Most cars that are on the market now come with automatic power locks gone are the days where a person had to manually push or pull the locks on the doors. Automatic power locks are very convenient, but how do they work? If you’ve ever been curious about a power lock system, read on.
Most car doors are unlocked by either using a key, using the keyless remote, pressing the unlock button from inside the car, using the combination of the lock from the outside of the door, or by hands pulling up the knob that’s open from inside the door. In most modern cars, the doors get locked and unlocked by an actuator, which receives a lock/unlock signal from a radio transmitter, which is usually in the key or key fob.
An actuator can be located beneath the door’s latch. A rod is used to connect the latch and actuator, and yet another rod attaches the latch to the knob that sticks out of top of the door, what we colloquially call “the lock”.
When the actuator makes the latch move upwards, it will make the opening mechanism attach to the door’s outside handle. When the latch is down, the outside handle is no longer connected and therefore cannot be opened.
For the door to be unlocked, the car’s body controller needs to send power to the actuator this power is only supplied for a very short time.
In older vehicles with “power locks”, the system that enables and disables the locks is not electronic a vacuum system is used. When functioning properly, it is a quiet system and very reliable however, electronic systems are much more common now and have been since the technology became cheaper. Vehicles that use vacuum systems include older model BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars.
If you are having any problems with your automatic car locks in the Cleveland area, call our locksmith to have a look. Chances are an auto locksmith in Cleveland will be able to fix your locks for a better price and faster than a dealership.
