What The HECK is Ford THINKING?!?

I rented a nearly new 2003 Ford Taurus recently cuz the TimberWolf is still mortally crippled. But after driving the thing for three days one very small detail quickly became a major irritant, something you'd think one of the oldest car makers in the world after a hundred years of being in the business would be able to get right, something even the Italians and the French could get right: It had only ONE- I repeat- ONE key lock! Four doors and only ONE key lock!

What I-Can't-Function-Until-I've-Had-Ten-Gallons-Of-Expresso engineer submitted this design? What cheap beancounter okayed this deletion? What corporate officer was too scared to have a spine installed that let this happen? Doesn't anyone actually drive cars anymore?

I took a woman out on a date and had to walk around to the driver's to unlock the doors to let her in. To open the door for her I had to come back around- what sheer idoicy! What if I had a small child needing a child seat? If the vehicle were parked on the street how would I unlock the door and buckle my child in safely? It couldn't be done from the curb. I'd still have to brave the traffic just to unlock the door. I'd have to put up with this inconvenience- not to mention danger so they can save a lousy $5 for a doorlock?? What a bunch of boneheaded penny-pinching inbred narrow minded high handed no driving knucklebutts!

I suppose there was no keyless entry? I rarely open a vehicle these days with a key.

RR3

That's nuts! Sounds like back in the 50's a lot of old trucks were like that.

Ralph said:

I suppose there was no keyless entry? I rarely open a vehicle these days with a key.

RR3

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As much time as I spend in the backwoods I'd never want a keyless entry system. Think of what a pain it'll be when the battery in the remote goes flat and you're 50 miles from the nearest road and 125 from the nearest town of any size. Took the tech two hours to get out to us when that happened to Grandma's car in L.A. It took more than just replacing the battery.

Then again, living out here at the Grand Canyon may have turned me into a primitive savage

hmmm..... that sounds really really stupid! talk about saving $$ on something really really stupid..

BTw... that's why you get keyless entry with no alarm.. when battery fails.. you just revert to the old fashioned barbaric means of opening the door with a key

Kejtar

"Think of what a pain it'll be when the battery in the remote goes flat and you're 50 miles from the nearest road and 125 from the nearest town of any size."

Hmmm find a rock or club (elbow) and bash in the cheapest-looking window.., LOL then the EyeSpy satt system would probably transmit a intrusion detection, disable the starter, and Big Brother would send out the goon squad to bust ya for B&E your own rig

I locked my XJ 'once' when a bum CPS turned me into a hitchhiker, and once I returned with a spare sensor, I couldn't get back doors or hatch unlocked. Had to climb back into the 'way back' over the front seat fetching misc tools. Aaarghh, I'll never lock it again!

"Then again, living out here at the Grand Canyon may have turned me into a primitive savage" Welcome to the club... :viking: we need a few more neandrethals.

I could throw rocks at Ford all night. My sister got an Explorer, holy-tamoly. She cant say I didnt warn her about that one. Now shes out a few thousand dollars cuz the (great new word) "Knucklebutts" at Ford cant get anything right.
A suggestion, take that car and enter it into on of them "destroy your rental car" races at your local race track, I know they hold them here in Jersey, and boy is it funny.

Hate to break it to you, but all the new BMWs are this way, hell, you have to practically break the new 7 series "key" apart to get the metal thing that would go in the door lock. Otherwise you just stick the key fob in a slot in the dash and push the start button. Porsche's and Audi's are also this way I believe, and maybe Jaguar. Maybe it's just Ford trying to act special Peace

Ary

haha, ford.... My mom's minivan is in the shop just about monthly. Did you know factory hubcaps for that thing are 80 bucks A PIECE?! and three of them fell off. of course the rims are made very non standard, so you can't use aftermarket ones... sigh. I also think they have switches to turn on your "check engine" light, so they can bring in customers when they're having cash flow problems.

On the subject of making cars cheaper by getting rid of stuff... My XJ dosn't turn on the dome light when you open the back doors, just the fronts. Also, ever notice the key locks turn different ways to unlock on either side... I guess they used the same cylinders for both doors... :dunno:

Base models rule!

I agree that not having a lock cylinder on the passenger door is silly. Of course, I'm a hopeless keyless entry junkie - once I got the transmitter from Piland for my XJ, I think I've used the key to open the doors a grand total of 10 times (and the original batteries are still working after 4 years!). and of course, in over a year, I think I've used the key in my VW's (which also has only one door lock cylinder) door twice.

You make an excellent point about having to go out into the road to unlock the door if the keyless goes out. I'd almost go as far as to call it a possible safety hazard. (but that might be considered being "liberal")

Can you imagine a class-action lawsuit using that idea to force manufacturers to return to installing passenger-side door lock cylinders?

Mind if I toss my "modern car" pet peeve in (just for chuckles)?

It's also silly that most cars I see with digital odometer displays can only show one at a time. That's something I like about my VW - the odo display is a 2 line LCD, and I can see the main odo and the trip simultaneously. Also, the display doesn't shut off when you take the key out of the ignition, so you can look through the window and read the odometer(unlike most cars, where you actually have to turn the ignition on to read the mileage). Of course, after gaining points in my mind for those, they lose a couple for the rumor I've heard that the odo resets at 300,000 miles.

Hell, the mechanical dual-odos must have cost more (and I kinda miss them)

Our 99 WJ is the same way. Only lock is on the driver's door. There isn't even one on the rear hatch.

spaulman said:

Our 99 WJ is the same way. Only lock is on the driver's door. There isn't even one on the rear hatch.

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It doesn't? That seems extremely odd.

My VW does have a key slot on the trunk as well - forgot to mention it before

Rob

Let her open her own door... What happened to equal rights....

JK.... Ford Sux... I dont know why they would do that

As much time as I spend in the backwoods I'd never want a keyless entry system. Think of what a pain it'll be when the battery in the remote goes flat and you're 50 miles from the nearest road and 125 from the nearest town of any size.

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Then I guess I'd have to break down and use the key to unlock the door. BTW, I have a 4 door vehicle and only 2 of the doors have keyholes. What's up with that?

Much ado about nothing.

RR3

At least the trucks are still sane. My 2001 F150 has obsolete key locks on both front doors and the tailgate. Not that they get used much because the remote key fob buttons can unlock the drivers door only, or all four doors (but not the tailgate).

A lot of new cars like th Cadillac have no key holes at all. So what do you do then when the remote doesn't work?

brick? Or a good sized shoe

I must be pretty damn barbaric then. Even on the very rare occasion that I drive a vehicle with keyless entry I still use the keys. My XJ doesn't even have power locks. And you know what, I 100% prefer it that way.

There's a ton of things about newer vehicles that bugs me. Like center mounted guages. Makes no sense to me at all.

Yeah, welcome to the 2000s, buy yourself a new $150,000 AMG S55 Mercedes and you will also only find one key hole, the trunk for emergencies...it is the single central lock.

XJguy

My 99 VW GTI only had keyholes on the driver's door and trunk. My wife's car is a 2005 Saturn Ion. I pay so little attention to that appliance that I don't even know if it has a passenger door, much less a keyhole. Yawn...

When I bought my 97, it didn't come with a fob, just one aftermarket key. Within days, I had a keyless entry/remote start installed. Until the driver's side solenoid died, I maybe used the key to open and start it 10 times.

That reminds me...gotta fix that door...