A Ford back door lock question

[oldgeek]

I thought I would ask here instead of joining another forums somewhere... Just lazy I guess. I cannot seem to find an answer online.

I have a Grand Marquis. But I've really became aware of this riding in the back of my friends Ford Escape. The back doors lock when vehicle is put in gear. Fine. But, they do not unlock when the vehicle is put in park. My car's back door locks might be able to be pulled up by hand. Might. But I could not find any manual lock mechanism on the rear doors of my friends car. You cannot open the back door, like you can the front doors, until the power locks are disengaged. That is not a pleasant feeling considering all the potential things that could happen.

Can these doors be unlocked manually? Is there a way to automatically unlock these when put in park? I cannot find any info. Or any similar concern expressed which makes me wonder just what obvious thing am I missing?

 

[Brain75]

As far as I know, on every 4 door ford makes they add a child lockout switch. 2 of my older cars had em dating clear back to 80's
The switches have changed location over the years, but a lot of times these either come flipped from previous owner or factory.
The long and the short, it is there so little kids in the backseat can't open the doors while it is going down the road. look in your owners manual for 'child lockout' or similar nonsense.

How to Lock and Unlock the Child Safety Lock in Your Car - 1A Auto

Find out how to engage the child safety lock in your car with these tips from our mechanic Andy in this article and video

blog.1aauto.com

when it is enabled (in child lockout mode) the doors can't be opened or unlocked or even automatically unlock when placed in park, the "adult" in the front seat has to purposefully unlock the doors when they choose.

 

[JoshT]

Mom had a Ford car that had the lockout on the rear doors. Don't remember if it was the 2000 Taurus, or the 94is Tempo. The Taurus probably had that feature since I actually remember it, but the Tempo and prior (80s?) Crown Vic may have as well. Anyway, on the one I remember it wasn't tied into the locks, it completely disabled the inside door handle. Didn't matter if you unlocked the doors or not, with that engaged you could not open the rear doors from the inside at all.

Can't say how much that stuff has changed over the years or for different models, but I did a search and found a few Ford sites that basically say the same as what I remember.

WARNING: You cannot open the rear doors from inside if you have put the child safety locks on.

Based on that, I have a feeling that child safety locks are not what is causing this since you can open them from inside when the doors are unlocked. Beyond that I have no idea. I feel like it is still a child safety feature as Brain said, just not the actual child safety lockout.

If I were the manufacturer, I'd rather err on the side of caution. Accept the inconvenience of having to unlock the doors for an adult in the back, over risking a child opening them in motion.

Depending on the model year of the Escape, maybe there are settings in the computer than can turn it off?

 

[oldgeek]

As far as I know, on every 4 door ford makes they add a child lockout switch. 2 of my older cars had em dating clear back to 80's
The switches have changed location over the years, but a lot of times these either come flipped from previous owner or factory.
The long and the short, it is there so little kids in the backseat can't open the doors while it is going down the road. look in your owners manual for 'child lockout' or similar nonsense.

How to Lock and Unlock the Child Safety Lock in Your Car - 1A Auto

Find out how to engage the child safety lock in your car with these tips from our mechanic Andy in this article and video

blog.1aauto.com

when it is enabled (in child lockout mode) the doors can't be opened or unlocked or even automatically unlock when placed in park, the "adult" in the front seat has to purposefully unlock the doors when they choose.

With the child lockout lever, the door cannot open from the inside locked or unlocked. That is a different situation than having to depend on the doors being unlocked from one of the frond door switches.