Why can one kid get out of the car and the other can’t?

August 21, 2022 11:39 AM

I have a 2020 Subaru Forrester. Lately, one kid in the back seat is locked in, but the other one isn’t. So we have to let kid #1 out by opening the door from the outside. Any idea why?

If it were both kids, I would think it’s some kind of child lock situation. But it’s just the one door. Any idea why this is happening?

posted by Ollie to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

Best answer: Do you have this kind of physical child lock inside the door?
posted by MadamM at 11:45 AM on August 21, 2022 [8 favorites]

Did you actually look at the child lock setting? One for each door?

https://www.google.com/search?q=2020+subaru+forester+child+lock
posted by intermod at 11:46 AM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you put yourself into kid #1's seat, are you able to open the door and get out?
posted by Carillon at 11:46 AM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have run into vehicles that have a physical switch on the edge of each door that controls the lock behavior.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:07 PM on August 21, 2022 [3 favorites]

(My apologies for not watching MadamM’s video before posting. That switch does seem the likely culprit.)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:20 PM on August 21, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks all. A dumb question to waste an AskMe on! But I’m tired. :)
posted by Ollie at 4:12 PM on August 21, 2022

Best answer: No such thing as a dumb question on Ask now that there are no limits.

Fwiw, we had the same issue when my kids were younger. We never figured it out. Our kid did. "Dad, at Mikey's car, they push the button on the door like this". My kid was 4 or 5 when they taught me that parenting lesson.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 4:53 PM on August 21, 2022 [4 favorites]