Cars w/ electric trunk lock?

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
A coworker came a found me at the ends of the day, "Hey can you jump my car, left the lights on."
Sure no problem.
Ah, damnit, I don't have my cables.
He looks at me and says, oh, no worries, I have some in my trunk.

Then we realize... his shiny new(ish) VW Passat has a fancy electric switch for the trunk release. and no key access to the trunk. Only way to get in is w/ electrical activation of the internal lock.... either w/ the key fob, or the switch on the door.

Who the fawk designed this?
So basically now he learned he has to keep his jumper cables in the back seat, b/c if the battery is dead... well you get the picture.

Is this a common thing on new cars?
 
And this is why men shouldn't drive cars. :flipoff2:

Trucks actually make sense.
 
My 04 GTO is like this. Battery was dead one day and I couldn't access the jump pack in the trunk.

I was at work, so plenty of help was readily available. I should also note that the thing has to be FLAT dead before the truck won't open.
 
I know it's a pain in the ass, but can't you access the trunk through the fold-down back seat? From there, there should be a mechanical trunk release if you need it. Sadly, tumblers cost money and keyholes make designing an attractive, modern car complicated, apparently. My wife's Scion pisses me off constantly because there's no keyhole on the passenger side or trunk, and no mechanical release for the trunk should the battery die.
 
catfishblues said:
I know it's a pain in the ass, but can't you access the trunk through the fold-down back seat? From there, there should be a mechanical trunk release if you need it. Sadly, tumblers cost money and keyholes make designing an attractive, modern car complicated, apparently. My wife's Scion pisses me off constantly because there's no keyhole on the passenger side or trunk, and no mechanical release for the trunk should the battery die.
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This. Rear seat should fold down and I believe late-model cars are required to have a trunk release from the inside and most of them even glow in the dark. Keeps people from being held hostage in the trunk apparently.
 
Very funny story. My brother used to drive this Grand Prix that he owned for like 10 years and was on it's last legs. It had like 300k miles and was gradually dying. One day we were supposed to meet up for lunch and he was late. Phone rings and it is my brother. His battery is dead. I run over there and he is sitting in his car. Battery is stone deal. Apparently his mechanical locks on the doors had broken so the only way to unlock them was through the electric locks. He had crawled inside through the trunk to pop the hood and the trunk closed and he couldn't get it open again.....because he couldn't pop the trunk without power and there was no release lever inside. He was trapped inside his car. :lol:

So of course, I did the brotherly thing. I took pictures and video. Then I jump started his car for him. :lol:
 
Not when I duct tape their wrists behind their back....oops I've said too much
 
catfishblues said:
I know it's a pain in the ass, but can't you access the trunk through the fold-down back seat? From there, there should be a mechanical trunk release if you need it. Sadly, tumblers cost money and keyholes make designing an attractive, modern car complicated, apparently. My wife's Scion pisses me off constantly because there's no keyhole on the passenger side or trunk, and no mechanical release for the trunk should the battery die.
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NO!
This Passat is made so that to fold down the back seats, you have to release a lever from inside the trunk.
A lot of cars have "secure trunks" so that if somebody breaks into your car, they can't steal your luggage.

And even inside the trunk you cannot access the release, it's an electrical actuator that is up inside the trim... if there was a release, we couldn't find it.
 
RatLabGuy said:
NO!
This Passat is made so that to fold down the back seats, you have to release a lever from inside the trunk.
A lot of cars have "secure trunks" so that if somebody breaks into your car, they can't steal your luggage.

And even inside the trunk you cannot access the release, it's an electrical actuator that is up inside the trim... if there was a release, we couldn't find it.
Click to expand...


Ironic how a German auto manufacturer would be more concerned about your luggage getting stolen whereas American auto manufacturers are more concerned with you being held captive in a trunk.
 
RatLabGuy said:
NO!
This Passat is made so that to fold down the back seats, you have to release a lever from inside the trunk.
A lot of cars have "secure trunks" so that if somebody breaks into your car, they can't steal your luggage.

And even inside the trunk you cannot access the release, it's an electrical actuator that is up inside the trim... if there was a release, we couldn't find it.
Click to expand...

How is that legal? I thought you needed to have some means of mechanical egress from the trunk in case you got stuck in there.
 
Blaze said:
How is that legal? I thought you needed to have some means of mechanical egress from the trunk in case you got stuck in there.
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Maybe they figure you can go through the back seats? Or maybe there is a small (electric) button in there but that still wouldn't help in this situation.
 
So I guess this is why they made it an electric switch, so you can add in extra (confusing) features like this
 
I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a pull lever that -albeit a PITA to get to- it was in fact there. just read the manual
my dads new Toyota 'seemed' to be like this until I got out the manual.
 
XJsavage said:
And this is why men shouldn't drive cars. :flipoff2:

Trucks actually make sense.
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the newer trucks have tailgate locks. It sucks when you try and get something out of a coworkers truck only to scratch his damn tailgate because the tailgate couldn't be let down.
 
I have nothing to add except...

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I gave up on VW about 10 years ago. German over-engineering that didn't add much to the experience of the car. This is a prime example: Just duct tape your jumper cables to the roof of your car (or maybe the undercariage!), because otherwise they are utterly useless when you need them—if you are dumb enough to store them in the place for storing things.

Wow...
 
my wife had a brand spanking new jetta. 3 months later the bumper fell off going down 77. no known previous damage. dude at the dealership says and I quote 'they do that, a new bumper will be $xxxxx dollars'. I left the car where it sat, and caught a ride home. two days later I calmed down enough to have it towed to CarMax. lesson learned.
 
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