If you’re a parent who owns a car (a very large chunk of the population – name a parent who doesn’t own a car!), then you’ll know that childproof locks give real peace of mind when you’ve got children riding in the back seats.

Kids love to explore and kids love to copy. They’ve seen Mum, Dad and older siblings getting out of the car – you pull the handle and the door opens. So the chances are that they will try to open the car door once they are old enough to reach it. And if your car doesn’t have childproof locks, the door opens. You do not want this to happen while the car is in motion. In the best case scenario, only chip packets and old shopping lists blow out the door. At worst, the child him/herself falls out onto the road, particularly if the child has also been tinkering with their seatbelt. Child proof locks (colloquially called kiddie-locks) prevent this happening.

Childproof locks are fitted to most makes of modern cars. Childproof locks have a door-locking mechanism that will prevent the rear doors from being opened from the inside. The childproof lock makes the inside door handle inoperative when the lever is pushed into the “lock” position.

Some modern cars electronically lock all doors while the car is in motion. This is one of the most efficient forms of childproof lock, as this means that the rear doors (and all the others) can be opened normally from the inside when the car is stationary. This avoids one of the hassles that can happen with the older type of mechanical childproof locks. If you have an older (sensible) child or an adult in the back and the mechanical childproof locks are in use, then they can’t get out of the car until someone opens the door for them.
We hope that helps answer the question ‘What is What is a Child-Proof Lock?’!

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