How Power Door Locks Work
Thread Starter
Lexus Champion
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,729
Likes: 132
From: Toronto, Canada
How Power Door Locks Work
I took apart the door lock and latch mechanism from my Toyota Corolla to find out what's inside and how it works. I made a short video that I'd like to share with you all:
The door latch mechanism is held inside the door itself, and connects to the handles and key cylinder via actuator rods. Some vehicles use flexible cables:
Here's the latch removed, you can see on the right where the rods attach, and in the middle where the teeter/totter mechanism works to unlatch the door. Near the left side of the photo is the door lock actuator part.
What's interesting is how the door is "locked" - not by putting a physical lock through a hole the way you would the front door of your house, but by simply disabling the door handles, preventing them from triggering the unlatching mechanism!
The power door locking mechanism is fairly straight forward, a DC motor with a built in thermister drives a small gear train that turns the actuator lever:
Finally, there's the key tumbler, which is very similar to the one in the ignition. The little plates inside move up and down according to the jagged edges on the key. If they match, the key can turn!
And that's all the parts that go into making your power door locks work. Of course modern cars have more sensors and switches to detect the position of the key and lock to control things like the window, power door all unlock and alarm system.
Enjoy!
The door latch mechanism is held inside the door itself, and connects to the handles and key cylinder via actuator rods. Some vehicles use flexible cables:
Here's the latch removed, you can see on the right where the rods attach, and in the middle where the teeter/totter mechanism works to unlatch the door. Near the left side of the photo is the door lock actuator part.
What's interesting is how the door is "locked" - not by putting a physical lock through a hole the way you would the front door of your house, but by simply disabling the door handles, preventing them from triggering the unlatching mechanism!
The power door locking mechanism is fairly straight forward, a DC motor with a built in thermister drives a small gear train that turns the actuator lever:
Finally, there's the key tumbler, which is very similar to the one in the ignition. The little plates inside move up and down according to the jagged edges on the key. If they match, the key can turn!
And that's all the parts that go into making your power door locks work. Of course modern cars have more sensors and switches to detect the position of the key and lock to control things like the window, power door all unlock and alarm system.
Enjoy!
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 8,588
Likes: 392
From: PA
Not sure if anybody would know, but since we're on this topic.....on cars that have inductive wiring to lock and unlock with a smart key......is it a given, that upon locking, all doors lock? Be it 2, 4, or more? My thought is that this is a lot of wear/tear. Once all doors are locked, if locked again, over and over, the actuators are working. Not so on our 2 cars that don't have smart keys. Keep locking as many times as desired, car acknowledges, but no activity on actuators.
At the same time, with smart keys, the vehicle has to know if you pull the handle in the rear right, only the rear right opens, all other doors are locked for safety's sake.
My buddy said every car he has does that, as do ours (when there is a fob/smart key and doors open by touching the handle).
At the same time, with smart keys, the vehicle has to know if you pull the handle in the rear right, only the rear right opens, all other doors are locked for safety's sake.
My buddy said every car he has does that, as do ours (when there is a fob/smart key and doors open by touching the handle).
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
magneticrt
RX - 1st Gen (1999-2003)
8
Jul 7, 2014 05:36 PM
