Having just had a problem with my driver's door lock and realising that is electronically controlled, I'm now left wondering (worrying) how do I get out of my car in the event of a battery failure? Given that everything eventually fails or wears out, including the battery - how do you open the door without battery power if you're locked inside the car?

 

I believe you will still find a mechanical linkage between the inside door handle and the door lock mechanism. You could always test it by locking the door and have someone disconnect the battery and try getting out.

 

That's a good idea, and I'll try it. What worries me though is that at present, most of the time (but not always), the driver's door will not unlock when I use the inside lever. I have to use either the key fob or the console button to unlock the mechanism, neither of which will work if there's no battery power, and only then will the lever actually connect and open the door. I find it hard to believe there's a mechanical connection!

 

Sounds like you need to remove door card and have a good look at the manual locking mechanism and components.

There is a DIY in the "How To" at the top of the S Type directory. Even has pretty 5x7 glossy color photos by member spitfire and I believe anither by norri.

 

All recent Jaguars have a similar latch design with mechanical linkages which still operate the lock and handle in the event of electrical failure. This is the S-Type (see items 7 & 8):



The "lockout" to this is the security system but you cannot activate this from inside the vehicle.

If your vehicle doesn't operate like this, you have a linkage or latch issue.

Graham

 

You may want to follow Rick's advice (https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...2051678)before it decides to lock and stay that way with the door card in-place, rendering your task to replace the failing lock mechanism much more difficult as others here have encountered, if memory serves, with the rear doors.

Meanwhile, you can always keep a rear seat folded down and crawl into the boot and actuate the kidnap-victim lanyard. Probably a big hit with the school crowd if you drop the kids off that way!