Vehicle door latch system and method

A vehicle having a body defining an inside and an outside, said vehicle comprising:

• a plurality of doors with each door having an exterior side associated with the outside of said vehicle and an interior side associated with the inside of said vehicle;
• an electric door latch mechanism associated with each of said plurality of doors, the mechanism movable between a latched position and an unlatched position;
• an exterior open switch disposable on the exterior side of said door for receiving an unlatch request from the outside of the vehicle;
• an interior open switch disposed on the interior side of the door for receiving an unlatch request from the inside of the vehicle;
• a controller in communication with said exterior open switch, said interior open switch, and said electric door latch mechanism, said controller configured to assign either a locked state or an unlocked state for each of said open switches and control operation of said electric door latch mechanism such that said electric door latch mechanism will be commanded to move from the closed position to the open position in response to the unlatch request from said open switches when the respective open switch is in the unlocked state;
• and
• an indicator configured to visually display the locked state and/or unlocked state of said open switches to a user.

A method of operating an electric door latch mechanism of a vehicle, the vehicle having a body defining an inside and an outside and a door having an exterior side associated with the outside of the vehicle and an interior side associated with the inside of the vehicle, the mechanism movable between a latched position and an unlatched position, an exterior open switch disposed on the exterior side of the door, an interior open switch disposed on the interior side of the door, a controller in communication with the switches and the mechanism, said method comprising:

• assigning either a locked state or an unlocked state to each of the open switches;
• receiving an unlatch request signal at the controller from at least one of the switches;
• sending a control signal from the controller to the door control mechanism to move the mechanism from the closed position to the open position in response to receiving the unlatch request from one of the open switches and the respective open switch is in the unlocked state;
• and
• illuminating an indicator to visually display the locked state and/or unlocked state of said open switches to a user.