golferjack

I have a friend who had a loose battery cable, and when he was driving down the road the cable lost the connection with the battery. The car totally went dark, with no dash lights, no engine running, no steering, etc. When he finally got the car stopped, the door unlock button would not unlock the car and neither would the door handle. After about 5 minutes, the cable established a weak connection and the dash lights and all came back on, and he was then able to unlock the door. I am surprised that the normal inside door handle relies on electricty and is not manually engauged like the rear door. Does anyone know of a way to unlock the car in this type of scenario, without crawling to the rear and pulling the manual cable for the rear hatch? There are times when I have the rear full of cargo and would not be able to get to the hatch cable.

bamalam

That's odd, @golferjack. Actually both the vehicle behavior and the lock behavior is odd. Do you know which battery cable became disconnected? I assume it was the negative, and lots of stuff lost a ground connection. My guess in such a scenario, especially if it was the positive terminal cable, is that the car would continue to operate, since the alternator was still doing its job. I would expect the dash to light up like a Christmas tree, though. Sounds like your friend's experience was different, and a lot more abrupt.

Anyway, to your lock question. I just tried this in my car, but without disconnecting the battery. The driver's door unlocked by pulling the handle, and it had a distinctive mechanical feel when doing so. I could not hear a solenoid activate or anything else that led me to think it was a powered operation. I didn't try it, but I'd expect the same behavior with the rear door, so long as the child lock was not engaged.

The RX does have lock buttons on the door sill. When the doors are locked, though, the button is nearly flush with the sill. I think I could pull it up with needle-nose pliers or a Leatherman, unlocking the door, but probably not without marring the button and/or door sill.

dibl

I confirm what @bamalam has written. Without starting my 2018 RX, I locked myself inside it, and turned off the proximity signal on the fob. Pulling the door handle immediately raised the door lock. There was no sound of any actuator -- you can feel the mechanical connection between the handle and the lock.

I'm going to gently suggest that there was a reason why that battery cable was loose. Your friend was apparently already dealing with an electrical problem before the incident with the door locks, and whatever else was wrong on that car probably had something to do with his issues with power to the dashboard and other electrical equipment.

JSracer

my RX never unlocks the doors when in park, they are always unlocked with the door handle getting out when the door opens.
so auto lock, and zero unlock... no issues, but i haven't disconnected the battery to test that...

golferjack

He had replaced the battery last winter and could not get one of the cables tight on the battery, and thought it was good enough. When the car lost the connection and stopped, there were no dash lights and the locks would not operate with the handle. I assume that the handle will open the door, with a mechanical connection, but maybe the handle goes through an electronic connection for the lock.
Luckly for him that it finally made a good enough connection on its own to unlock the door. A good samaritan, who was a mechanic, came along and quickly noticed the cable was loose, but could not be tightened. He wedged 4 nails between the cable and battery. The fix has been in now for 2 months and no issues.
I don't know which cable was loose. This all happened on a secondary road in Wyoming 1000 miles form nowhere. Lucky man.

ravenuer

I'm confused as to owns this vehicle, you or your friend, but it's time to stop driving around with an incorrect battery. The battery terminal with the nails in it is too small. Go buy the correct sized battery already.

golferjack

Friends car. Your answer does not answer the question.

golferjack

I noticed yesterday that if the doors are locked and I just lightly pull the handle the door unlocks. If I continue to pull then the mechanical mechanism takes over and the door opens.

Cocal

The door MUST unlock from the inside, it's a safety measure! If your friend's doesn't there must be some other reason and the way he looks after the car (wrong battery size) who know what else is wrong. No offense meant.

golferjack

Where is "must" found in the documentation regarding unlocking, and how do you know the battery was the wrong size? I agree that it sounds like a safety concern, but I don't believe my car has the saftey feature either. Maybe there is a defect in the cable. I have not seen the battery/cable so I cannot be as sure as you. I might see if there is a fuse for the locks and pull it.

Cocal

An inference I drew from your description that the battery connector could not be tighten. You won't find that the door must open from the inside in the documentation you'll have to dig into your common sense for that !

ravenuer

I know your question is about not being able to unlock the door from the inside. I can't answer that because I'm not willing to disconnect my battery to find out. I find it hard to believe that ANY vehicle today would trap passengers inside when you lose power.
As far as to whether the battery is incorrect for the car, if you can't tighten either of the clamps properly, the battery terminal is too small, which equates to a wrong model battery. The only other way is someone replaced the battery CABLE with an incorrect one.
Whatever, IMO, it's ridiculous for anybody to drive around for two months with nails holding your battery terminals together.
Good luck.