Automobiles often include child locks for preventing doors, especially rear doors, from being opened from within the passenger compartment. Child locks are typically either manually activated or power actuated. Manually activated child locks typically have a lockout control mechanism that can only be accessed when the door is open. This creates an inconvenience in that if there is an adult in the rear seat and the child lock is engaged, then someone else must open the door for the adult passenger. Power child locks typically require an actuator and a lockout control mechanism which is located on the door latch. The main problem with these types of locks is the lack of packaging space in the door to facilitate the actuator and the lockout mechanism.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a remotely actuated child lock in which the driver can operate the rear child lock doors from the front seat. As the costs associated with a power child lock are high when compared to the value this feature adds to a vehicle, it is desirable to provide such a child lock at a minimum cost.
In addition, another desirable feature to include in a vehicle door latching or locking system is a “double lock”, wherein, when engaged, both the inside and outside release levers are simultaneously inactive. This feature has conventionally been incorporated into the design of the latch itself, which can often necessitate a very expensive redesign of a pre-existing latch. Since the functions of a child lock and a “double lock” feature are quite similar, it would be desirable to provide a single structure that could provide both functions and thus further reduce costs.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds