I was locked out of my vehicle by the automatic locking system with my dog in the front seat on a hot South Carolina day with all windows up. The locks on all 4 doors and the back door locked even though I had the key in the ignition. I complained about the locking system the first time I unexpectedly got locked out in 2007. I spent most of the day driving home to get a spare key and back again to the car's location. At that time, Toyota customer relations responded with the same arrogance the company has demonstrated regarding the acceleration issue. They told me "that's how the locks are designed" (even though no one could explain the benefit) and they told me the locks will not automatically lock if the key is in the ignition. This is a safety issue since pets and small children can be inadvertently locked inside of a suffocating hot vehicle. This would result in property damage if the owner has to break a window. Fortunately, in this instance, I was able to locate a spare key before my dog died. If I were a manufacturer, I would want to know about any design flaw to be able to fix it. Toyota, however, responded in an overconfident way, accepting no responsibility. Events leading up to most recent incident: A friend and I drove to a dump less than a mile from my home. We got out of the vehicle, opened the back door and began to unload the trash. My small dog was in the front seat, and the key was in the ignition. When finished unloading, I shut the back door and went to open the driver's side door. It was locked. My friend attempted to open the passenger side door and it was locked. All doors were locked, the key was in the ignition, and my dog started panting. When I called to report this most recent incident, customer relations suggested I take the car in for service at a local dealer at my own expense. Unacceptable. NHTSA: Please do your job on this. Thanks. The consumer wants to withdraw his complaint. Updated IVOQ 06/02/10

- Bluffton, SC, USA

When I use the automatic lock opener and unlock the front driver's side door or click twice to unlock all doors in the vehicle, within a minute, automatically locks all doors again. Knowing that I could easily get locked out, I called a Toyota salesperson to ask why it was happening or what I could do to fix it. He didn't know and suggested bringing the vehicle in for service. Out of town this past Saturday evening, I was loading the back of my vehicle and set my keys down inside. When I heard the clicking noise of all the locks locking, I reminded myself to get the vehicle in for service. A moment later, I received a phone call, and distracted, shut the back door. Even though I had unlocked all doors moments ago, the vehicle automatically re-locked all doors even with the back door open. I called Toyota's roadside assistance. To my surprise, I was told that lockouts are not a covered service. I took my vehicle in for service August 7th. At first, the service advisor agreed that the locks should not be working the way they are and said that he would get the problem fixed. After waiting two hours, he said that the locks are working correctly, and the way they were designed to work. This is a safety issue. For example, when I was locked out, I was close to having put a two year old in the vehicle with the temperature near 100 degrees. The only time I want the locks to lock automatically is after I've started the vehicle and am driving. This is not a safety feature included with the rav 4. I was not satisfied with the dealer response, and I would like this problem resolved. If the locks truly are designed to lock automatically within 30 seconds to one minute, whether a door is open or not, I would like Toyota to provide an explanation of the benefit of this design. (I don?T know why anyone would want this feature.) thanks for your assistance.

- Bluffton, SC, USA