Unless you are in a high crime area, it is actually safer to keep your doors unlocked. If you are in an accident and incapacitated, your rescuers will not be able to reach you quickly if you are locked in.

Last month we were involved in a minor accident caused by an elderly gentlemen who had suffered a heart attack. He was unconscious, lightly bounced off our car, and crashed into a traffic light. The drivers who initially rushed to his aid couldn't get to him because his doors were locked. Fortunately an ambulance happened to come by, they had the tools to extract him from the car, and they were able to revive him with several jolts of the defibrillator.

So except when you're traveling through a high crime area, about the only time you should lock your doors is when you are leaving your vehicle and wish to secure it.

 

I have the opposite concern...

As soon as I get in the car, I immediately lock the door. It's emblazoned in my
subconscious due to personal safety training and ugly stories in the newspaper.

So it bothers me tremendously that, as soon as I turn off the ignition, all my doors
unlock. What if I don't WANT that feature?!

Is this a feature that needs to be changed through the dealer? Or is it a programmable feature of my Clifford car alarm?

Ima go look that up right now!

 

Can't find any info... guess I will ask the dealer.

 

I have the KARR KS-2040 alarm system that came from the dealer and my doors auto lock for me. When the doors are lock i can still grab the door handle and open it without hitting the button. This happen 20 secs after i start the car. I also programmed the alarm to auto lock the doors 30secs after i get out of the car in case i forget to do it. Here is how i did it.

Ok i figured it all out there are 2 modes on the car alarm
1. Passive (The car can be armed with the remote or after 30sec)
2. Active (The car can only be armed via the remote)

To switch between active and passive do the following

1. Turn car on.
2. Press the programming button 3 times.
(((The programming button is located on the back of the LED located next to the hood release)))
3. Turn car off.
4. Turn car on.
5. If 1 chirp it is set to passive if 2 chirp it is set to active.
6. Press the middle button (#1) on your remote to switch modes.
7. Turn car off.

There is an option that in passive mode to make it lock or not lock the doors but still arm the car.
To change that do the following.
1. Turn car on.
2. Press the programming button 3 times.
3. Turn car off.
4. Turn car on.
5. Press the programming button 3 times.
6. Press the middle button (#1) on your remote.
7. Turn car off.

If you think you have read this before its because i posted it awhile back on the yahoo group.

 

I think people get car-jacked more than they have heart-attacks behind the wheel!

Seriously,
It is much safer to have the doors locked when driving, especially at freeway speeds. There is a much smaller chance of being ejected if you get into a serious accident.

It is definitely better to have the doors lock after you hit a certain speed, say 15-20mph. My friend was at the airport, it was raining hard, and was at the curb with her explorer running. She jumped out to take out a bag from the rear seat on the other side of the car. Before she could get back in, the doors automatically locked. Car running, red curb, locked out, pouring rain. NOT a good combination!!!!

 

I just noticed today that if you use the keyless remote to unlock the xB but DON'T open the doors, it locks after about 30 seconds.

The wife's Grand Caravan locks at 15 MPH, but the door locks pop when you pull the handles. (I think :? ) The GREATEST feature it has that the xB needs is when you shut off the car, the power stays on for 45 seconds or until you pop a door open. It is perfect for closing the windows and/or listening to the end of your song.

 

I have the "scion security" when i start the car, all the doors lock automatically... kinda annoys the ____ outta me, when I forget something in the house!

 

The first thing you said is definitely another reason why it's good to have the door locked automatically. Not only is it a safety issue to prevent the rare car-jacking/robbing attempt while you're parked or stopped somewhere, but having the doors locked while driving helps keep them from opening if you get into a car accident and possibly allowing you to fly out of the car depending on how you're hit. It would also seem to keep your car's frame as secure and strong as possible in an accident by preventing the doors from being swung open.

To address your second concern, some cars, like my wife's MINI, have this feature where the locks will lock automatically, but only after you either hit 15 mph or have been sitting in your car for a given amount of time (30 seconds?). If your friend at the airport who got locked out of her car had this feature, she wouldn't have been left out in the rain and unable to get back into her car--unless she was out of the car for a certain amount of time (longer than the time it takes to take out a suitcase and put it on the curb, I would think).

Anyhow, if ScionBandit finds out that we can have this feature (automatic door locking after going 15 mph OR after idling the car for a determined amount of time) programmed into our Scion's computers, we can all decide for ourselves whether to have this done or not. And it would be great if he could possibly let us know what other features can be programmed (e.g., having the windows roll down with a certain click of the remote key for those of us without alarms?).

Dylan

 

dylan,

depending on how busy the shop is today, i am goin to try and pull a xb in and hook the scan tool up and run through the options that pop up....ill let u guys know wut happens, if i don't get to today ill let u guys know so ur not wondering...but i will try my best to get it looked at and figured out today..

about the other things, like the windows rolling down with a touch of a button, that will not work unless u get aftermarket alarms put in, i don't think....thats not an option usually found in toyotas ECU's and cars...

ill keep u guys updated

 

Everyones seems to have a valid point why or why not the doors should lock. I feel it maybe a liability thing with Scion/Toyota? Too many factors why the doors shouldn't lock on their own.

 

Concerning locked doors preventing opening during accidents:

The only time that this would happen is if the door handles were somehow operated in the course of the accident. The locking mechinism does not add to the strength of the latches.

Since all the handles on the Scion are pull-type, locking wouldn't have much effect on the liklihood of door opening during crashes.

George

 

George and others above do make sense, but I still think it's a good feature to have. The likelihood of something accidentally opening the doors during a crash may be remote, but why not have that extra bit of insurance?

Besides, the automatic locking feature is a good one to protect passengers, because you don't always remember to lock the doors before driving away (or especially while sitting in the car). To me, this is even more important in a 4-door car where there may be children who may try to open the doors while the car is moving...

My two cents... (or am I up to a quarter by now? )

Dylan

 

That's why they have the child-guard locks on the rear doors! Look near the latch when the door is open. Flip the little pin and voila, nobody gets out of the back seat!

Of course, the parenting skills of people whose children would open the doors in motion is somewhat questionable...

George

 

i am wondering if you sit in the car, lock the doors then pull the door handle(from the inside) does the door open? chryslers and fords are like this.

 

No, they don't. I don't think Toyota ever made a car that opened from the inside when the doors were locked. Just an American thing, I think. I definitely could be wrong about the ever, but the XB can't be opened from the inside by pulling the handle with the door locked.

 

ok y'all....checkd out the situation with the locks...
and the answer is, no u cannot make the doors lock after starting ur car or nething like that...there is no option, i spend awhile looking through everything with the scan tool and using TIS....so sorry

 

Hmm...really? Is that why they have those child-guard locks on the rear doors? Man, you are soooo smaaaht! [said in humor and with some sarcasm, of course]

Seriously, though, most people like you and I already know about the child-guard locks. If keeping the rear door locks locked was my ONLY concern then I would just flip that child-guard lock switch and voila! Then I wouldn't need to have the locks automatically lock when the car is in motion or stationary for a given amount of time. However, as I mentioned above, I have several reasons for wanting the doors to lock automatically, but I won't belabor the point.

Anyhow, I didn't start this topic to arrive at some sort of majority agreement as to whether this feature should or should not be standard on our Scions (like it is on so many other cars, with variations in execution, of course). Otherwise, I would have created a poll for that. My reason for starting this topic was to find out whether or not this feature was possible, and if so, how it could be done. Most people posting replies on Scionlife do so to give and solicit information and basically to help each other out--not to judge (unless of course an opinion is asked, then you'd better have some thick skin--just kidding ).

That's the beauty of this site... plenty of information given and, usually, advice only when you want it.

 

ScionBandit, thank you so much for taking the time to see if this was possible. By the way, were there any other interesting features that could be turned on/off that you came across when looking for this?

So then, for those who are interested in this option and do not have an alarm currently installed, would the best (and lowest cost) option be to buy a low-cost alarm? For my needs and area, I've decided the best option for an anti-theft device is a product called Ravelco (see link below) rather than get an alarm. So if the easiest way to add this feature is to buy an alarm then all I would want is a low-cost one without a lot of bells and whistles, but also one that doesn't go off with the slightest gust of wind or thunder sound. Suggestions?

Thanks,
Dylan

 

Oops... here are two links for those interested in Ravelco's anti-theft device:
Ravelco:
http://ravelco.com/ravelco2.htm
Northeast Ravelco:
http://www.northeastravelco.com/index.html
And here's a link to a thread discussing this product:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...hlight=ravelco

 

I posted the link to the TR7 sold by PAC.
It does what your looking for and it only costs around 20.
It locks the doors when the ignition is turned on and when you turn off the ignition to the car the doors unlock.
Problem solved.