Hey, where's the glove compartment lock?

Good question - and while we're at it - why doesn't the glove box light turn off when you close it?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dreichla @ Sep 2 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]313193[/snapback]</div>

How do you know that??

Just remember that it took many of us some time to find all our hidey holes in this car.......Just use one of the less obvious for something "valuable".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScottR @ Sep 2 2006, 05:37 PM) [snapback]313277[/snapback]</div>

Perhaps he was able to crawl inside and have someone close him up in it to see?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Sep 2 2006, 10:51 PM) [snapback]313320[/snapback]</div>

Cute!

That's how I know the refrigerator light stays on when you close the door too! (Kids. . . don't try this one at home!)

Actually, I can see the light where the door meets the dash when closed. Maybe the on/off switch is a new and improved feature of the 2006 model? Maybe Toyota forgot to put one in my 2005 model? Seems like a major oversight if Toyota really intended to design it like that.

 

Locking glove boxes are about as secure as a plastic grocery bag. They only thing they do is make you feel better. That's not to say that a car maker couldn't build a safe into a glove box, but it's not likely, with all of the extra weight and cost.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Sep 3 2006, 08:48 AM) [snapback]313491[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, I was once thinking of adding a cam lock to the lid of the storage area in the trunk, but realized that all you would need is a screwdriver to break the plastic and it would signal that something valuable might be in there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dreichla @ Sep 2 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]313193[/snapback]</div>

As Rick said, it's an LED light (which lasts pretty much forever), and there probably would be a greater chance of mechanical failure if they were to add a switch that would turn the light on when the glove compartment is opened. I commend the person in their engineering department who came up with the idea--truly thinking "inside" the box!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Sep 3 2006, 11:48 AM) [snapback]313491[/snapback]</div>

Well, in my neck of the woods every now and then we have to carry a licensed/registered object in our glove box that we wouldn't want a child to accidentally discover -- if you get my drift. After a month on this board I fear that this will offend a lot, but not all, of you folks...so accept my apologies in advance!

 

I also don't think a glovebox lock is too safe.

If you really want to hide something, but it in the drawer under the cup-holders in the centre console. It took me a year to find that one, even after reading the manual!

Cheers,
Tom

 

I'd like to know why they put a light in the lower box but not the upper one.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mootsman @ Sep 3 2006, 08:53 PM) [snapback]313745[/snapback]</div>

I would only be offended by the many who do exactly what you say, without the lock......because they think they have taught thier children gun safty.

 

How secure are locks on plastic interior parts? Well, my 93 RX-7 has a lockable storage bin behind the pass. seat. One day we had the doors off (literally), and had to go get some parts. My radar det. was in the car. I locked it in the bin. When I returned I discovered the key would not unlock the bin (lock but not unlock - what a concept!). So I took a screwdriver and popped open the lid. No damage. It just opened. With little force.

How secure is that!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScottR @ Sep 2 2006, 05:43 PM) [snapback]313186[/snapback]</div>

Mine has a lock...it's on the car doors. :lol:

 

Back when cars had metal dashboards and gloveboxes, there was some security to them... but of course it was amazingly easy for criminals to break in to the car itself and start it and drive away.

This modern car security systems of Toyotas are pretty good, and I have read that it's difficult for criminals to break in AND start an immobilized Prius... so I don't mind there being no interior box lock, the car itself is the locked box.

And if something is valuable enough you don't want to lose it, don't leave it in the car, especially when you hand the keys to someone else, like a valet or service person or anyone, nothing against valets or service people, but that's just who we usually hand our car keys over to.

Having said all that, I think it would have been nice to have a lockable glove box.