There was a time when we had to lock all our car doors individually. Until the 1970s, we even had to wrestle with several separate keys for most vehicles: for the trunk, fuel tank, doors, and ignition. Kiekert put an end to this: in 1974, the company from Heiligenhaus near Düsseldorf revolutionized the lock market when it invented the central locking system for cars. Since then, it has been possible to lock and unlock all doors at the same time with a single lock.
Central locking became especially popular in the mid-1990s, when almost all carmakers integrated a remote control into their keys. Other features were later added, such as systems for opening and closing electric windows or the trunk lid.
Advanced locking technology: central locking for the car
The car industry has long been working on other solutions, for example autonomous door technologies to make future vehicles more comfortable and versatile. A new door drive system from Kiekert, for example, opens and closes side doors automatically, and is therefore suitable for the electric and autonomous vehicles currently being developed by carmakers around the world.
Kiekert’s innovations are based on more than 100 years of research and development in automotive locking system technologies. The company celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2017. It has grown from a local business, founded as “Arnold Kiekert und Söhne” in Heiligenhaus, to a global enterprise. It claims to have developed and produced 1.9 billion locking systems for the international automotive industry.
(Image: dusanpetkovic1 – Adobe Stock.com)
