Lately, some passengers in my cars have exhibited strange behavior upon exiting,lifting the door handle while closing the locked door. Was there a car in the past in which people did this? Or pushing the button? I almost seem to remember something like this,but not for certain...I just tend to worry that something in the handle or linkage would break if people keep doing this.
It was on some cars and trucks, to make a door lock when latched, you lifted the handle or pushed the button in. My Ranchero doesn't have it, but Dad's '90 F150 does.
If they aren't locking the door, ask them to not lift the handle, but just gently shut the door, don't let it slam.
Pretty much every GM car built from 1964 to the early 1970s required you to hold the button or lift the handle to lock the door without the key
Actually, 1970 was the last year that you needed to hold the button in. See the first paragraph under Door Locks from this 1970 Olds owner's manual.
Yes........... this was gonna be my answer. And possibly Slide may appear manic causing some people to worry. My suggestion, be more careful when picking up strangers or strange friends. Something that irritates me are late model cars where the driver must release the door locks before a passenger can exit. What if he's in an accident?
The passenger can always unlock the door him or herself. I'm not aware of any car made that doesn't have some sort of mechanical override for the door locks. The fact that no one reads the owner's manual doesn't mean the capability isn't there. Of course, I'll NEVER own a car with automatic locks, lights, or any autonomous control systems that I can't disable. There's a reason why the newest car in the household is 32 years old.
When I retired and we moved to Florida in 1994 I swore after we got all settled in the newest car would be a 1957 Chevy. Well that never happened. I did drive a 1987 Chevy full sized van for years and a Dodge quadcab truck over ten. I was working on a 1948 Chevy panel truck to become my RV hauler. Most of the time I did drive a 1955 Chevy wagon or a 1941 Ford sedan.....Chevy. I forgot to preplan my life and s happens. Now I drive a car that I never touch the light switch and the doors all lock as soon as I put it in gear. The good thing is I set it so they also unlock when parked . Or my wife can unlock the right front door by pushing that 'unlock' button. Good for commiting suicide on the expressway or getting the mail when I pull up to the box. The cars that griped me was a friend's Buick and another's Honda. Apparently their doors were set for the driver to control because I could never get the buttons to work until they pushed a button. Some owners don't read the manual or the cars are smarter than they are. The things happening in towns now I'm afraid to unlock any door or get out!
What's great is when people pile into someone's four-door (such as my Exploder, hee hee) but don't bother to check if the rear door child guard is set. Then when we reach our destination, we have to let them out, and they're usually put off. None of them act as if that's what's supposed to happen.
Did GM Change the Locking procedure for the 71-72 A-Bodies"s? They were the last body style to use the old "push button" exterior door handles. I seem to remember having to push the button in to lock the doors on our 71 Lemans wagon, but its been a few years now so I can't be sure. I know the feature was fazed out starting in 1969 with the redesigned G-body Grand Prix's, and then in 1970 it continues to be faxed out with the new F-Bodies and every redesigned chassis platform after that.
Until I retired in 1994 I never locked any of my car or truck doors. It could sit all day or nite at work with the windows down and no one touched it. Same at home on the driveway. Now I lock the doors in the garage and still worry about something missing.
I can't remember the last time I owned a GM car,maybe that's why! Let's see,Mom had a '65 Buick Riviera that I got for her in 1980,but she swapped it for a '74 Pinto in 1981. Then there was the '62 GMC panel truck,the '66 Sting Ray,the '54 Corvette--oh wait, that one didn't even have door handles,much less locks! And those were further back in the past. But with my Fords,having had the doors apart and working on the mechanisms,it seems things could easily break with misuse.