Theft protection can also become a trap. We tell you how to get out when technology stubbornly stands up.
Exclusion principle against thieves
One push of a button and the car door is closed. Central locking systems with remote control are convenient. But if someone is still sitting in the car. Klack – modern locking systems have their pitfalls. Dead-Lock is the name of a system that completely blocks the car’s locking system. It’s supposed to lock thieves out, because they can’t open the door anymore, so they have to climb into the car through the broken side window.
But sometimes the good deed becomes a curse. Then Dead-Lock likes to lock up the passengers. They can’t open the door from the inside without a key either. This happened to an AUTO BILD colleague on New Year’s Eve: With friends to the party, everyone jumped out of the car, only he bent over for cigarettes. Klack, a friend locked up, the colleague was trapped.
For safety reasons, some manufacturers require Dead-Lock to be activated by pressing the key twice. However, everyone explains in the operating instructions how the locks of the car work exactly. In most cases, there is even a warning: “Be careful, never lock the door when someone is still sitting in the car. For good reason: A night in the cold or a day in full sun can have serious consequences for your health. In addition there is the panic of the trapped person. How should a prisoner behave?
How to get out again
We have compiled a few tips on how to get out of the car: – Above all: Keep calm – you can call for help with your mobile phone and found and hired a locksmith professional. If the vehicle owner cannot be reached, the fire brigade or the ADAC will open the door – without a mobile phone by knocking, honking the horn (not possible with all cars without ignition) or waving passers-by will be made aware of the precarious situation – vehicles with a sunroof usually have an emergency opening by crank. Important: The crank must always be accessible. If, as with the Audi A4, the emergency crank can only be reached when the door is open, it is better to place it in the glove compartment.
– If all this does not work, there is no way around it: The window must be smashed with a hard object. The emergency hammer is ideal. The headrest brackets are an alternative. Caution should of course have top priority, even if car windows today are mostly made of safety glass. This means: Protect eyes, hands and forearms against cuts. This can be done in an emergency with a piece of clothing. A new side window is not quite cheap (with the Audi A4 a side window costs approximately 93 euro), but still better, than to freeze to death in the car.
Frozen car door: tricks on how to get back in the car quickly
“Where raw powers are meaningless…” Be careful with icy doors. A new lock or new sealing rubbers are not cheap. If you follow the following plan step by step, you will quickly get back into your car and no damage will remain.
Causes of frozen car doors
Frozen water on sealing rubbers or in the door lock regularly brakes many drivers in winter. The adhesion between ice and metal or rubber is so strong that doors can only be opened with great force or the key in the lock can no longer be turned. The following tips will show you how to open the door without damage.
By the way, the door lock tips are of course completely superfluous for modern cars with radio central locking.
Check if another door can be opened
Pour lukewarm water into the cracks (do not use too hot water; the window glass may crack if the temperature differences are too high).
Knock lightly on the door panel or press against the door (loosens the ice crystals, but not too firmly, otherwise there are dents and scratches)
Use de-icer or WD40 for icy door locks (WD40 also displaces water and dissolves frozen metal parts)
Lighter trick with door lock frozen (warm key with lighter and insert into door lock and try to turn around)
By the way: Thawing the door with the hairdryer usually doesn’t help much. Since the hot air from the hair dryer cools down very quickly, it has no effect in most cases.