modern cars

[Jim Stewart ...]

why do the latest cars have no rubber covered button that turns on the interior light when the door is opened ?..... how is it done?

[Rod Speed]

Jim Stewart ... [e-mail] wrote

Magnet in one side and hall effect sensor etc on the other side.

MUCH more reliable than a physical switch under the rubber cover.

[NY]

A sensor on the latch side of the door (rather than the hinge side) also provides a more accurate way of sensing that the door is ajar or barely open: with a physical switch on the hinge side of the door, and slight error in the position of the switch or of its contacts might mean that the lights never switch off even when the door is closed, or else don't turn on until the door is half-way open.

With a latch-side sensor, you can even distinguish between door closed and door slightly open (on the secondary safety latch), which is how cars can warn you that a door is not fully closed.

[Jim Stewart ...]

interesting thanks Ron

[Jim Stewart ...]

thankls I will have a look

[NY]

I remember one of my cars (I forget which it was - take your pick of Renault

5 Mark 1 or Mark 2, VW Golf Mark 2 or Mark 3, Peugeot 306) which had a mechanical switch but it was on the latch side of the doorframe. This had the same benefit as a modern magnet sensor in that it was very sensitive to the door position and so could detect the door being ajar on the safety catch, as our present-day Peugot 308 and Honda CR-V can with their magnet sensors.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes I had a torch with those buttons total crap brass switches. Trouble is of course that the more complicated you make something, the less reliable it gets sometimes. Citroen seem to have this issue with their central locking, or so I'm told. Brian

[Clive Arthur]

My old Citroen Xsara Picasso's central locking has been faulty for years, and one of the doors won't lock at all. Doesn't bother me much.

One day it spontaneously started partially working again, which event coincided with the display text spontaneously switching to German. Other than that it's been very reliable. Six months to wait now till the clock's right again.

[David P]

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[Jim Stewart ...]

I had to drive up from london in a 92 mustang convertible with a constant ding dong that the door was open because of that.......

[Jim Stewart ...]

[SteveW]

Rover had the same latch-side system in the 2000s.

[David P]

------------- In case Brian needs a new sofa! lol

[Vir Campestris]

My car has that. It's a Toyota that went out of production in 1999.

Andy

[Jim Stewart ...]

oh right