General Motors’ 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS does not have power locks.
Correction: as shown in the high-production-quality video embedded below, the 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS has a mysterious power lock, singular.
For an advertised Canadian base price of $9,995, or $11,595 with destination charges, the 2016 Chevrolet Spark is at once both very well equipped and decidedly spartan. This is not the Ford Festiva you inherited from your ex-girlfriend’s uncle. “The bumper and hood are no good,” he told you, having recently run into a deer. “But she runs pretty good.”
No, in the base 2016 Spark, there’s a backup camera, for example, and antilock brakes, a bundle of air bags, decent seats, Bluetooth, and WiFi availability.
There’s also a bit of magic.
Magic aside, there are similarities between the Spark and econoboxes of yesteryear. The 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS requires a reach across to the right-side A-pillar to adjust the passenger-side mirror. There are no power mirrors.
Approaching a drive-thru window? You must manually crank a lever with your left hand so your left arm can reach through the aperture to claim your goods. There are no power windows.
Nor is there an air conditioning unit. When the wind begins to severely decrease your two-year-old’s level of highway contentment, you must reach around the passenger seat and crank his window up. Or pull over. But the Spark is tiny; it’s not that far of a reach.
The 2016 Chevrolet Spark LS also lacks power locks, known in the Chevrolet spec sheet and manual as “automatic locks.” On 1LT and 2LT Sparks, automatic locks are standard equipment.
Says the glovebox manual:
Automatic Door Locks
If equipped, the vehicle is programmed so that when the doors are closed, the ignition is on, and the shift lever is moved out of P (Park) for automatic transmissions, or the vehicle speed is above 13 km/h (8 mph) for manual transmissions, the doors and the liftgate will lock.
If equipped? Or if not.
Once our Spark tester reaches 8 miles per hour, the driver’s door locks. There is no lock button on the driver’s door armrest to press. Then, having reached your destination, you turn the Spark off, remove the key, and magically, the driver’s side door unlocks.
All of this happens without driver intervention.
None of this pertains to the other doors.
What is going on? Is a power door lock actuator wearing a disguise in this establishment?
We have asked GM representatives on both sides of the border for comment, but our inquiries have fallen on deaf ears so far.
[Images: © 2016 Timothy Cain/The Truth About Cars]
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
It’s likely cheaper to put the same locking mechanism in all Sparks.
That said, it may be cheaper to not include power-door-lock switches, which is why the doors have to be manually locked, but can lock themselves. It may also be cheaper to not supply a powered keyfob and/or RF receiver.
At this margin level, pennies count.
Even if it costs more to build the Losers Special with manual locks, crank window, it’s what sells the upgrade models. And some buyers want to feel they’re suffering just a bit, or their hourly staff, or they paid too much.
Whats’s with these English? I could barely make myself type that arrangement of letters.
The Audi 5000 had power locks but no buttons, you had to move the thing by hand (impossible to do in the winter with gloves on).
And usually (like this Spark here), only one would go up or down anyway because vacuum leaks. Sometimes two would lock, then in the morning you’d find the other two had joined suit. Just took a little time for it to gather some more vacuum, that’s all.
The less that is said about the Audi 5000 locks and door hardware, the better.
How bout them trigger handles! They’re so robust (especially in winter).
They would never break or become stuck in the open or closed position.
The sound of the last couple times they worked with a crunch and a click – is emblazoned in my brain.
It sounds like my sophomore year of high school.
The less said about the 5000 *in general*, the better.
My dad had an ’85 5000 wagon, and it had the same exterior door handles as my ’81 Rabbit. Not surprisingly, they came apart, just like they did in the Rabbit. As an added bonus, the leather on the side of the seat began to wear off in around 4,000 miles. And the naturally aspirated version was a dog, particularly with the A/C on. Imagine a luxury performance sedan that you have to turn the A/C off to get decent power out of (like my ’81 Rabbit, not coincidentally).
Now you’ve done it, you mentioned the Audi C3 (5000/100).
The C3 will always be there, lurking with random issues and surprises.
#C3sMatter
The sound of my ’80 Audi 5000 diesel accelerating (a term I use very, very loosely) will be forever engrained into my brain. But for all the sturm und drang that was associated with it, I still loved that thing. It made for a snazzy whip going to prom in all of it’s European sedan glory.
REALITY CHECK: your comment is about a 35 year old car. A 1981 Rabbit. In 1981 a 35 year old car would’ve been from 1946. Good times. So we’re into THE TRUTH ABOUT HISTORICAL CARS.
Au Contraire, mon frere. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops, lest some newbie globally-sourced engineer 30 years from now thinks that this is a great idea.
My dad’s Audi 5000 had to have the door handle replaced with a junkyard handle. By either severe wear or dumb luck, his original key unlocked the junkyard handle!
At least the GM-sourced climate control was always on call to warm your hands right up!
It would work reliably, if you jiggled the wires under the dash for a little bit first.
Heat would always work. Sometimes I’d have to turn it on in the summer to keep my 5000 from overheating.
The A/C never worked though. The Audi/VW compressor was butt.
Disagree, the A/C worked perfectly…if you wanted to slow the car down dramatically.
Now mine had AC, which was muggy a bit because the drain tube to the outside was clogged. Every once in a while, a sharp left would get the passenger foot well wet, and fix that issue.
And Freed is right, it pulled so heavily on the engine. Those 115 HP had a hard time moving that much car with AC and automatic, lol.
Speaking of A/C, I realize this is moot but I learned something interesting recently. When R134a first came out the issue with R12 conversion mostly involved the oil (I think in the compressor). However at some point in the last few years the current strain of R134a is in fact compatible with R12 oil. The issue today apparently is the other parts of the HVAC system are simply old and can fail whose replacement/labor is not economically viable on 20yo+ cars.
“The issue today apparently is the other parts of the HVAC system are simply old and can fail whose replacement/labor is not economically viable on 20yo+ cars.”
Yep, compressor being a main one. I didn’t know about the compatibility – but you would have to change the fittings still, and -some- R12 compressors don’t like the higher pressure of the R134. I’ve heard different opinions on that last part though, like most HVAC discussions.
Hahaha. I had the Turbo Quattro version. Since my A/C never worked, I cannot say if it would have slowed the vehicle down or not.
@CoreyDL
The fitting for R12 is different but there is an extender hose you can get which has an R12 fitting on one and and R134 on the other, plus its coming with more length. My guys opinion is, give it a charge and see if the systems just work (or somewhat work). Otherwise you can be 2 grand into a 2K car real quick trying to diagnose and fix the whole system. In your case, I can’t remember if anyone just tried giving it a charge but if the GM compressor doesn’t like it you would have just ended up putting the bypass belt on in any event. Incidentally Volvo switched to a GM sourced compressor for the 850 and 940 around MY93, which I believe my 240 also uses (but its buried on those and I can’t see it without taking stuff off so F it). I read on Volvo forums a fix of those really into 700s and early 900s is to remove this compressor from a junkyard 940/960 and fit it on the earlier models.
I think mine had just not been run in a very long time, so it was all seized up in there when I acquired the R12a from Canadia. Still the worst sound I’ve ever heard a car make.
If I just hadn’t bothered, I’d have saved $300! But no, I had to “MESS WITH IT,” as my grandpa would have pointed out if he were there.
Did you use up the whole can?
Two! And it took it all easily/quickly. Also put in the oil and seal/dye whatever other can that was there.
Prior to doing any work, the SERVICE AC light had come on, and switched it back to econ mode immediately. After the addition, the system was recognizing it was within parameters to run, so tried kicking it on… letting me discover how locked up it was.
My guy specifically warned me to not get the R134A “with oil” (which I guess is indicated on the can). The reasoning was, if you get the one with oil and put more oil into the system without removing what is already there, you can jack it up good. I do wonder if this is what happened to you.
It’s possible I suppose. There were 2 cans refrigerant, and one can leak stop. The kit came with an oil tester, but nothing would come out of the line to test – just dry.
Did you just dump everything in or did you do a can of refrigerant first, than test it, than a second can, then test it, etc?
One can + seal stuff. Test.
Level too low, Service AC light still on.
Second can added.
Level too low, Service AC light on. Figured it had to circulate a while. Leave it, drive home. (Planned to order one more can refrigerant, as system specs online indicated it would need three if empty.)
Two-ish days later, try AC.
AC kicks on, no light this time. Horrible grinding from compressor.
Sounds like the correct way to go about it. When I refilled the Volvo, the results were almost instantaneous. It took a whole can of 20oz and was still a little short of the 34psi I was told to fill it too. I’m not sure how much of a PITA it is on the 4.9, but I would have fitted a new compressor (I realize you don’t DIY yours). After that if say the condenser was bust, I’d give up XXX dollars later.
That’s why you got the mighty V8!
I will say, even my parts car that had been sitting for 5+ years before being moved (because nobody owns a single C3, you need a second to keep the first on the road) had ice cold A/C in the middle of August despite being an utter shitbucket otherwise.
I seem to remember parking garages in Boston refusing to allow Audi 5000s because a few caught fire. It that the GM sourced system you mentioned?
Old RWD Volvos were like this too, you could lock/unlock the whole car just by turning your key in the drivers door lock, didn’t even need a stinkin button!
The 5000 in this way would not allow you to lock your keys in the car. Open driver’s door and get out, push locks down…
BFFFFFTTT
Back up they come. Audi says no! Do it the right way you lazy American!
If it truly like the Volvo system if you held the handle up ( or in) the door would lock, it was only if you let go of the handle it would unlock.
Just like the locks on my Grandmother’s ’67 ‘Stang, back in the day! Had to hold the pushbutton in to lock, or up it popped!
Blew my five year-old mind to smithereens!
Anyone want to bet that somewhere out there is a red Spark 1LT or 2LT with power door locks on every door but the driver’s?
My thoughts exactly – you beat me to it! Let’s remember that Chevy delivered some Cruzes (or maybe is was the Sonic?) without brake pads.
That was the Sonic!! One of the first articles I ever read on this site!
That also happened with FCA cars, Dodges I think, but the cars were caught before being shipped to dealers.
Anti-carjacking feature? It doesn’t seem to have any other purpose; it’s not like the driver is going to decide to bail out (unless the car is on fire, or goes into the canal for some reason). Odd.
Edit: There’s no “unlock” button near/on the center console?
I’m wondering if you must pull it up by hand, or if pulling the door handle while in motion will unlock it still.
It’s probably because of OnStar. It’d be awkward if you called them because you locked yourself out, and the service rep said “Tough luck, cheapskate. Should’ve gotten the LT.”
Tom just described the GM business philosophy.
(In best Red Foreman voice) “Should have gotten a Cruze, Dumbass.”
OMG, do I hate this auto locking garbage.
The latest round of cars that I’ve bought have the option to turn this feature off. I ask the salesman to do it before I take delivery, and leave it off.
Good riddance.
Is it really that big of a deal? It’s all in the name of safety.. I don’t mind if I put a vehicle in drive and it locks the doors, or whenever I get to 8 miles an hour and it locks and so on. Especially if once you put it back in park and pull the door handle it’ll unlock and let you out-even with the engine on, or just unlocks all the doors, I hardly even notice the system is there.
Now on the other hand- I just bought a Focus for $1100 to hold me over once I sell my Wrangler so I don’t have to drive a work truck everywhere until I buy something better.. and that locking system.. dear god. It locks the doors as soon as you put the key to run-that’s annoying, nothing like going to check something while it’s running closing the door and locking yourself out of your running car. Ugh, already done it once, probably could happen again pretty easily on accident. Idk what the designers of a system like that could’ve possibly been thinking, I can only imagine how many people locked themselves out of their focus’s as soon as car warm up season comes the first years they had them.
It gets worse. Just spent the day in my dad’s F150, and the fracking horn beeps at you every time you get out of the vehicle with the engine running! I’m sure there is a way to turn that off buried in the menus somewhere (I didn’t look for that – it took me 15 minutes reading the operator’s manual to get the turbo boost gauge to appear in the cluster).
^ This!
Questionable area of town, you get bumped.
Drop car into “Park,” locks pop..and before you know it, you’re thrown out of your own car by some ne’er-do-well, and they and their accomplices are off before you realize what happened!
First thing I did on delivery of my car was to disable auto-lock and unlock! Have even done so on rentals and service loaners, if the option was available in a setup menu (and not via a procedure involving twists of the key and lock activation, or other such nonsense).
The 02 Accent has all 4 doors tied into the position of the toggle on the drivers door. This works well enough where by when you unlock the drivers door with the key, all 4 open. From the inside, lock the drivers door, all lock, and so on. Of course if the drivers door is say locked, you can then individually unlock any other door.
For a lower cost solution it works quite well.
our 95 Ford Escort used the same system, simple cheap and easily comprehended, unlike a 99 Pontiac rental which had a power locking system whose logic was harder to grok than OSPF routing.
My sister avoided a carjacking in a parking garage by manually unlocking only the driver’s door. The other doors remained locked. A guy crouching on the passenger side popped up as she unlocked the driver’s door and she quickly got in and locked the door.
The Guy tried to get in the front passenger door, and she calmly started the car, put it in gear and drove away. She had a keyfob that opened all the doors, but stopped using it when she heard of another carjacking like the one that almost happened to her.
Hmmm…reviews/articles of the Mirage G4, the Spark and the Fit. Are we seeing a resurgence of interest in cheap?
“Are we seeing a resurgence of interest in cheap?”
You’d better believe it! How else are you going to entice TTAC’ers to buy something new for a change!
Actually, you’d most likely WANT to buy one of these new, because I can only imagine just how clapped-out a used one would be. Interestingly, I’ve yet to notice used ones on lots…
“advertised Canadian base price of $9,995, or $11,595 with destination charges”
$1,600 for delivery? Do they haul the cars over the frozen tundra with teams of sled dogs?
IIRC the auto-locking thing gets you an extra star on the IIHS rating or something like that.
Does the base Spark have heated seats in Canada? The Mirage does.
You should be able to buy one in Canada for $9,000 U.S. (with exchange included)… right?
If you time the sales right, most likely. Getting it into the US is another matter, and probably more expensive than adding seat heaters to a USDM car.
We get hosed on delivery north of the border. Chevrolet is $1600 for a Spark, $1650 for an Impala, $1695 for a Suburban.
Honda charges twice the delivery on the Civic north of the border than they do south – despite the Civic being made in Canada. $1623 in Ontario, $835 in the US.
So sick of Canada being shit on by the manufacturers.
Does it have a magic key? GM had a couple other tricks in the mid-Noughts. My Uglibu (before the recall repair broke my BCM) had a magic key that allowed for automatically locking and unlocking the other door locks by repeatedly turning the cylinder. I found the same feature on a 2008 Impala LS Enterprise special. First turn operated like a regular lock; second turn caused the action just applied to the driver’s door to be applied to all doors.
That feature would be in the lock cylinder, not the key. My grandfather’s first-gen Saturn s-series had that same feature, as does my Volvo 850
What do you think of your 850?
I miss my 850. The A/C going south and finding out it was fork $2200 over to the mechanic or spend $600 in parts and two full days in my in-laws’ garage to do it myself was just too much at the time.
Does GM charge a $1,600 dest. charge on all their cars in the Great White North, or just those coincidentally MSRP-ing for $5 less than a nice round number?
We get hosed in Canada. Check my reply to a similar question just above. Essentially yes, they charge $1600 – $1695 Delivery and PDI on all vehicles.
Technically the car has 4-40 “air”.
4 windows, 40 MPH….or KPH for you funny metric people. Good luck reaching around to roll all of them down from the drivers seat though.
In the US, the Spark LS comes with a/c, which is why this isn’t an apples-to-apples price comparison.
I’m pretty sure 60+% of Spark LS sales are to rental-car agencies, anyhow.
Not in the frozen north – all rental cars have AC, and honestly I’ve not seen one of the East Coast smaller than the Sonic, although maybe they use the Spark elsewhere.
Sorry, I combined two different thoughts.
In the US, the Spark LS comes with a/c. Yes, the Canada-spec model is cheaper, but once you add air, it isn’t.
====
Separate thought. Most Sparks I see in the US have rental-car barcodes.
Someone got close with the IIHS comment, but it doesn’t get you any additional “stars”, which the IIHS doesn’t assign anyway. But for the answer, look at the first crash test of the current generation Kia Sedona. The door came open because the option to override the automatic locking existed and the IIHS overrode, as is their policy, and something hit the handle and opened the door, greatly reducing the Sedona’s score. Kia reprogrammed the software to only let you choose between speed or going out of park and they retested and the score was fine. So that’s the reason: to make sure the door is locked during the IIHS test, because if the car doesn’t automatically lock it every time, the IIHS makes sure it’s not locked when the test is run and the results can be disastrous.
Hit inside or out?
If inside, with seemingly all cars going the way of older Fords in front, where the inside handle unlocks and opens the doors with one pull, you’d potentially end up in the same boat if something hits the handle just so.
After reviewing the test again, it looks like I didn’t remember correctly. They just said the door came open. H-K products are like the old Fords up front; I assume GM continues to require the door to be unlocked manually, but I’m guessing you’ve seen the follow-up now that says it’s for OnStar.
The first gen Wave/Aveo had power locks that you either had to use the keyless entry fob or pull the lock stocks on the doors to actuate from the inside just like that one pictured on the driver’s door of the spark. No switches to be found.
People have short memories.
As to why it’s only on the driver’s door: Left hand drive car + IIHS crash testing policy of leaving them unlocked if they can be. basically Chevy shouldn’t be cheap and just do it on both sides.
I wasn’t aware that speed sensors worked with the car’s power “ON” without an ignition signal from the ECU. Since the fluids are drained before the cars are sacrificed, does IIHS rig a false ignition signal to the CAN-bus? One wonders. (After having just spent time going over their test protocol for the small-offset test, that answer is unclear.)