mspaul

I always wanted to ask this question...

Is there a setting that provides rear passengers the feature to unlock and open the door just by pulling the door opening lever when the door is locked?

Its annoying when the rear passenger has to pull the lock/unlock knob to open the door.

Barry45RPM

Even in American cars the rear passengers must 1st unlock the rear doors either electrically or by manually operating the lock button/lever... unless of course the "Child Lock" feature is activated. In that case rear seat passengers can never open the doors from the inside on American cars.. This is a safety feature to protect kids from falling out.

imducati

I always wondered why the rear doors can't be opened and unlocked by pulling the door lever from the inside.

It is such a nice feature in the front doors.

no_clue

Or you could try Volvo, which rear seat can be open from inside of the cabin.

BavarianPride

No, there is no such setting that i know of, but there is a setting that prevents the rear doors from being locked at all. Your rear passengers won't have any trouble opening their doors with the door handle. Rear doors would have to be locked manually with the central locking system.
T.

Diesel Benz

By "even American cars" you must be referring to US cars against Canadian cars? In Europe the door can be opened from the handle, unless child locks are on.

I thought this US implementation was from a US law but I guess it is an MBUSA requirement (liability?) if Volvo is doing it the "Euro way"?

Barry45RPM

I guess I'm referring to American Brands, since I've never seen a Canadian Equipped American Brand car. (Sometimes they are the Same exact car, cometimes they are the same car with a different name & sometimes they get a model within a brand that isnt available in the USA at all.) As you know, "American" Brand cars can be made in the US, Canada or Mexico for sale here. I was referring to the "Brand" as it is sold in the USA, not its country of origin.

I'm sure the rear door locking style IS an American requirement for MB.

Diesel Benz

Sorry, should have been clear.

mspaul

Thank you all for replying.

It would have been nice to have this option.

Maybe have a root login to change this feature. Linux style!

MBenzNL

it is a hardware swap - not a software change...the actual doorlock mechanism is different for the NA spec cars...that different lock is also the reason why the NA spec cars were equipped with the back-to-the-seventies doorpins

greetingz,

Diesel Benz

Clinton Horn

Antique door pins, man. Kind of like the ignition in the face of the dash where you can access it easily instead of the steering column, or that silly analog clock that always displays the time, ignition on or off 24/7, or that trunk access that is locked when necessary and unlocked when it should be accessible, ditto the fuel filler flap. Or that global locking / unlocking feature instead of the idiotic Chrysler global locking and individual unlocking feature so that each door must be addressed when exiting the vehicle and trying to open a rear hatch / door etc. Or how about the radio "on "feature with the ignition off for a limited amount of time, ditto the electric windows. Ditto "rest"
Clearly these M-B engineers are fossils. Since I am one as well. I am really fond of old school stuff that functions better, I never ride in the back seat anyway, they can wait.

Barry45RPM

Actually, the Euro "Flush To Sill When Locked" pins would be a little scary if a collision resulted in the car being submerged. I prefer the 07> pins type which are cylindrical (not Golf Tee shaped) like the Euro pins, but are longer than the Euro Pins and do not sit flush with the sill when locked, so there's something to grab on to to pull up in the case of vehicle submersion. You have limited visibility, panic, a brief time to undo the belts, unlock & escape all while being woozy when the car is under water, hopefully upright, but probably nose down. The dash unlock button and power windows will be of no use when wet. Having that 1/2 inch of pin to pull up with is OK with me.

Diesel Benz

1) I always drive with doors unlocked, I don't have to be scared of someone entering the car at traffic lights etc, at least nobody unfriendly.
2) at an accident, doors would unlock automatically.
3) people at the car should be used to opening the doors from the handle, not from the lock pin. At an accident, it would be natural to open from the handle instead of starting to think about "this is a special case, now open the doors from the door lock pin that I've never done before".

mspaul

But why only mercedes? How come BMW's can get across this and provide this easy unlock feature.

Shouldn't safety law apply to all car manufacturers?

Barry45RPM

Can a locked rear door on a BMW be opened just by pulling on the inside handle?

TheGreatOne45

yes

Diesel Benz

And the two of you knowing how BMW behaves, are from the US. It does sound odd when MB makes it differently just for the US (NA?) market if the safety laws allow BMW to use the Euro approach in the US too.

no_clue

I found co-worker's VW also able to fold down the rear seat from inside the cabin.

( is it possible MB is not very "good" w/ folding rear seat design? I mean, if I remember correctly, MB didn't really have fold down rear seat on their 4-door sedan until early 2000? )

Barry45RPM

Maybe the BMW has a user selectable activatation switch for the child lock mechanism on the (striker) edge of the door which elimimantes the decision being made for you at the factory. American cars have a slot on the edge of the door into which you put a screwdriver into & slide a switch which will make it so the interior handle will never open the door. It always must be opened from the outside.

Just a guess.... perhaps I'm overthinking this whole discussion... anyway... How's your day?

chokaay

The interesting thing is that Mercedes USED to have a striker on the rear doors, just like the BMW and American cars you mention. In fact, I remember in a very old Mercedes manual I read, it mentioned this feature and had instructions on how to enable and disable the child locks on the rear doors.

But then again, this was a while ago... sort of strange they decided NOT to keep this feature. It was probably because the "geniuses" at MBUSA decided Americans weren't "smart" enough to figure out how to use this feature anyway (just like how we Americans aren't "smart" enough to figure out the Auto Tilt Passenger Mirror).

chokaay

It's possible.

It's possible that Mercedes added this option to the W210/W211 and other 4-Door sedans as a later addition, and didn't want to change the existing seat patterns/fixtures to save cost.

It's also possible that Mercedes is also more concerned with the asthetics of having plastic "fold down" handles easily in view of people sitting in the cabin, and they felt that it would possibly take away from the elegance of the car from the inside.

It could also mean that Mercedes is concerned if people break into your car through a window, they would easily have access to your valuables in the trunk through Split Folding Seats (without making the thief crack open the trunk lock or going through some sheet metal first), and "alerting" thieves as to which cars are easy targets (since the Split Folding Seat handles would be easily seen through the windows). (Don't forget that Mercedes-Benz vehicles in North America do NOT have any pressure alarm triggers or breaking glass alarm triggers inside the cabin.)

There could be many reasons why Mercedes chose to do it this way. They most certainly could put the Split Folding Seat handles on the seats themselves (like in the 2003 C230 Kompressor Sports Coupe, or the ML-Class SUV), but they didn't in the sedans for some reason. (Maybe because if you gain access to the cabin of a hatchback or SUV, you have open access to their cargo compartment, whereas in a sedan it's possible to keep the cargo compartment protected? Who knows? )

Diesel Benz

The child lock lever has always been there on Euro cars, it still is:
http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/manual...shtml#d75e4799

CEB

...a common complaint is that the Valet would have access to the stuff in your trunk. They would then have to add a lock.

In addition, it is far easier to pull the latch in the trunk than it is to find the latch on the seats....

mspaul

Yes, and Yes, I am talking about US cars.

If a rear door is locked in a BMW - passenger can pull it once and it unlocks and pulling it again opens the door.

Oh well, Mercedes might come up with something more intelligent some day.

I'll wait...