Trapped in car - major safety problem

[EVDRIVER]

Gbarry, putting it in P does not unlock the doors. You have to turn the car off for them to automatically unlock.

Depends on how your car is configured. Mine lock once the car reaches speed and then unlock when I hit park, this is how I set it to work.

 

[LEAFfan]

Gbarry, putting it in P does not unlock the doors. You have to turn the car off for them to automatically unlock.

Depends on how your car is configured. Mine lock once the car reaches speed and then unlock when I hit park, this is how I set it to work.

Yes, most of us know about that, but that's not the default setting and most don't know the sequence to change it.

 

[EVDrive]

If anyone else gets lost in a parking break black hole like this, just turn the car off and start over. Easy.

I trip myself up sometimes as well by subconsciously putting my parking break on when stopping to pick up or drop people off. Restarting takes 3 seconds if you can't otherwise remember how to get the break to release.

This might be why they put the foot parking break on the 2013 Leafs in Japan. I actually much prefer the Electric hand break on the console even though it is tricky to release occasionally.

 

[gbarry42]

Gbarry, putting it in P does not unlock the doors. You have to turn the car off for them to automatically unlock.

I think you're right! I drove the Prius this week and got confused because they do that. I tend to associate sounds with the actions that cause them. Right idea, wrong car. But now you know how to get out of a Prius

And rat, I read your book and considering the work you were in, I just see you looking over your shoulder all the time

 

[Nekota]

I did this once thinking I would use less electric power if I set 'Park' from the shift knob (not the part brake). To get out of that mode you have to press the brake to shift back into D. It's not the most obvious thing to do when you want to go and peeps are bearing down on you to move. So if you do shift to P and want to go again, press the brake and then shift - like a clutch??

 

[derkraut]

Rat: I recommend you change the title of this thread to "driver got confused". What happened to you was due entirely to driver's lack of knowledge regarding operation of this vehicle; it is not a "major safety problem". :roll:

 

[dhanson865]

I was a kid in the 70s and some time in the 70s or 80s I remember there being a switch in american made card door handle behavior such that pulling on the inside door handle would physically lift the door lock mechanism unlocking the door (non power door locks). Or maybe that behavior wasn't universal and I noticed it when we got a newer car and never saw cars in that period that didn't match the new behavior.

I'm sure this all changed when power door locks became standard but I would expect the proper emulation of this old safety feature to be that if the car is not moving (spedometer = 0 mph) then the attempt to open the door from the inside by way of the handle should unlock and open that one door.

Can you blame the OP for user error, maybe. Can you blame the manufacturer for a design that affects safety, yes.

I'm not saying it is the biggest safety defect in the world but if I worked for a car company I'd be finding the person or people that could review the door lock system and make sure a new test case is added for the next design cycle. I'd also ask if a software only fix could be applied to existing vehicles but would understand if cost prohibited doing it retroactively.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

The first thing I did when I got the car was disable the auto-lock. I HATE not being able to pull the handle and get out at any time. It's not like I am going to accidentally pull the door handle when I'm driving. And to me it will make it easier for rescue to get to me if I were ever in an accident.

With that said you have to make sure it actually went into park before getting out of the car.

+1
Me too!

 

[garygid]

My car got "confused" once also, while waiting at a signal light,
I believe, and it would not "go" when the light turned green.

I tried a few things, but it still would not move, so I quickly
turned the car off, then on again, and it acted normally.

No, I have no idea of what got it confused.
Maybe something that I did, but I just remember
that the car refused to move.

 

[Rat]

The first thing I did when I got the car was disable the auto-lock. I HATE not being able to pull the handle and get out at any time. It's not like I am going to accidentally pull the door handle when I'm driving. And to me it will make it easier for rescue to get to me if I were ever in an accident.

+1
Me too!

How do you disable the autolock? I can't find that in the manual. I have the Auto UNLOCK enabled, but that's not the same. It just means the doors unlock when the motor is turned off. It still locks at 15 MPH whether or not that is enabled.

 

[ebill3]

My car got "confused" once also, while waiting at a signal light,
I believe, and it would not "go" when the light turned green.

I tried a few things, but it still would not move, so I quickly
turned the car off, then on again, and it acted normally.

No, I have no idea of what got it confused.
Maybe something that I did, but I just remember
that the car refused to move.

I recall mine getting confused once. But after I escaped from the confusion, it turned out to be operator confusion. It is that business of having to apply the foot brake in order to release the parking brake. I'm OK now, but early on, that was an unusual requirement - perhaps a good practice in a normal ICE, but not a requirement.

Bill

 

[RegGuheert]

In my Leaf the parking brake disengages automatically only if the seatbelt is on. Makes sense.

As Vegastar said, the car will release the parking brake automatically only if you have your seat belt fastened. You had probably already taken your seat belt off because you were about to get out of the car.

Thanks for pointing this out! I was completely unaware of this behavior. However, I just did a little testing and will add that when you try to drive away with no seatbelt and the parking brake engaged, the main driver console notifies you with a dialog which says "Release parking brake." IMO, this is a little confusing, since the message ONLY occurs when you have your foot on the ACCELERATOR pedal. Unfortunately, there is no reminder here that you CANNOT release the parking brake until you first move your foot to the brake pedal.

Ultimately, I think the issue here is that the parking brake mechanism, like several systems in the LEAF, is modal. One important issue with modal systems is that they can be very difficult to use if the operator does not know what mode they are in or is unaware that the system is modal. IIRC, there have been commercial airliners that crashed because the pilot thought they were in one mode while the plane was really in a different mode. In those cases, I'm pretty sure the official reports have stated the cause of the crash to be "pilot error", but I think that those same reports typically also recommend review of the design of the aircraft systems to minimize the possibility of future similar confusion. Point being that even if this incident occurred because OP was confused (and I'm not saying it was), that doesn't mean the design of the car could or should not be improved.

Edit: Here is a link about the crash that I was thinking about: 1994 China Airlines A300 crash in Japan. In that case, the first officer accidentally put the aircraft into Take Off/Go Around (TOGA) mode while during the landing sequence. Unfortunately neither pilot realized they were in this mode and the ultimate result was a crash which killed 264 people. The flight control software on these aircraft were subsequently updated (with an update which had previously been released).

 

[turbo2ltr]

The first thing I did when I got the car was disable the auto-lock. I HATE not being able to pull the handle and get out at any time. It's not like I am going to accidentally pull the door handle when I'm driving. And to me it will make it easier for rescue to get to me if I were ever in an accident.

+1
Me too!

How do you disable the autolock? I can't find that in the manual. I have the Auto UNLOCK enabled, but that's not the same. It just means the doors unlock when the motor is turned off. It still locks at 15 MPH whether or not that is enabled.

I used the wiki and searched for "door lock" (after searching the forum for "autolock" and didn't come up with anything..)

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=126805#p126805" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Stanton]

I believe I had something similar happen to me a few months ago in a parking lot.
First, I NEVER use the parking brake.
The car appeared to be "in gear" but wouldn't move, and the parking brake icon was on; repeated shifting only toggled D/ECO. Saw the "depress brake" sign in the dash (like when you first get in the car), and everything restarted/released.
My guess as to what happened? I think I rushed through the start procedure this one time (I remember being in a hurry) and for whatever reason, the sequence of events confused the car. I'm now pretty deliberate about pressing on the brake and starting the car, and I've never had a problem before or since. It was pretty strange though...

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

ya, i think it sucks that the doors must be manually unlocked if the car is on. It should automatically open if the inside door pull is used. I have had several cars and this is how they all worked.

 

[Rat]

Thanks for all the reports of similar incidents. No doubt there was driver error, but at least I know I'm not totally crazy. The car has behaved fine ever since.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Thanks for all the reports of similar incidents. No doubt there was driver error, but at least I know I'm not totally crazy. The car has behaved fine ever since.

ah no big deal. besides your reporting it here will hopefully work to allow others to not do the same thing. we have all really done it, we just never "bragged" about it...

 

[SanDust]

My car got "confused" once also, while waiting at a signal light,
I believe, and it would not "go" when the light turned green.

No, I have no idea of what got it confused.
Maybe something that I did, but I just remember
that the car refused to move.

I found this bug: At a traffic light I hit the Power button by mistake. Then, realizing my mistake, I hit it again very quickly. When you do this the car boots up and acts as if it's ready but it's not actually on.

 

[planet4ever]

My car got "confused" once also, while waiting at a signal light, I believe, and it would not "go" when the light turned green.

I found this bug: At a traffic light I hit the Power button by mistake. Then, realizing my mistake, I hit it again very quickly. When you do this the car boots up and acts as if it's ready but it's not actually on.

I think what you really mean is that it looks like it is "Ready" but it IS actually "On". Remember, the On state is exactly like the Ready state except that there is no little green car in the middle of the dash, and you can't shift into Drive, Eco, or Reverse.

Ray