Child Safety Locks??????

[ED FUSS]

I am looking for the legal description of what "Child Safety Locks" is defined as well as how they are supposed to work.

? Doors that will not open from the inside unless they are told to?
? Doors that cannot be opened from the inside by child, but can be opened from the outside at will (unless doors are locked)?

My 3yr. old son was able to open passenger door of luxury car on highway the other day. I was told by dealer that the doors are designed to prevent this from happening????????

Please respond.

Thank you

[ivymike1031]

Usually such locks are only used on the rear doors of a 4-door vehicle. The typical functionality is such: when the child safety function is activated, the door can only be opened from the outside. The child safety function is typically activated by a small switch on the trailing edge of the door, which is not accessible when the door is closed.

[ED FUSS]

Yes, your are correct. I appreciate your concurence with what I call "Child Safety Locks."

My problem is that our new C-320 Sport Wagon doesn't have this feature. The locks automatically lock at 9 MPH. My 3 yr. old lifts the locking button and opens the door????? I approached dealer, they recommended putting duct tape over lock, removing the locking stem (which did not work), or possibly disconnecting the locking stem from where ever it is connected below, at an extra cost.

Who would have thought that a Mercedes wagon would not be fitted w/ the type of safety device that the Grand Cherokee has??

Thanks for your response.

ED

[3.5litermoose]

let the kid fall open the door on the road and fall out....he'll learn his lesson Just kidding!

I would have thought a mercedes would have child security locks. all i know is they suck when you accidently bump them when getting into the car. The family tahoe has the same child lock that ivymike was talking about.

[ivymike1031]

hehheeh... I used to work in the door hardware department at a major truck company. We even had child safety locks on our rear doors! When the heck will a kid ever be riding in the back of a crew-cab firetruck?