I have a 2009 F-150 XLT Crew Cab and I'm trying to figure out how to get the rear doors to unlock for my kids. I figured out the auto-unlock feature and enable it yesterday. This will unlock all doors if I turn the key off and open my door. I want the doors to unlock when I place it in park, or for the kids to be able to open the locked door when they need to get out. My kids are 14 & 11 so I'm not worried about them accidentally opening the door anymore. I've turned the lock that's inside the back doors to all options and it doesn't seem to do anything. How should this work?

 

There is no option to unlock doors when it's put into Park, the only way is to remove the key and open your door, or hit the Unlock button on your door to unlock all doors.

CHILDPROOF DOOR LOCKS (ON VEHICLES WITH REAR DOORS) • When these locks are set, the rear doors cannot be opened from the inside. • The rear doors can be opened from the outside when the doors are unlocked. The childproof locks are located on rear edge of each rear door and must be set separately for each door. Setting the lock for one door will not automatically set the lock for both doors. • Insert the key and turn to the lock position (key horizontal) to engage the childproof locks. • Insert the key and turn to the unlock position (key vertical) to disengage the childproof locks.

This is from your manual, you can get an electronic version at http://owner.ford.com.

 

 

Unlike the Front Doors, the Rear Doors do not unlock when you pull the interior door handle. To unlock them, you have to use the Auto Unlock, the Unlock Buttons on the driver and passenger doors, or pull on the door lock **** on the door itself.

 

Right! In addition to the child locks, you do have to unlock the doors somehow as noted before pulling on the handle. Great catch! But that's true of all (most?) vehicles.

Really bad idea. Locked doors are safer.

 

 

 

Besides the obvious that it prevents a thief / carjacker from opening the door while you're sitting at a light or in a parking lot waiting for someone...

https://www.cartalk.com/content/toda...p-during-crash

TOM: But the one weak link is the door handle and the rods that it connects to. If your car is moving very fast at the time of a crash, the inertia can move that handle or the rods it attaches to in the door, and that can unlatch the door -- as if you'd pulled the handle.

RAY: But if a door is locked, the handle becomes inoperative. You can pull on it or push on it, but it's detached from the rods that activate the latch, and the door won't open.


I'm sure you can find more if you want to play with Google.

 

This is true in my Fiesta and in my old Taurus and Escort, but in my F150 you have to unlock the door manually before opening it, not sure why it's different.