit and I can tell you that when she told me this she was laughing so hard she could barely talk so I’m fairly sure she engaged in not a little schadenfreude with the snotty dealership guy during the call. As they were talking, she heard breaking glass–one of the guys had lost it and kicked out a window to get out of the vehicle. Couple days later she picked up a check for the car since she flatly refused a replacement and intended to go for a GM model instead. That was a fun call, I wonder if she still tells the story. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/30 "2017-11-17T21:43:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My car locks all the doors automatically when I start driving. You have to unlock them with the lock switch on the door. > > As far as I can tell, there’s no manual unlocking system (the handle does not unlock the door). I have to unlock it with the switch on the door or with my key fob. I’m assuming these are both connected to the same electronics, which means that if there’s a problem, I might not be able to unlock the door at all. Although, I guess in theory I could roll the window all the way down and then use my key to unlock the door from the outside. I’ll have to check on that. I bought a 2002 Avalanche about 3 years back. One of the first days I drove it, it had a glitch in the electrical such that I could not get the driver’s door to unlock from inside the vehicle. It would unlock but then the door would relock as I tried to open it from inside. I wound up using the key in the outside lock to get it to work. Then I researched how to shut of the friggin automatically lock when in gear feature. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/31 "2017-11-17T21:46:58Z")
Caught on [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv-pFFaJnAY). ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/32 "2017-11-17T23:00:01Z")
I don’t like this automatic locking so I remove the fuse for that system. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/33 "2017-11-18T00:38:34Z")
Doesn’t anyone remember this from a few years ago? > **[No Escape: California Family Sues BMW After Teen Dies in Locked Car](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-escape-california-family-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881)** > > Automaker's 1997-model sedan had lock-system defect that trapped 14-year-old in vehicle as temperatures outside topped 100, lawsuit alleges. It was even discussed [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=728054): ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/34 "2017-11-18T04:02:55Z")
A friend’s car won’t allow you to open a door from inside unless the transmission is in Park. Don’t know if it does that if you want to open from the outside. What’s really bad is if you have to call someone to get you out of your car when it’s a convertible with the top and the windows down. ---
**Author:** ![JPrescott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e36b37/32.png) [@JPrescott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JPrescott)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816/35 "2017-11-19T04:24:58Z")
I work at a Ford dealership as a detailer. All models unlock with a pull of the door handle whether the vehicle is in drive, neutral, or park. We get a semi-regular supply of recent GM vehicles via trade-in. They will not open with a tug on the handle if the doors are locked. One has to use the electronic unlock button or pull the knob up first. I honestly don’t see anything barring egress from either line, power or no. Both systems seem to have physical linkages to guarantee the ability to unlock the door. A fun aside: The 2017+ Ford Fusions have a rotary knob (think stereo volume knob) for the shifter. If you are stopped or nearly so and open the door, the car will shift automatically into park. Speaking of automatic windows: Certain Ford Escape and Ford Fusion models will roll down all windows if you press unlock, then press unlock again and hold it. It works with the lock button for rolling them up as well. It’s a feature accessed in the instrument cluster on some models(can be toggled on and off.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-lock-yourself-into-your-car/801816.md?page=1)