What you need to know about Child Lock and Window Lock

Do you travel with your children or pets? Whether it’s a short trip to the grocery or a long drive, your kids and pets can easily get restless and start looking for things to play with. More often than not, if you don’t have toys or gadgets for them to fiddle with, they’ll start playing with your car’s interior, like the windows or door handles. As you’re well aware, this could lead to potentially dangerous situations for them.

Good thing now, most car variants have safety features equipped to prevent your special ones from opening the windows or doors. Called ‘Child Lock’, although it may seem trivial to some, a lot of car owners seem to take it for granted or simply don’t know of its existence. Here’s how you can make full use of it.

What are Child and Window Locks?

Child Locks are small switches usually built on the edge of the rear doors. It can be activated or deactivated only when the doors are open. When switched on, occupants, particularly your kids, won’t be able to open the door from the inside even when the latch is unlocked. This means someone must pull the exterior door handle from the outside of the vehicle to let the passengers alight.

Window Locks, on the other hand, are usually found in vehicles with power windows. When switched on, the driver gets full control on which windows can be opened or closed even when passengers press the door’s respective buttons.

How to use Child and Window Locks?

Child Lock

1. Before thinking of switching these safety features on, it would be best to safely park your vehicle and make sure that your children/pets are properly attended. 
2. Open the door/s that you want to “child proof.” The lock switch should be found just below the latch on the outside edge of the door. 
3. Slide the switch to the other side to activate the Child Lock (in some cases, you’ll have to use a key). Do note that Child Locks must be switched on individually and can only be opened from the outside.

Window Lock

1. To activate the Window Lock, politely ask the driver to press the Window Lock button. It’s the button with the window icon found near (or beside) the power door lock buttons on the driver’s door.
2. Once pressed, the driver will have full control of all windows. Meaning, only he/she can open/close the windows.
3. To deactivate, simple re-press the Window Lock button.

Aside from the Child and Window Locks, it would be best to first have your kids buckled on a child seat before you start your journey. With these properly set, you’re assured of a worry-free drive with your children (or pets)!