Child lock: a padlock or a key
The controls are locked: the buttons and the dial do nothing until you unlock them, so a child cannot start the microwave by accident.
What it is for
Hold the key that carries the drawing: about 3 seconds on the Samsung MC28H5013AS (its Child Lock key), about 4 seconds on Bosch’s child-lock key. On Panasonic models with the key icon, press Stop/Reset three times within 10 seconds to lock and three more times to unlock. If the microwave ignores every button and shows a padlock or key, try unlocking before you call it a fault.
Makes differ, check your microwave’s manual: the same drawing can start a different programme on another brand, and only your model’s manual gives its exact watts, weights and times.
- What it looks like
- A closed padlock, or a key lying on its side. It is printed on or beside the key you hold to lock, and on many models the same drawing lights in the display while the lock is on.
- Names makers use
- Child Lock (Samsung); Child lock, childproof lock (Bosch); Child Safety Lock (Panasonic); Child Safety Lock (Teka)
Where makes differ
Bosch and Panasonic draw a key; Samsung prints a padlock and Teka says the lock is usually a padlock symbol. Some Panasonic models, such as the NN-CD989, show the word LOCK in the display instead. The button and the time to hold it differ on every make.
What it does not mean
It locks the controls, not the door: Panasonic says its child safety lock “does not lock the door”. Panasonic also says that from March 2024 US microwaves must have a separate electronic door lock, which keeps the door shut after cooking and has its own steps to open or switch it off.
Related
Sources
No published standard we could check defines microwave control icons, so this meaning is taken from 4 makers’ own manuals and support pages, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Samsung: Samsung UK — User manual, combi microwave oven with convection MC28H5013AS (MW5000H) — Control panel key 9, “Child Lock”, drawn as a padlock: “1. Press the Child Lock button … The oven is locked (no functions can be selected).” “2. To unlock the oven, press the Child Lock button … The oven can be used normally.” Checked 2026-10-16.
- Bosch: Bosch Ireland — Microwave symbols and settings — “Child lock” (a key): “Activating and deactivating (hold down for approx. 4 secs) the childproof lock.” Checked 2026-10-16.
- Panasonic: Panasonic North America — How to use the child safety lock feature (microwave ovens) — NN-CD87KS made before March 2024: “To Lock - Press the [Stop/Reset] button three times. A “LOCK” icon will appear on the screen”, the icon being a key; “This feature prevents the electronic operation of the oven until cancelled. It does not lock the door.” “Starting March 2024 the Federal law required Microwave Ovens to be equipped with an electronic door lock safety function.” Checked 2026-10-16.
- Teka: Teka — Microwave symbols and functions explained — “Child Safety Lock … Use it to lock the controls when the appliance isn’t in use. It’s usually represented by a padlock symbol.” Checked 2026-10-16.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.