Can you seriously lock yourself in the back seat of your car?

So today was a bit of a surprise for me. I needed something from the back seat and closed the door behind me to avoid the rain. Should be easy enough to get out, right? Well, no…

I tried the rear door handle, but no luck. I pulled it a couple of times, and it was still locked. Pressed the unlock button on the key fob? Still nothing. Let’s just say I got a little frustrated.

I then tried to contort myself enough to hit the unlock button on the driver’s side. After a bit of struggling and too much time spent trying to squeeze across the front seats, I reached the button, clicked it, and tried to get back into the rear seat. Silly me thinking it would unlock the back.

Eventually, I had to climb out of the back seat, over the front seats, and out of the car. It took longer than it should’ve, and honestly, I felt like I was in some weird episode of the Twilight Zone.

Now I’m wondering if there’s a way to disable that ‘feature’ because I’m not doing that again. I keep telling myself, ‘the car is fun to drive, the car is fun to drive.’

Sounds like the child lock is activated on the rear doors. It stops them from opening from the inside.

Caelan said:
Sounds like the child lock is activated on the rear doors. It stops them from opening from the inside.

Ah, I get it now, but how do I turn that off?

Ari said:

Caelan said:
Sounds like the child lock is activated on the rear doors. It stops them from opening from the inside.

Ah, I get it now, but how do I turn that off?

It could be a button on the driver side armrest near the window and mirror controls. I call it the ‘kidnap button’ because you can toggle it on or off. If there’s a barrier in the car, it makes it impossible for someone to get into the front or trunk without breaking a window.

@Reagan
It’s easy to accidentally hit it without noticing. It’s right by the window controls on the driver’s side.

Ari said:

Caelan said:
Sounds like the child lock is activated on the rear doors. It stops them from opening from the inside.

Ah, I get it now, but how do I turn that off?

It’s the same button that locks the windows on the driver door.

Ari said:

Caelan said:
Sounds like the child lock is activated on the rear doors. It stops them from opening from the inside.

Ah, I get it now, but how do I turn that off?

There’s a white screw near the door lock mechanism you can turn to disable it.

@Caelan
Is that for the child locks?

Sidney said:
@Caelan
Is that for the child locks?

Yes, that’s the one. It’s a white plastic screw near the lock mechanism. Check out this video for a better look: https://youtu.be/MT0hi52KFTc?si=-E8LcpxqQi5vw81e. We seem to have both options in the UK.

That sounds like the rear child locks. They’ve been standard on cars for decades. Usually, there’s a switch on the side of the door to flip when it’s open.

Erie said:
That sounds like the rear child locks. They’ve been standard on cars for decades. Usually, there’s a switch on the side of the door to flip when it’s open.

But it’s not connected to the window lock. They usually have separate buttons for each. I have a wild three-year-old and wish I could lock each door individually.

You probably have child locks on. They prevent the rear doors from being opened from inside.

There’s a button on the driver’s side door that locks the rear windows and doors. It’s the rectangle button furthest back. I usually activate it so the kids don’t mess with the windows, but I forget to deactivate it when we stop, and then the doors won’t open.

Glad you figured out the child locks! The EV6 makes it easy to disable them with a button on the driver’s side door.

Rowen said:
Glad you figured out the child locks! The EV6 makes it easy to disable them with a button on the driver’s side door.

It gets accidentally switched on all the time. I’ve had that happen so many times. It would be nice to have an option to disable the button.

Rowen said:
Glad you figured out the child locks! The EV6 makes it easy to disable them with a button on the driver’s side door.

LOL, I got the hang of it, but what if I forget it’s on and lock myself in the back again? Why can’t I open the door with the key fob? Or even just reach over and click the button on the driver’s door? It’s way easier for a kid to crawl over and open the door than for me to do that.

@Ari
The door will unlock with the key fob, but you’ll need to open it from the outside.

I had a similar issue. A few days ago, I was sleeping in the back of the car while traveling. I was parked in a Walmart parking lot and locked the doors for safety. I woke up, opened the rear hatch to exit, but when I came back to the front, I locked myself out. I had no key or phone inside, and I had to wait for roadside assistance for hours in the cold. Lesson learned: Don’t lock the driver’s door when camping.

Here’s the manual for the EV6: https://www.kia.com/content/dam/kia2/in/en/content/ev6-manual/topics/chapter5_4_6.html

I posted about this problem a few weeks ago. Someone mentioned a fuse you could pull to disable this feature. I haven’t tested it yet. Check out my post: https://www.reddit.com/r/KiaEV6/comments/1hp1jgo/disable_rear_door_child_lock/