Re: How can you get locked in? (archive)

On the driver's door the deadbolt is manually engaged by action of you twisting the key. This also closes a switch which tells the lock controller to actuate the deadbolts in the other three doors.

Once the deadbolt is actuated, the only way (supposedly) to unlock the car is to turn the key is the driver's lock. This is a theft deterrent. Lifting the lockbuttons won't work, and so the usual coat hanger trick is stymied. The downside (or upside, depending) is that you can lock people into your car so they can't escape. Remember, the windows & sunroof don't work when the car is off.

In my case, the door lock cylinder jammed in the deadbolt position. I managed to enter the car using a sneaky trick, which unlocked all but the driver's door. I removed that door's interior panel, and must have hit the deadbolt switch, which caused all the doors to lock.

So the deadbolt position is a position past the lock position, on the driver's door only? What's the purpose? And how could you be deadbolted while inside the car?

-Chuck
87 535is

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