# How would a person get trapped in a limousine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610 "2013-05-06T13:21:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/21 "2013-05-08T06:01:12Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Many vehicles have sensors that lock the doors when you reach a certain speed, but I believe you can then simply unlock the doors using the unlock mechanism. Isn’t that correct? My cars have never had that feature. yes that’s correct. but a child safety button prevents the door from being opened from the inside when engaged. It’s customary for limo drivers to open the door for passengers so if it had this feature it may never be noticed. On some limos I drove the electric windows had thermal shut off switches. If the passengers played with the windows they would stop working until they cooled off. Can’t remember if it was the Lincoln or Caddy conversion. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/22 "2013-05-08T06:16:33Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I would _never_ consent to own a car like this, and I wouldn’t even want to be a passenger in one. That just sounds like asking for a trip in a potential death-trap. Why does someone think this is a great idea? I suspect it’s because in a collision or rollover you want the doors to stay shut. (Though maybe the force of a really violent wreck would force them open, locked or not? I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/23 "2013-05-08T07:45:12Z")
I so don’t want to google for details, but there was a case in the last couple of years, was there not, where a boy of 10 or 11 died in an overheated car in which his parents had left him sleeping after a late trip the night before. It was a rental - the parents didn’t realise that once they had locked the doors from the outside, they couldn’t be opened from the inside without a key. The safety feature for back doors where you can’t open them from the inside once you slide across the child lock has been around for about a bazillion years, but I can’t imagine why you would put it on in a vehicle which was transporting adults about. You can open taxi doors, can’t you? (and if you can’t, I never want to get in one again) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/24 "2013-05-08T08:18:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are multiple ways that the passengers _could_ have escaped, but it can be hard to realize that in the heat of the moment. Bad Chronos. Terrible pun. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/25 "2013-05-08T13:50:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I would _never_ consent to own a car like this, and I wouldn’t even want to be a passenger in one. That just sounds like asking for a trip in a potential death-trap. Why does someone think this is a great idea? My Park Avenue is set up like this. It was explained to me the feature is to prevent children from falling out, and perhaps more importantly, to prevent unwanted passengers from entering, say at a traffic light. Now I’m going to have to test it further to see how it works. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/26 "2013-05-08T14:06:48Z")
> [@campp](#): > > My Park Avenue is set up like this. It was explained to me the feature is to prevent children from falling out, and perhaps more importantly, to prevent unwanted passengers from entering, say at a traffic light. Standard door locks are adequate for preventing unwanted entry. The child safety feature is solely for the safety of children inside the car - which shouldn’t be an issue if they’re properly tied down like they’re supposed to be. The only way I can see this being a useful safety measure is if you’ve got a kid who is willfully misbehaving, refusing to stay seated and trying to open the door and exit the vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/27 "2013-05-08T14:32:22Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Standard door locks are adequate for preventing unwanted entry. The child safety feature is solely for the safety of children inside the car - which shouldn’t be an issue if they’re properly tied down like they’re supposed to be. The only way I can see this being a useful safety measure is if you’ve got a kid who is willfully misbehaving, refusing to stay seated and trying to open the door and exit the vehicle. I agree. Somebody needs to call Buick. ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610/28 "2013-05-08T15:31:33Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Standard door locks are adequate for preventing unwanted entry. The child safety feature is solely for the safety of children inside the car - which shouldn’t be an issue if they’re properly tied down like they’re supposed to be. The only way I can see this being a useful safety measure is if you’ve got a kid who is willfully misbehaving, refusing to stay seated and trying to open the door and exit the vehicle. You clearly never have had children, or at least not in more than one car. In many, many cars the door handles for the rear doors are all but perfectly positioned for a kid in a 5 point harness to grab and play with, and without child locks, hello door open in traffic and bye bye door. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-person-get-trapped-in-a-limousine/657610.md?page=1)