What you need to know about car door locks

A recent incident in Australia and one last year in Orem, UT have convinced us that there is a problem among world citizens: too many of us have not been sufficiently trained in the use of car door locks, especially those that are power locks. At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not committed to education, so we'll take a look at the theory of car door locks and then give some practical suggestions.

When cars were first mass produced they were little more than the carriages of the day. In fact, it could be said they were less than the carriages of the day as they did not even have a horse. As thievery had not yet been invented, the doors of the carriages and early cars (when they had them) were not equipped with locks. As time went by many new things were invented, including something called thievery. Apparently someone decided that he would, instead of working for something, take it from someone else. In order to prevent thievery, or at least stem the tide, locks were placed on car doors and keys were required not only to open the doors but to start the cars themselves. The earliest such locks required keys to both enter and exit the doors, but most modern (post 1923) cars do not require a key to exit a vehicle.

With the addition of locks, cars became a safe place to store valuable items such as jewelry. As more things were invented, someone decided to try power locks on vehicles. Now instead of manually latching each door before exiting the vehicle you could, at the flip of a switch, lock or unlock all of the doors. This innovation was initially dismissed as a fad, but is nearly ubiquitous today.

If you find yourself trapped inside a vehicle with locked doors:

• Stay calm. Panicking will likely only deplete your oxygen supply
• Locate the door(s). Most vehicles will have more than one door, so you should keep looking for doors until you have assured yourself that you have found the closest door to you.
• Find the latch on the door nearest you, and pull it to see if it opens. If it does, exit the vehicle
• If it doesn't, try any other doors you can reach.
• If none of the doors open, look for the power lock switch and press it when you find it. If the switch is ambiguous about which is unlocked and which is locked, pick one button first, then the next after you have tried all of the doors within reach again.
• If you heard a click, try all of the doors within reach as per the previous guidelines. If this still doesn't work try pushing the other direction on the door lock and try the doors again.
• If you still can't get out of the vehicle, look for the manual lock on the door(s). It is usually a post on the edge next to the window, but if it isn't there it is generally a labeled lever or something on the latch of the door.
• If you can't read the labels, stop now. Your case is hopeless.
  
• If you still can't get out and are in the back seat, try maneuvering to the front seat and repeating the whole process. The vehicle may have child locks.
• Congratulations, you have extricated yourself from the vehicle. If this congratulatory remark is premature, please stop now. Your case is hopeless.

We hope these guidelines will help prevent situations like those referenced above. If you have any specific questions or feedback, contact your local GPD office.