So I've had my car for a month now and between the girlfriend or taking a buddy out for a ride the consensus is:

What were they thinking with the door locks?

I've had some complaints about the system they've gone with and I'm wondering (perhaps) if others dislike this or if this was done for a particular reason.

1. The only locking mechanism is on the driver side.

2. The doors do not automatically lock when the car is put into gear or goes above a certain mph (usually 10-15mph).

3. The doors will not unlock if the car is in park (or off) and opened from inside the vehicle.

To me, these features are a convenience and certainly make for entering & exiting the car with passengers much more convenient. Anyone else agree or know why the car was built like this?

 

no idea why they did it how they did, but re:
1. The only locking mechanism is on the driver side.

I like it that way. Keeps my annoying passengers from continually f'in with the locks... funny put 4 grown men in a car and you get 8year kid mentality....

 

I had those door lock features on my last car ande I personally didn't care for them. I found the clunk of the door locks locking and unlocking annoying. I'm a big boy now, and I can unlock the door by myself if I want to. Also, it's my car, and I didn't really care if my passenger was inconvenienced if they couldn't unlock the door by themselves.

You, the driver, still have the ability to lock and unlock the door yourself. So what's the big deal? Tell your friends to shut up and be grateful that they have you to drive them around.

 

Something tells me if I say that to Mom/Dad or the girlfriend I won't get a back.

 

i had auto locks in my grand wagoneer, it was a feature with the alarm. i had the option to have the locks lock when the car is turned on, off, but when i turned it off i set it to unlock, because those 1984 jeep locks would tend to lock themselves over some bumps. i'm also not really understanding why your passengers couldn't just use their hands and benefit from opposable thumbs to unlock their door. Just lazy eh?

 

From what I understand, #2 and #3 are generally special car alarm features. My dad got a keyless entry system w/ alarm on his Honda CR-V and it does your features #2 and #3. Stock Protege keyless remote entry system does not come with those features.

However, I personally noticed that I don't really miss any of these.

For feature #1, 50% of the time I have one passenger, 25% of the time 3 or 4 passengers. In all those times, people are so lazy that if the door is locked (they try to get out and it doesn't open), everyone just looks at me or tells me that the door is locked, and then all wait until I unlock the doors. Heck, even if there was a door lock switch on the front passenger side or the rear doors, I doubt that my passengers would still use them. When it comes to the choice between telling the driver to unlock the doors and doing anything to unlock the doors themselves, everyone seems to choose the former.

Features #2 and #3 I find a little unsettling anyway (I've driven some cars that had those). I don't carry any children around, so I don't really need to worry about someone accidentally opening doors while driving.

But if you really must have them, you can install an aftermarket keyless remote entry system or an alarm system w/ those features.

 

because we (humans) are creatures of habit. You do something for years or have a feature in your car for years than all of sudden have that taken away...

Of course it's going to be a red flag. My girlfriend is like my dog in this regards, always has to be the first in & out of the door. To her, reaching over to unlock the door manually is no good, when my last car had her own switch.

My whole entire reason for this threads stems from design. More often than not both front doors have door lock mechanisms and window controls. The driver side features all 4 windows, door lock and occassionally the 'window lock' feature. I just don't understand why the Protege5 fits this bill as well.

I'd be interested (wrote a letter to mazda about it last week) to see their reasoning behind it, with imperical evidence not just opinions.

 

Maybe it's just a matter of money. Cheaper to wire one door, than to wire two, or four. Besides it's one less thing that can short out over the course of the car's life.

You should get pretty quick at punching that door lock so your girlfriend can get out. Better yet, unlock it, then lock it really quickly and watch her bang her shoulder against the door.

I did that once to my g/f. lol

 

I still don't understand why whoever is in your car can't unlock their own door, why would the driver need to do it with the power lock switch? and if they don't lock automatically when something happens, why'd they get locked in the first place?

 

the problem with mine r that if i lock the doors, i cannot start the car...this did not help one time when this one person kept on trying to get in my car but the only way for me to get out of there was to unlock the doors and start the car that way...

 

laziness... whenever I'm in the back I expect the driver to unlock all the doors when we park and go to get out.

As the driver I lock my car doors as soon I get in the vehicle, even if only to go a few miles or even down the street. Force of habit...

 

Well that explains it, if you do this habitual locking. The only time I lock my doors is if I'm rolling down a really shady neighborhood (and even then, typically my girlfriend asks to do that) or I accidentally push down the driver's side front door lock with my hand.

Lately I've been keeping it to "only driver's door open" if I'm the only person in the car. I like how the stock keyless remote entry system does that two-stage unlocking thing (driver's door first, then all doors).

 

shady neighborhood? Dude you live in woozster, the only shade by you is from the trees. (grandparents in clinton)

But I agree the two-stage unlock is nice especially considering the majority of the time I am alone.

 

Thats why Im glad I do not have locks or handles on my 99LX.........Duncan

 

It's funny that they did run the power lock controls over to that door (if you use the key on the passenger side, at lest on my 02 P5), it actuates the power looks (like on the driver's side). Not that I ever use that with the keyless entry fob.