Locked in the Car and Unable to get Out - Food for Thought

[3930dave]

There are tools sold in many places that are comprised of a hammer to break the door widow and a seatbelt cutter. I suspect the elderly and infirm might be their main market. In a panic situation, I'd never find mine, if I owned one.

I've carried these for many years:

resqme® Car Escape Tool, Seatbelt Cutter / Window Breaker

Used it for real once; works well on regular auto glass side-windows. USA made, easy to keep on a keychain.

Worth knowing..... you'll need a saw to get through many modern side-windows, as they're laminated....

Some Car Windows Are Harder to Break in an Emergency, Says AAA

Scanned the pages, but didn't notice the make/model of the problem vehicle that started this thread....

Rgds, D.

 

[Streetcar]

All of our Chevy's from 2000 on turn the headlights lights off after a few minutes if you leave them on with the engine not running.

Ford has automatic setting that will do this but she pushed switch to manually on

 

[gstrom99]

To be fair, if you want to test the theory, you need to pull your battery cable to simulate a dead battery.

OP, no offense to the lady, we can only hypothesize with what we know.

We still don't know what the car model is/was, so we're all just guessing. My Jeep inside door handle physically engages the unlock thingy.

 

[Thomas]

One of reason I like my simple 4 WD GMC 2015...doors don't lock until put in D or R and has roll up windows.

 

[Jstpssng]

Something like opening the car door from the inside should be intuitional. In an emergency you shouldn't have to fumble for a lever or an obscure button.
Here's my "locked door" story...

It was sometime in the mid-90s that we were travelling up "The Golden Road", a privately owned woods road which is one of the main arteries into the North Maine Woods. It was a cold, blustery winter day when we came upon a guy standing in his shirt sleeves next to a running car. We stopped and he told us he was locked out; he had gotten out to get rid of a cup of coffee and the doors had locked themselves. (?) We gave him a ride back to a payphone, and he explained that he was an engineer and had flown in from New Hampshire for a meeting. He was early so decided to take a ride in the rental car. We dropped him off at a payphone and offered to wait; but he assured us he would be fine so we went on our way.

 

[MossRoad]

Something like opening the car door from the inside should be intuitional. In an emergency you shouldn't have to fumble for a lever or an obscure button.
Here's my "locked door" story...

It was sometime in the mid-90s that we were travelling up "The Golden Road", a privately owned woods road which is one of the main arteries into the North Maine Woods. It was a cold, blustery winter day when we came upon a guy standing in his shirt sleeves next to a running car. We stopped and he told us he was locked out; he had gotten out to get rid of a cup of coffee and the doors had locked themselves. (?) We gave him a ride back to a payphone, and he explained that he was an engineer and had flown in from New Hampshire for a meeting. He was early so decided to take a ride in the rental car. We dropped him off at a payphone and offered to wait; but he assured us he would be fine so we went on our way.

Sounds like a plot from Breaking Bad.

 

[arto98607]

All the cars I have seen with batteries in the trunk have jumper terminals under the hood.

2008 Mercedes E320 Bluetech (W211) sedan, very large battery in the trunk but no jumper terminals under the hood.
According to owners manual, only station-wagon models have terminals under the hood.

Doors are always opened manually from the inside no problem.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I have never been in a car where you could get locked in. At least in the front, electrically locked doors have always opened from the inside. Not saying there isn't one out there, I just have never seen one...

 

[cqaigy2]

Ha ha, i have being locked out story too.


I dropped my girl friend off at her car, she gets in starts it up and drives off. I return to my still running car, 71 Torino, and can't open the door, it's locked. I think to myself, WTF? Only thing i could figure, was i noticed it was harder then normal, turning the key in the door lock, to unlock it. I think part of the mechanism was frozen. Anyway, i walk to a phone booth, and call tell my girlfriend what had happened and to bring a coat hanger, so i can unlock my door.

I wait about 30 minutes, her car pulls up and she jumps out and with a big smile and hands me a plastic coat hanger. My face must have betrayed my thoughts, cause she start laughing so hard she almost couldn't stand, then pulls her other hand from behind her, and present a metal coat hanger.

 

[Jstpssng]

Sounds like a plot from Breaking Bad.

W-w-w-wait a minute!!! Are you saying there was probably a BODY in the trunk?!?!?!?