Does anyone else find this feature a hazard. The auto lock comes on when you reach a certain speed and there is no option to turn it off this default. The manual indicates that this could be an issue as first responders may not be able to gain access but still they have set this as a default and you can not change it. Surely this makes the car dangerous. It has been optional on all previous versions but now on the new model it is not. 
 

do people find this worrying and do you know of any way to turn this off.

Welcome.

If the car is in an accident the doors will unlock.

As to first responders getting to a vehicle with a locked doors.  They will be putting the glass in very easily with the little glass smashing hammer they have. 

I mean, as toot said above.... The last thing you will be worrying about in an accident is your doors unlocking from the outside, Windows can be broken, doors pryed open.

 

99% of vehicles on the road today will have this feature.

 

There are also safety features such as auto unlocking if airbags are triggered.

You may well be able to switch the feature off with VCDS.

I understand that the auto lock goes go off if you are in an accident and yes first responders will brea k the glass. However if you are in  queue of traffic or something and have a heart attack time is of the essence and people will not be able unlock from the outside. Agree it could be a good feature but should be optional and turned off in settings like it used to be. On the new models this is currently not possible. Unless someone else knows different. 
 

if you find this a problem can is there something we as a group could do about it?

Maybe those aware of being locked in need to think now that if sitting in traffic and having a heart attack they need to consider pulling the door handle as it happens.

 

Those in a car and not wanting robbed / hi-jacked will be happy the doors can not be opened by horrible nasty people. 

Better than earlier implementations of auto unlock. You could open some versions of the mkIII Ford Granada by kicking the back bumper - great security feature 🤣

Edited 9 January, 20233 yr by bigjohn

Urban legend amongst many others.

Totally true about the Granada as it was with Sierras as many a thief knew.  Forest car parks often had these cars with stuff robbed from the boot. 

BS.

 

The way into the boot which was also the case on Escorts at that time was using a pair of water pump pliers.

Next time you see one parked give the rear end a kick below to lock and it the boot lid will pop open. 

3 hours ago, toot said:

give the rear end a kick below to lock and it the boot lid will pop open. 

 

Did you mean to say "below the lock"? and hence kicking the bumper on a Sierra or Granada Hatchback as BigJohn Suggests?

No. on the Registration plate. 

16 hours ago, J.R. said:

Urban legend amongst many others.

 

No, a colleague had two mkIII Granadas. The first early one had the "security" issue, the second later one didn't.

The early mechanical abs was a pain as well, probably one of the reasons why many mkII Granadas outlived the mkIII. I drove a few hire mkIIIs, the mechanical cruise control was interesting - If you ground to a slow speed/stop in traffic with cruise enabled as traffic cleared and you picked up speed it'd then decide to resume "as we were" by flooring the throttle which in a 2.8/2.9 auto was by also dropping a couple of gears. 

 

Mind you earlier Fords weren't great re security either. We used to be able to unlock a friends mkI Escort with an average coin of the realm. 

Edited 10 January, 20233 yr by bigjohn