# Why do refrigerator doors cannot be opened from inside? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2000, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680 "2000-12-02T03:55:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/1 "2000-12-02T03:55:51Z")
Of course, somebody must be truly stupid to lock himself in a fridge, but what the heck, children do stupid things all the time! There REALLY should be some safety device to avoid stupid deaths like that… ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/2 "2000-12-02T04:00:44Z")
OK, normally, I’d ship a question like this to General Questions. But Manny and Chronos would kill me if I did it with this one. So, Uniball, what is your purpose with this thread? A debate about fridge safety? Stories of people locked in fridges? Help me out here, man. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/3 "2000-12-02T04:11:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Why do refrigerator doors cannot be opened from inside? > \*\* Wellfore bewhy cause they whichnot be can notist remoney wise. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/4 "2000-12-02T04:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*OK, normally, I’d ship a question like this to General Questions. But Manny and Chronos would kill me if I did it with this one. > > So, Uniball, what is your purpose with this thread? A debate about fridge safety? Stories of people locked in fridges? > > Help me out here, man. \*\* I, uh, want to know why it’s impossible to open a refrigerator door from the inside. Y’know, the science involved, how a refrigerator door works, etc. Cuz I don’t know. Do you? ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/5 "2000-12-02T04:37:54Z")
I think that it is a safety issue that they must be able to be opened from the inside. The reason the doors must be removed if storing is so some kid can’t get inside and something block the door. Neither of our refrigerators have latches. The doors are held shut by a magnetic strip. Our freezers are older but they both have key locks. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/6 "2000-12-02T06:24:51Z")
The danger lies in older fridges found in dumps that had latches. The more recent fridges from about 1960 or so have magnetic strips and suction seals, and can easily be opened from the inside. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/7 "2000-12-02T06:40:49Z")
As to why they did not _originally_ have latches on the inside: Because the designers never figured anyone would go inside and shut the door! (There is no handle to pull the door shut, either.) Sequence: Invent/develop an “ice box” to hold stored food. (Originally about the size of the typical “college dorm” fridge and no one could get inside, anyway, especially if it had food and ice in it.) Develop/invent actual refrigerator. (Same size issues as ice box.) Develop larger refrigerators into which a kid _could_ climb _if it was empty_. Years pass. First of the larger fridges is finally old enough to be retired. At some point, among the growing number of thrown out refrigerators, a kid climbs in and suffocates. A few more years pass. Enough kids have now suffocated that there are calls for preventive measures. Two responses: Manufacturers develop a “latch-free” fridge so that any 18-month old can open the door simply by falling against it when they run out of oxygen; governments pass laws requiring that all unused refrigerators have either a permanant wedge put in to keep the door from closing or (preferably) the door must be removed to prevent it closing. As **GuanoLad** noted, the “latch-free” refrigerators have been with us for around 30 years, so I don’t exactly understand the concern of the OP. There _is no_ external latch (or any latch) on any frdge built in a lo-o-o-o-onnnng time. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/8 "2000-12-02T06:41:47Z")
I just saw a clip on Fox news about a 72 year old woman who had, until now, been keeping her 93 year old mother in a freezer since February of this year. They went on to say that the mom had already been dead, presumably of natural causes, before she was in the freezer, but I thought of this thread as soon as they said “body in freezer”. Also, the mike-holder said the daughter had been living with her “older mother”. Well, I never heard of a mother being younger than her child… ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/9 "2000-12-02T06:44:32Z")
most modern freezers can easily be opened from the inside as well as the outside. even industrial-sized freezers can be opened by pressing a button… (I know because my friend’s parents own a very nice seafood restaurant.) so, no worries Friend, about getting locked in a freezer… unless someone intentionally does… bwahahahhaha ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/10 "2000-12-02T06:56:04Z")
The script writers of _Back to the Future_ almost had the time machine be a refridgerator and not a Dalorean. They decided against this because they did not want kids jumping into old fridges. Besides, the car thing was a much better idea. Imagine how sucky the time machine would be as a fridge. The only thing worse would be maybe a phone booth 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/11 "2000-12-02T07:10:53Z")
We don’t want the cheese to escape. Cheddars and Jacks, well, ya just can’t trust those sneaky bastards. And don’t _even_ get me started on the Provolone! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/12 "2000-12-02T07:51:51Z")
Tomndeb- Your forgetting a very important fact. The concept of planned obselesence is a fairly recent invention. Up until the late fifities/early sixties, stuff was built to _last_. I know that in the eighties, some of my older relatives, or friends of older relatives, had 'fridges that dated back to the 'forties. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised of some of these old refrigerators were still in service. Based on this, I would say that these old “iceboxes”, as their owners like to call them, may continue to present a hazard to children for at least a decade or two yet to come, as the last of them expire and are discarded. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/13 "2000-12-02T08:41:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\*The only thing worse would be maybe a phone booth 😃 \*\* And somewhere in England, Tardis fans are sharpening their butcher knives… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-refrigerator-doors-cannot-be-opened-from-inside/43680/14 "2000-12-02T15:29:47Z")
Uni, I think you are confused. Refrigerators don’t have locks, freezers did or still do I haven’t checked.