Back in the past, you needed to buy a luxury car in order to have one of those handy power door locks on your car. Everyone else was stuck with the ordinary door locks – the kind requiring you to have your key handy every time you want to unlock your vehicle. These days, however, everyone seems to own one. You see people all over, pushing their keypad to open their specific car parked somewhere in a parking lot full of cars. Hardly anyone with a newer vehicle has to suffer the extra effort of actually using their car keys to unlock their vehicle or push the door locked when they leave their car anymore.



Believe it or not, power door locks have been around for nearly a half century. This feature was initially used on a particular kind of luxury Packard. It took a number of years until this convenient feature was gradually introduced and used as a standard feature on luxury vehicles everywhere. Now, you needn't buy a luxury car to have a power door lock as on option on your automobile.

While it's easy to get out of the habit, you still can open and lock your door the regular way. Regular door locks are installed on every vehicle and your key still works in the lock provided on the outside of the vehicle. You may never need them but, if the battery on the remote keypad goes bad, at least you have a backup method of getting into your car.

This optional feature has some major advantages over the regular method of opening your car. For example, it's very easy to use and you can have your arms full while still being able to open your vehicle without digging for your keys, trying to get into your car without dropping something. With this power feature, all you need to do is push the remote keypad, grab the handle and open your car door.

Another helpful thing about remote power door locks is that the remote often opens all the doors to the car at the same time. That way, if you have children, they can get themselves into the car without you having to unlock another door to let them in. In addition, if you're putting your groceries onto the passenger seat, the door is already open for you to throw them in and hop into the driver's side without messing with locks and keys.

There are actually two types of systems available in remotely-operated power door locks. If you have the more complex system, there will be a body controller in the automobile that monitors a specific radio frequency; when you send the correct code to the controller, it unlocks the car door. If you own the simpler system, you send a signal to actuators in the vehicle which lock or unlock the car door. There are lots of these kinds of locks available and many different companies manufacture them. If you don't own one but want one installed after purchasing your vehicle, it takes only a couple of hours and can be installed in almost any car. The costs of such a system depend on the type of system you acquire.