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I car shared with a friend last night, I'm seldom a passenger. Upon returning to the car, I waited patiently on the kerb for his hand to reach across to unlock the passenger door. Things it seems have moved on
You've been aware of central locking for a long time. Waiting for your friend to unlock the door is probably just dementia setting in. I find myself doing things like that all the time. Hope this helps 😉
I went from a Defender last year with a key for the door ( not that you really needed to use it ), one for the ignition and one for the fuel filler, to a keyless car.
It is witchcraft.
Bought a car from this decade last month for the wife.
My daily is an 87 ninety.... Which barely has heating. For a long time it was a 2004 base model Peugeot partner van with keep fit windows/ mirrors and key in door non central locking
Now we have mirrors that fold in when you blip the central locking , Bluetooth stereo that is hands free and voice activated
Electric windows
Abs
Auto lights
Auto wipers
Autowipeyerarse.
Tire pressure that's self aware (I mean like a lights on the dash is gonna make Tarquin stop to change a tire if he didn't notice his car was driving like a drunk elephant -its not like he does anything about his bulb out light when he is driving down the road with a headlight out)
And we wonder why cars cost so ****ing much.
Buuuut. It is a nice thing to sit and one of the lesser technology infused cars out there but it's getting harder to find em.
As far as I'm aware central locking has been around since the 50s or 60s and in general circulation since the 70s.
I remember the add for the Citroen 2cv. It tongue in cheek claimed central locking... The driver could reach all the door locking buttons from his seat.
My friends car has windows that go up and down at the press of a button. No, it’s true. It also has heated seats. I was so happy when he told me this because I thought I’d lost bladder control.......again!
Available does not mean common place since 70s.
Even in 2006 it was possible to buy a new car without it..... Not so sure you can now.
Frankly if I had the option to save a few bob on manual locks I would..not just because of extra cost but the ease at which when shit goes wrong to repair it.
But alas it's cheaper to make central locking mandatory than to offer a base model without and I'm probably in the minority of people who really are not fussed about not having it
Seems fair enough.I waited patiently on the kerb for [s]his hand to reach across to unlock the passenger door[/s] him to walk around and open the door for me
This is mcmoonter we are talking about here. I remember helping him fix one of his indicators by rewinding the coil that pulled the little arm with the light on it out.
Or maybe I didn't. My memory is pretty shot too
Drove a rental car last month, it had cruise control and a radar that watched what the car in front was doing, so if it slowed down then so did you. I flicked it on and took a nap. Amazing!! 🙂
[b]trail_rat[/b] wrote:
Available does not mean common place since 70s.
Even in 2006 it was possible to buy a new car without it….. Not so sure you can now.
The car I bought in 1995 (s/h) had central locking - and that was just a basic hatchback. I'd say it's been commonplace for at least 20 years.
Frankly if I had the option to save a few bob on manual locks I would..not just because of extra cost but the ease at which when shit goes wrong to repair it.
I hope I'm not going to regret writing this, but in the 22 years I've owned cars with c/l my expenditure on maintenance for it has been £0.
My old Focus was basically a box on wheels, even the CD player was an optional upgrade, it had nothing else. But my 2005 mondeo gave me gifts of heated seat and automatic headlights and now I can't live without them. And every time I get a hire car for work, the awesome reversing cameras always get their fangs into me a little bit more, especially the ones that show you where you'll end up based on the steering angle. I NEED that.
"I hope I’m not going to regret writing this, but in the 22 years I’ve owned cars with c/l my expenditure on maintenance for it has been £0."
Same to me, but I get the appeal of lo-fi stuff. I guess it's the thoughtvof being able to take it apart and repair it myself if I need to, possibly part of the reason I like bikes so much- they're like Lego do adults lol
The central locking in my 17 year old Focus estate is temperature controlled! It works beautifully if the ambient temperature is greater than 20deg C. The tailgate release button on the dash also prefers the more southern Mediterranean climate. Less than that and it's a fully manual system. Best of both worlds!
I sold a car because the key fob c/l stopped working (the fault wasn’t in the key!). The key-in-the-door bit still made all the doors lock or unlock, but not the key fob. Or the button on the dash worked.
But the mfr in their wisdom had only fitted a keyhole on one door, and being a French car it was on the LHS.
The faff of walking round the car to lock/unlock then walk round again sounds tolerable, but after doing it several hundred times the interest wanes a little. And the peril of operator-failure when using the dash button and slam-locking the driver’s door behind you was too high to rely on routinely. Being locked out through stupidity gets old quickly.
Several hundred to fix apparently (large fraction of the value), to it had to go!
What aracer said.
The first car I had with central locking was a '91 vintage Cavalier. In 20-odd years of having cars with central locking, I don't recall ever having to have it repaired.
I've repaired a central locking once in all my years. It was on a Niva and that's probably all that needs to be said.
I think I have replaced 2 central locking, er lock units in the last 2 years. Not cheap either at over 100quid a go. So yes, simpler the better.
Currently the ability to change radio presets on my wife's car is beyond me though. I think it's like changing the time on a car when the clocks change ie, it can't be done 😐
Central locking went Kaput on my Passat, which along with other jobs that needed doing for the MOT caused me to get rid. When I picked up my 2010 Mondeo (Titanium X no less) I realised it had cruise control, speed limiter, heated AND COOLED SEATS! Cooled seats WTF!
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;">The first car I had with central locking was a ’91 vintage Cavalier. In 20-odd years of having cars with central locking, I don’t recall ever having to have it repaired.</span>
Buy a land rover.
Now they don't make the door lock units themselves but they must try really hard to source the crappest ones they can. Did one on the FL shortly after we got it and now the driver one has packed in so after unlocking and turning off the alarm with 2 buttons on the fob you then have to use the key to open the driver door. Gets very tedious but just cant be arsed spending £50 or so on a new lock unit. They are pretty much impossible to open and replace the faulty part.
I think I have replaced 2 central locking, er lock units in the last 2 years. Not cheap either at over 100quid a go. So yes, simpler the better.
Yeah, both rear door locks on my 51 Octavia have needed replacing for the MOT, as it’s an automatic fail.
I had no idea that the car has to be lockable/unlockable for an MoT. How is that related to its road worthiness, or are they actively seeking to support the car industry by bringing forward obsolescence?
95 escort Ghia which when it was raining the only thing locking the doors didn't doo wS lock the doors....lights would come in , wipers would go off alarms you name it....
2004 VW golf . Passengers door randomly wouldn't unlock traced to a broken loom in the door.
1st was lived with till such time as I could get a new car.
2nd was repaired at a cost..
When my Peugeot passengers door lock(manual) siezed I bought a new lock for 15 quid an fitted it in half hour.
When technology works it's great. When it fails.-how ever rare it may be ....it can be a complete ****.
I'm a big fan of K.I.S.S. principals when it comes to motoring.
My fob stopped working ages ago. I just lock and unlock manually rather than get it fixed.
"<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: transparent;">This is mcmoonter we are talking about here. I remember helping him fix one of his indicators by rewinding the coil that pulled the little arm with the light on it out.</span>
<p style="padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;">Or maybe I didn’t. My memory is pretty shot too"</p>
Nowt wrong with your memory Rik, they were semaphore indicators on my 1932 Morris Major Six. I can't remember if you did any work on the dipping headlamps too. They actually dip, a solenoid on the right hand unit tilts the internal reflector downwards. The handbook describes the simultaneous function which extinguishes the near side lamp 'as a courtesy to incoming drivers'.
On trend with the total failure to add an corrupted quote and pic