Wife takes our son to school everyday, heads to the park with my daughter and dogs 5 days a week.

Well this morning my wife and daughter walked my son to his 1st grade class, were gone 3 minutes. When they got back one of the sliding van doors was wide open and one of our dogs was dead in the middle of the road. Hit by a car in front of all the kids arriving at school in the morning.

Dog touched the button and the door automatically opened. There is no way to turn this feature off. You know how ALL cars have child looks to keep kids from opening the door from the inside? Well, Grand Caravans DO NOT have that feature.

My wife took the van to the dealership in Petaluma California to have them turn the feature off, the only thing the Service Manager could figure to do was to pull the fuse. So now the sliders don't function and neither do the rear windows.

My wife and children are a wreck.

Please don't let this happen to your dogs.

 

A dont leave ya dogs or kids in cars. 2. i beleive there is a button on the overhead that disables them from opening the rear doors. sorry for your loose.

 

i thought there were safety locks on the back of the doors...i know there is a switch there like the old style doors to prevent them from opening them up themselves but i wasn't sure if it deactivated the switches or not. ...might have to give it a try...

 

Very sorry about your dog. You didn't say what year your van is but at least on our 2001, the child locks are on the rear of the door. They seem to get covered with stuff so that it can be difficult to see them.

 

Believe the child safety locks only work when the car is in gear. That's what I'm assuming since the Service Manager felt it was necessary to pull the fuse after inspecting our vehicle.

 

bummer but you are suppose to have animals restrained in the vehicle (kenneled and secured) that's just common safety sense.

 

Dude, the car wasn't moving.

"Common safety sense" would be for the vehicle designers to make a door that can not be easily opened by children (and pets), like ALL other vehicle manufacturers on the planet (except maybe a few Third World countries, that have no safety standards).

 

dude, what if the dogs pulled the trans out of park and ran over some little kid? point is animals don't belong free roaming in a vehicle, they are to be kenneled and anchored for everyone's safety!

 

Tankerman
Sorry to hear about your dog.I do have a dog as well and i would be very upset if something had happen to him.Does your van have an overhead console in your van? If you do,there is a button or buttons to turn off the sliding door switches.

 

Yeah, I keep my Border Collie in the bed of my pickup. She's smart enough not to jump out and enjoys the smells of the outdoors. If she stays in the cab with me, she has a habit of getting over friendly and trying to lick my face, arms, etc.. Not a good thing when you're driving over an 11,000 foot moutain pass!!

Dusty