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16-yr-old son trapped in back seat

korggy

korggy

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Took the Air on a road trip with the family this weekend. Stopped for a rest, jumped out, ran inside, then got a text from my 16-yr-old son saying, "Help I'm trapped in the back seat! 😅" Apparently the passive lock traps everybody in the car with no way to get out...? Or am I missing something? This seems like a safety issue.

I checked the settings but didn't see anything about this.
 
The interior door handles don't work when the vehicle is locked, and there's no way to unlock it from the back seat. In fact I'm not sure there's a way to unlock it from the front seat either once the driver walks away and the car goes into sleep.
 
korggy said:
Took the Air on a road trip with the family this weekend. Stopped for a rest, jumped out, ran inside, then got a text from my 16-yr-old son saying, "Help I'm trapped in the back seat! 😅" Apparently the passive lock traps everybody in the car with no way to get out...? Or am I missing something? This seems like a safety issue.

I checked the settings but didn't see anything about this.
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The interior door handles work even when locked. They set the alarm off, sure, but that's not the issue described.
 
korggy said:
The interior door handles don't work when the vehicle is locked, and there's no way to unlock it from the back seat.
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Just tried it in my air, (22 GT), alarm sounds, door opens. You do need to push back on the trigger handle more to the manual feeling lever action.
 
I'm one of the rare owners who always has their fob with them. If I get out for an extended period, leaving my teenage son in the car, I always leave him the fob. He might want to open a window or change the music, or open a door. I don't want the car turning off.
 
Amster said:
I'm one of the rare owners who always has their fob with them. If I get out for an extended period, leaving my teenage son in the car, I always leave him the fob. He might want to open a window or change the music, or open a door. I don't want the car turning off.
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Dangerous, I'd have had the thing around the parking lot a few loops if you'd let me have the key to an Air as a kid.
 
I have left my wife in the car a number of times and she’s popped out for various reasons. It really sounds like your car may need checked out at a service center
 
californiaboy935 said:
Dangerous, I'd have had the thing around the parking lot a few loops if you'd let me have the key to an Air as a kid.
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He's a lot less adventurous than you are! When he was learning to drive, I had to keep telling him to go faster!
 
korggy said:
Took the Air on a road trip with the family this weekend. Stopped for a rest, jumped out, ran inside, then got a text from my 16-yr-old son saying, "Help I'm trapped in the back seat! 😅" Apparently the passive lock traps everybody in the car with no way to get out...? Or am I missing something? This seems like a safety issue.

I checked the settings but didn't see anything about this.
Click to expand...
I just tested both the front and back locked doors from inside and the result was the same as mentioned above: You can manually open the locked doors with the usual door latch but that would trigger a car alarm.

Notice that manual pulling the locked door latch would take more effort than the unlocked ones. You have to pull further back, further than the normal position with the unlocked position.

We are accustomed with pulling back enough and the door would open, but you need to pull a little more back when locked.

My guess this will be the same maneuver when there's no power: It's time for the passengers practice this maneuver in case they are locked in or when there is a loss of power.
 
ok my son was unavailable so I tested this with my wife. In the back seats she was unable to open either the left or right doors with the car locked and off. I told her to make sure she was pulling the handle hard enough. She started calling me a variety of expletives and yelling at me to let her out of this thing. In the front seats she was able to open the doors but the alarm went off. Child locks are disabled in settings.
 
korggy said:
ok my son was unavailable so I tested this with my wife. In the back seats she was unable to open either the left or right doors with the car locked and off. I told her to make sure she was pulling the handle hard enough. She started calling me a variety of expletives and yelling at me to let her out of this thing. In the front seats she was able to open the doors but the alarm went off. Child locks are disabled in settings.
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This is a serious safety educational issue.

I do understand that they couldn't do it but for safety, they need to keep on practicing pulling the door latch back beyond the resistance point in order to open a locked or un-powered door.

If they don't pass this practice, it's unsafe when there's a need to manually open the doors when they couldn't do it in a controlled, non-emergency practice.

It is not hard. It's just that we are spoiled with the powered opening and forgot the skill of manually opening.
 
korggy said:
ok my son was unavailable so I tested this with my wife. In the back seats she was unable to open either the left or right doors with the car locked and off. I told her to make sure she was pulling the handle hard enough. She started calling me a variety of expletives and yelling at me to let her out of this thing. In the front seats she was able to open the doors but the alarm went off. Child locks are disabled in settings.
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Well dang it now we all have to lock our spouses in the car and test this. I’m 100% serious too I want to know!
 
socktucker said:
Well dang it now we all have to lock our spouses in the car and test this. I’m 100% serious too I want to know!
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It's very easy. We have been conditioned to pull rearward slightly before there's a mechanical resistance, then the doors would open when powered or unlocked.

When the doors are locked or when the 12v died, we can easily pull rearward and reflexively stop when there's a mechanical resistance. We need to continue to pull rearward even more to overcome that resistance then the mechanical leverages would open the door without the need of electrical power.

It might be more intuitive if the pulling action is designed as pulling inward and not rearward. Pulling rearward would move the elbow rearward and we might feel that the elbow runs out of space to pull beyond the point of resistance.

If designed differently, when pulling inward and the door refuses to open, we would reflexively pull inward even more which would activate the mechanical system without the need of electrical failure.
 
Tâm said:
It's very easy. We have been conditioned to pull rearward slightly before there's a mechanical resistance, then the doors would open when powered or unlocked.

When the doors are locked or when the 12v died, we can easily pull rearward and reflexively stop when there's a mechanical resistance. We need to continue to pull rearward even more to overcome that resistance then the mechanical leverages would open the door without the need of electrical power.

It might be more intuitive if the pulling action is designed as pulling inward and not rearward. Pulling rearward would move the elbow rearward and we might feel that the elbow runs out of space to pull beyond the point of resistance.

If designed differently, when pulling inward and the door refuses to open, we would reflexively pull inward even more which would activate the mechanical system without the need of electrical failure.
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I’ll be honest.

I had been pulling them all the way for quite some time and had no idea I could just slightly pull them and they were electric.
 
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