Rear door child safety lock
When set, the rear door cannot be opened with its inside handle; it opens only from outside.
What pressing it does
On both cars cited it is not a dashboard button but a small slot on the edge of each rear door, visible only with the door open. Hyundai's Tucson: turn the slot to the lock position with a small flat-blade tool (towards the child symbol); the door then will not open from the inside handle. SEAT's Ateca: turn the groove with the ignition key — clockwise on the left-hand doors, anticlockwise on the right. Each door is set separately.
Check your car's manual: makes and models differ in what a button does, which positions a switch has and whether it works with the engine off, and your owner's manual is the authority for your car.
- What it looks like
- A small child figure beside a lock, marked on the edge of a rear door
- Also labelled
- Child lock; Childproof lock; Child-protector lock
- Standard
- None — a maker's symbol, described here from 2 makers' manuals: Hyundai, SEAT
What to check in your car's manual
Where the lock is on your doors, which way it turns, and whether your car has an electric child-lock button instead of (or as well as) the slot.
Where makes differ
Both are mechanical, set door by door, and only on rear doors. SEAT notes its childproof lock is independent of the central locking. Hyundai's Tucson also blocks the rear doors when the power window lock is on; SEAT's does not. Some cars use an electric child-lock button; neither car cited here does, so check your manual.
No regulation defines it
Neither the UN R121 table nor FMVSS 101 Tables 1 and 2 lists a child safety lock, so its marking is the maker's.
Good to know
- Hyundai's manual says the rear door safety locks should always be used whenever children are in the vehicle.
Other buttons under “Locks”
Sources
No regulation defines this control, so it is described from 2 carmakers' own owner's manuals, each read on the date shown.
- Hyundai 2025 Tucson (general market, English web manual): Child-protector rear door locks — Slot on the rear door edge, turned with a flat-blade tool; the inner handle will not open the door. checked 2026-09-25
- SEAT Ateca owner's manual, UK English, edition 06.21 (model year 2022), PDF: Childproof locks, p. 104 — Rotate the groove with the ignition key, clockwise on left doors and anticlockwise on right; independent of electronic locking; rear doors only. checked 2026-09-25
Written in our own words; the manuals cover their own models only.