When driving alone, one becomes concerned not only for their safety while on the road, but their safety as soon as they come to a stop.
Driving itself is a relatively dangerous endeavor; for example, it is estimated that around 40,990 people died from car crashes in the year 2023.
However, that danger doesn’t end once someone has arrived at their destination. For example, one woman stated that, while pumping gas, she was approached by someone who tried to enter her car.
Given the potential for incidents like these, it’s understandable that some may desire some extra safety features on their cars. Recently, there’s been a discussion about the feature in some cars that automatically unlocks the car’s doors once it’s been put in Park. Seeing this as a potential safety issue, many have desired a way to turn off this feature—and now, TikTok user Landon Jones (@allclearforlandon) has a solution.
How to turn off your Toyota’s automatic unlock feature
In a video with over 848,000 views, Jones explains how one can disable this feature.
To start, he acknowledged the issues that might lead one to want to turn off this feature, saying, “It’s a huge safety concern for a lot of people, especially women that are sitting alone in their cars.”
From there, Jones details the steps that one must take to modify the settings to disable the feature, which he claims should apply to most Toyotas, though some newer models may differ.
“You’re going to go ahead and click ‘menu.’ Then you’re going to go and click setup… Go down to vehicle, vehicle customization, door lock settings,” he states. “And then this right here, ‘automatic door unlock,’ is what you’re going to want to focus on.”
Jones notes that the default setting unlocks all doors when the car shifts to park. Instead of leaving this enabled, he suggests changing it so that only the driver’s door unlocks first.
“Now when you go and put it into park, the doors will stay locked until the driver’s door is open, and then all of the doors will unlock,” he explains.
He adds that this feature is not unique to Toyota, and drivers of vehicles from other manufacturers should consult their manuals to see if their car has a similar feature.
“Everybody should stay safe and know how to do this with their car, so you can sit in your car peacefully without anybody getting in easily,” he concludes. “And that’s it—stay safe, everybody.”
@allclearforlandon a gay helping the girls lol stay safe 🤗 #fyp #cars #safety #toyota ♬ original sound – Landon Jones
Commenters share their thoughts
In the comments section, users shared their own experiences dealing with this feature.
“As soon as I got my kia soul I turn that auto unlock as soon as I got home from the dealership,” wrote a user.
“I constantly fought my husband over this. I would turn it off and he’d turn it [on],” added another.
“For people with older cars!! Just put it in neutral and put your emergency brake on and don’t put it into park until you’re ready to get out,” suggested a third. “You can sit there with the emergency brake on in neutral.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Jones via TikTok and Instagram DM, and Toyota via email.
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