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This is an idea have the locks in car doors in a location that would not be visible to others from the outside of the vehicle. Or the locks would simply not visually indicate weather the door is locked or not. Or the the lock could be removed completely and replaced with electric latches which would
be remotely controlled, and the exterior handles could even be removed (which I know is baked in some custom cars).
I know this idea probably sounds paranoid, but I think it would be useful (at least slightly) in that people gazing in from the outside of your vehicle would not be able to simply look at the lock to see if it was left unlocked and just open the door and vandalize your car. If they can’t see that it is unlocked then they might just assume that the car has an alarm or something and not bother it.
Combined door lock/handle
http://www.ukcar.co.../Ford/mondeo-zetec/
Scroll down the page, there's a couple of pics of the handle, one showing the whole door with no locks in sight. [boysparks, Dec 09 2006]
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This is at least partially baked in an old co-workers car. The interior locks were difficult to see from the outside, and they were chrome slide-switches so even if you did see them, unless you were familiar with that make and model you wouldn't know if it was locked or not. |
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I thought at first this was a hidden lock for inserting your key in case somebody steals your keys. |
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My sisters had a junky old car that they drove that the door handle broke, so to lock it you had to pull or push on the linkage sticking out slightly through the panel. But I guess it worked, because the car never got broken into... Just like those elephant whistles I bought. I haven't hit one yet, so they must be working. : )
But bun on the idea, though. |
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Very baked. Lots of cars for the past decade or so have had the internal lock combined with the interior handle (Ford Europe is one company that have done this across the board for a long while). |
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This idea would likely not prevent a thief. Yes, the opportunist might not spot that the car is unlocked, but the usual methods are: |
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(i) look into the car to see if it's worth entering; if it is try to open the doors (whether they appear open or not); if need be force a door or window, or walk away if too risky. |
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(ii) work down a line of parked cars, trying the door handles whilst looking elsewhere (usually to see if they've been spotted). If a door opens, get in and take it from there. |
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In any event why not simply lock the car? |
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The idea is not to have "the internal lock combined with the interior handle", it is simply to hide the lock from view. Or the lock could be completly removed with the use of remotes and electric latching mechanisms (which I know are baked on some custom cars). |
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And I never said not to lock the car. |
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//The idea is not to have "the internal lock combined with the interior handle", it is simply to hide the lock from view// |
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Yes, I am aware of that, and should have made my first point clearer: many cars exist without visible door locks and one existing variant of this is to combine the lock with the handle, hence hiding it from view. |
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//And I never said not to lock the car.// |
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//If they can’t see that it is unlocked// |
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And if the car *is* locked, then what is the point of this idea? |
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[boysparks] I don't know how you could "combine the lock with the handle". |
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Saying "If they can’t see that it is unlocked" is NOT telling you to leave your doors unlocked. |
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And there isn't really a point to this idea, and that's why I said it "probably sounds paranoid". |
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If I get bad fishbones then I will delete this idea, but there is nothing bad about this idea, just not much good. |
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BJS, trust me, you can combine the lock with the handle; it has been done. See link. On some models you push the handle in to lock, pull out to unlock and central locking does the rest, but there are variations. |
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For the record I think it's a good idea to disguise the door locks, and since you genuinely didn't know it has been widely baked then credit to you. Although this would not deter the vast majority of car thieves and vandals, deterring a few would still be a benefit. |
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Finally, since you clearly stated twice in the original idea that //it is unlocked// it is an obvious question to ask 'why leave it unlocked?' |
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I'm now guessing from your annos that this idea is being aimed at the situation where you *accidentally* leave the car unlocked. However the wording of your original description does not mention that at all. I read it as a 'when you are worried about having to leave it unlocked' type situation. |
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If the idea's aimed at the 'accidentally left unlocked' situation then the point of the idea is clear (at last!) and is, I feel, a good one. [+/-] good idea but baked. |
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In the lawless part of the world where I
live, locked cars are simply opened with
a brick or a bar through the window. If
you are in the car, then the weapon is
used on you as well, but having no
handle would at least force car thieves
to climb in through the space once
occupied by the glasss - so + |
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I did not see any door without a visible lock in the provided link. The doors I saw in the link do visually indicate weather the door is or isn't locked. |
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And I changed the wording just for you boysparks. |
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You said: //I don't know how you could "combine the lock with the handle".// |
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I provided a link to show they exist. |
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I also said earlier that variants exist on the theme. For some of those variants the handle does not alter position when locked ('cos it's done electronically), so you can't tell whether or not the door is locked by visual inspection, so the lock is effectively hidden. |
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As another example I used to have an Alfa Romeo with no visible locks - all done centrally, no visible indication. |
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I used to own a Citroen Picasso with fully electronic locking - no visible indication of locked/unlocked - in fact one time I discovered one of the back doors wasn't locking and had no idea how long it had been like that. And so on. |
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As I keep saying, this idea has been baked to a crisp. It seems to be more popular in Europe then North America which might explain your lack of exposure to it. |
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//but having no handle would at least force car thieves to climb in through the space once occupied by the glasss// |
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So what, does this thing hide the actual handle when the door's locked? That's not the impression I got from reading it, but that would be a really cool idea. Xenzag, if you post that idea in it's own right, I'll be the first to vote for it. |
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//where I live, locked cars are simply opened with a brick// [xenzag], for your Christmas present I am trying to decide between a Browning and a Bradley. |
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You mean you're torn between a machine gun and an armored personnel carrier? Scary... |
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Sounds like a good Christmas to me... |
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I don't know about where you live, but around here they just break the window and grab the goods. |
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I bunned this one, mainly because the criticism is unfair. Most people today lock their cars, and I have to believe it's an advantage to always look like it's one of those, not easy prey. |
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I am assuming that this is all based on the element of the unknown- Like when nobody knows what you have in your house, you are less likely to get burgularized because there is nothing to tempt a theif. And if you shy away from your neighbors and constantly have friends comming in and out the door to the point where nobody has any idea as to who lives there, again you are less likely to encounter a problem because there is never a way to know if the house is occupied. |
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trust in God but lock your car, .....at the end of the day its only a car, and by the way, locks only keep out honest people, so if they know/think/suspect there's somthing worth stealing in there, its already gone. |
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You could have a false lock so it always looks locked. |
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Caspian, I like that. That might be much more effective. |
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Get a conversion kit to make your Beemer look like a Yugo. (Why don't they make those?) |
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They make heaps of them, but almost all the owners have got conversion kits to make their Yugos look like Beemers. |
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned TVR. They do a pretty good job of hiding the locks, the handles, the ignition switch, etc. |
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