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Do Toyotas Automatically Lock?

As a teenager, the only thing I looked for in a car was automatic windows over manual ones. However, as I grew up, my perspective about cars changed. From appearance to specs, I became particular about everything. 

Eventually, it came down to one of the most crucial features any car has to offer, security.

Do Toyotas automatically lock? This was the first question my mind went to as I was learning more about my new vehicle’s security features.

Eventually, this is what I found out. 

Toyota cars can automatically lock when you put it into drive or even when you turn the ignition on. There is no setting to automatically lock the car when you walk away from it however. 

All new Toyota vehicles are equipped with a power door locking system. Moreover, the feature also allows the driver to select the desired unlocking and locking sequence from the four offered modes.

Let’s learn a little more on the subject of what those four modes are. 

What Are the Four Lock Modes Offered In A Toyota Car?

Sometimes, understanding how door locks work can be quite overwhelming, especially if you’ve just bought a new car. All of our lives, we’ve seen door locks working a certain way. It only takes one push of a button to lock or unlock your vehicle. 

However, there’s a lot more to your car door locks than just pressing a button, and the knowledge can always come in handy in emergencies.

Mode 1 is an option that allows you to link the automatic locking function of the doors with the shift position. This means the moment all the doors are closed, your doors will get locked automatically as soon as you move the shift lever out of park.

Mode 2 allows you to disable both automatic locking and unlocking functions so they don’t operate at any given time.

Mode 3 is very similar to Mode 1 with one minor difference. While the first mode was only limited to linking the automatic locking doors to the shift position, the third mode allows you to link both locking and unlocking mechanisms to the shift position.

This way, when the doors are closed and the car is on, you can lock them by moving the shift lever out of park. Similarly, you can automatically unlock the doors by moving the shift lever back into park.

Mode 4 is a bit more complicated. It links the locking and unlocking features of the door to the shift and key positions. This means your doors get locked as soon as you move the shift lever out of park, but to unlock the doors, you’ll have to ensure that the key is turned off after moving the shift lever back into park.

How Do You Switch Between Lock Modes?

Learning about different modes and how they work can be challenging, but once you have a grip on it, you can be much more efficient at ensuring your vehicle’s safety. Here, I have broken the process down into six simple steps:

➢ Change the control knob’s position to “Door.”

➢ Make sure that all the car doors are locked and the shift lever is set to “Park.”

➢ Once you have the key in the ignition, set it to “On.”

➢  After being in the “On” position for about 5 seconds, push the door lock switch down on the driver’s side.

➢ You can figure out the mode to which your locking system is set just by looking at the number of flashes from the dome light. For example, one flash means mode 1, two flashes mean mode two, and so on.

➢ To change the system to a different mode, you’ll have to push the lock switch. Again, the light will flash to help you determine what mode it is. If it’s not your desired mode, keep pushing the switch until you reach there.

Do Toyotas Automatically Lock?

Now that we know how different modes work in a typical Toyota car, it’s safe to say that Toyotas do lock automatically if you use a certain combination of the given modes correctly. 

However, a more important question should be, “how does the automatic locking feature ensure better security?”

How Secure Is Your Toyota?

Spending a significant amount of savings on purchasing a car and not ensuring your car’s security is one of the worst things you can do as a vehicle owner. Not only does it put your car at risk, but it also puts any of your personal belongings inside at risk.

Learning to lock and unlock your car effectively lets you have more control over a vehicle, and when it comes to auto locks, they are probably one of the best things to have happened to the automobile industry over the years.

Manual vs Auto Locks

If you’ve ever had a car with manual locks, you’d probably know the answer to this debate already. Nothing can beat the simplicity of operating manual car locks, but their advantages over auto-locks pretty much end there.

There’s a strong reason behind manual locks becoming a thing of the past. If you can get in easily in the event your keys are locked inside, then so can others with not so honorable intentions. Hence, there should be nothing more or less to this debate. 

Moreover, in case manual door locks need repairs, it’ll be much harder to do so, given how outdated they are in today’s day and age.

Final Thoughts

In the end, owning a vehicle comes with a whole lot of responsibility. From security to maintenance, you must always ensure your car is in ideal shape. This article’s aim was to equip you with knowledge that covers one aspect of the task, from answering “do Toyotas automatically lock?” to get into the locking and unlocking modes.

However, car security as a whole should never be reduced to just locking and unlocking. No matter how sought after Toyota is as a brand, it does come with a few complications when learning how to use certain functions. 

This is why, as a vehicle owner, learning a thing or two about your vehicle will always come in handy in challenging situations.