Is it necessary to have an auto door lock linked to vehicle speed?

Some cars have the ability to automatically lock all doors when a certain speed is reached. It has the advantage of preventing children from accidentally opening the door, but the number of cases of adoption has decreased for a while and has increased again recently. Why is it different whether or not it is equipped?

What features do you want your family to have?

Some models have a speed-linked auto door lock function that automatically locks all doors when the car starts running and reaches a certain speed such as 15km / h or 20km / h. On the other hand, probably because many cars do not have this function, many devices that enable this function are sold at car supply stores.

These products have merits such as "preventing children from accidentally opening the door" and "preventing intrusion into the car when waiting for a traffic light". In particular, many products are compatible with Toyota vehicles, but according to one of the manufacturers, Kiramec (Handa City, Aichi Prefecture), this function is standard equipment on some Toyota vehicles with 2000cc or more. So, for example, it is not set for "Prius". As for external parts, it seems that those that are compatible with one-box cars, which are especially in high demand for families, sell well.

How do manufacturers perceive this feature? We talked to Subaru, who newly set this function for the "Legacy B4," which was remodeled in October 2017.

――Why did you newly adopt the vehicle speed-linked auto door lock function?

It has been adopted in cars of other manufacturers, and it is a function that is often requested by customers. Since the "Legacy B4" is also a model with a higher vehicle class, we have developed and adopted a new mechanism this time.

--Isn't it ever in a Subaru car?

There have been no examples of adoption in the last 10 years, only centralized door locks that are manually performed from the driver's seat. The vehicle speed-linked auto door lock itself has been a technology since at least the 1980s, but for a while, the problem that the door could not be opened in an emergency was highlighted, and the number of cases adopted by other manufacturers has decreased. This time, all the doors are automatically unlocked in the event of a collision to ensure safety, and it is also possible to set not to auto-lock.

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