Child Safety Locks

[suvlimomans]

We recently had an employee get locked into the back of the limousine in a 95 degree day for 1/2 hour because the detailers accidently switched the safety locks when wiping down the car. Mind you, the partition was up and the vehicle was off.
Don't you think that coachbuilders should disable these switches?? What happens if you have a car w/ 10 people in it and an emergency happens???????
Maybe this is something all coachbuilders should consider. Why not even have a safety device that lowers the partition when the car is turned off???

[Steve W.]

See I knew this would happen to someone else besides our driver. SUV, was the vehicle a 2003 town car? They changed the location of the locks in 2003 to a place that always gets dried at a car wash and they always engage them.

Check this thread:
Driver Locked in Rear (http://limos.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9766026732/m/224103575/r/815109185#815109185)

Our soloution on our town cars was to take a dremel tool and cut off the switch flush with the door metal and leave it in the unlocked position.

On my own car with shaved door handles I went in and put a tie wrap around the mechanish for the child lock to keep it in the unlock position. But with the limo you can jam your finger in there and engage it if perhaps you have children (or adults acting like children) and want them not to have control over the doors.

Do 2005 hummer H2 have this child lock feature?

[BirmLimo - Michael Birmingham]

why on a 95 degree day would someone get in the back and close the door with the window up , the ac off , etc.

sorry folks , in 14 years have never had something this stupid happen.

perhaps you need to train your people to be aware of their surroundings.

the safety locks are important to keep drunks and general dumb asses from opening the doors into traffic or poles , curbs etc.

[Steve W.]

> why on a 95 degree day would someone get in the back and
> close the door with the window up , the ac off , etc.
Well Birm, like in my case probably just went back there for a minute to get something.

> sorry folks , in 14 years have never had
> something this stupid happen.
Well in 20 years we never had it happen either does not mean it will not happen to you, The point is on the 2003 town car anyway they changed the design of the latch that this will happen much easier under certain (albeit rare) circumstances. And of course you know if it does happen it will be in the middle of some job 50 miles away, stuff like this never goes wrong in your garage!

I bet the child locks are engaged with drivers in the back more than we think but they are able to get out of it by rolling down the window and opening from the outside. It is just the rare situations when the window lock is engaged or power is off on the car or to the rear or the driver cannot fit his body through the divider (suprisingly not all chauffers are thin) to reach any controlls or slide through the sunroof if that happened to be open.

> perhaps you need to train your people
> to be aware of their surroundings.
That's the point there is not much to be aware of, you go to the back door, it opens fine, it is unlocked, you get in and shut it, try to get out and you can't. Maybe back at the yard you even checked to make sure the child lock was off but since then you went to the car wash and they engaged them.

> the safety locks are important to keep drunks and general
> dumb asses from opening the doors into traffic or poles , curbs etc.
That's True Birm, so is that to say you leave them on all the time or instruct your guys to turn them on when they feel they need them?

Makes me think of the this:
Wife of NASCAR driver killed in Limo (http://limos.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6786063332/m/1156092424/r/1156092424#1156092424)
Wonder if they tried opening the doors from the inside but could not?

[suvlimomans]

I currently have my mechanic in the process of removing ALL child safety locks. I don't care if people are drunk or stupid. If an accident happens and the chauffeur is unconcious, what happens to all those drunks if the car catches on fire???
Birmlimo.....never think it will never happen to you. As soon as you think that, it will happen to you.
I'd rather have a drunk open the door onto a pole and deal with the legalities when it happens than having a person suffocate in the back of the limo (especially if it was a small child).

[BirmLimo - Michael Birmingham]

I only have the street side locked in most cases. I really leave it up to the chauffeur to use his or her best judgement depending on the crowd they are dealing with.

[Dean Schuler]

Steve is correct-train your CHAUFFEURS !

[TxLimoGuy]

I'll answer the question with a question: "What would a jury say?"

[suvlimomans]

Dean,
Your comment reminds me of the infamous saying that my printer has. It doesn't matter how many hours of safety training a printer has, those fingers always find a way to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hence most printers have missing fingers.

[Dean Schuler]

SUVLIMOMANS, Back in the day about ten or fifteen years ago limos from a certain base unit manufacturer had a problem around 50,000 miles. The vehicles would not come out of drive. I knew more than a few operators that lost a day's work because they hadn't read the tech updates that you received in the mail in those days. Relative to your situation, we have always believed in adding switches to handle scenarios like you described. You are absolutely correct that the printer can still lose fingers. I love that the detailer evidently thought that the Chauffeur teleported away ! We had a rental van on a convention one time . If you left the key in the vehicle ignition and took the clicker, the vehicle would not open. The Chauffeur did not test his theory of the clicker working with the windows down. He found out he hard way and I had to go out with an extra set of keys. Test and verify ! Our business is built on living and learning.

[Dean Schuler]

KISS KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. And you will never go wrong !!!!!!!!!

[dscher]

One more thing to consider is that these vehicles were originally manufactured as private passenger vehicles. Now the vehicle has been modified. The secondary mfger. is responsible for ensuring the vehicle...as he manufactured it...conforms to any applicable FMVSS standards. This is especially relevant if the vehicle weighs in at 10,001 lbs. or more WITH passengers. If the vehicle PHYSICALLY weighs 9,500 lbs. w/o passengers then add 150 lbs. per seat space. Once the vehicle breaks the 10,001 lb. mark, it is then subject to FMVSS 571.217 and required to have emergency exits.