Sitting in the car park, waiting for wife to turn up, I noticed that the Merc parked beside me had it's door lock buttons on the rear edge of all 4 doors, rather than clustered around the B pillar as in most cars. Good idea I thought. But then I thought, hang on, what are they there for? In the days before remote central locking the driver unlocked his door with a strangely shaped piece of metal and then stretched across to lift the button on the passenger door. If you forgot to reach past the B pillar and open the rear offside door BEFORE you climbed in, you were into serious contortions, and as for the nearside rear, well that passenger had to make their own arrangements!
But these days you can't even operate them manually. The mushroom head has gone (quite right) and, in the name of theft resistance, they vanish down into the door. There is no need for them, so why are they still there?
JH
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Good point. Our Zafira doesn't have door lock buttons, but my Volvo still does. I think they are going, slowly but surely. I can honestly say I haven't pushed or pulled a door lock button in at least 10 years...
Getting rid of them has got to be a good thing, why advertise to the rest of the world that you've left you car unlocked! :)
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I've thought the same thing myself, and the only use I can think of is as a visual indicator. Even this is of limited value in the days of remote locking.
I can't remember when I last locked or unlocked a car with anything other than a remote plipper. In fact, if the Volvo's key didn't fit the drivers door, I wouldn't have a clue and I've owned the car for over a year!
Edited by DP on 02/06/2009 at 18:08
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I suppose they are a visual flag only, especially if there is a fault one one door.
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On a VW Golf GTI MkIV and the Passat that replaced it, there were lock problems. Only clue the door had not locked properly (and could be opened from outside if not deadlocked) was the button popped back up a little.
If it was not for the button I'd not have realised the problem.
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You all have such upmarket cars without keys and so on ;-)
In little breadbins such as mine - the knob is handy to push down with your elbow if someone`s heading for the door handle - essential in certain areas I used to work.
I used to have a Fiesta in the early 80`s and resorted to cutting the head off the `mushroom` on the passenger side.
(yes, I know - but a long time ago)
I could outrun most Lads if they ran off on the way to Magistrates Court - on Wednesdays. But not if they waited until the lights were turning to green in traffic. An extreme measure (and I often wondered what the next owner thought of the modification.)
It was a real humiliation going before Magistrates if that happened (only once to me) and didn`t bear thinking about if it was a youth brought all the way from a secure unit in Liverpool - an approx 200 mile round trip - done twice in the day of course.
Probably have escorts now - but not then, you were on your own and one trip was 270 miles one way to South Wales.
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locking doors by any chance?
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IN British Leyland cars, were door lock buttons not there to stop the door trim falling off?
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On Mazda's 5 and 6's they are next to the driver and front passenger interior door handle.You just flip them forward or back to lock/unlock
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