Rear Door Lock Question...not sure if its an issue.

[ACQB]

2003 Ford Explorer XLT (new to us in June 2017)
We don't use the rear doors much, from the inside anyway. Open/close from the outside all the time putting the dogs in/out) Recently the better half was riding back there. We get to the destination, she goes to get out and can't. I unlock with the master switch on the driver door, hear the rear doors unlock & whaa-la...she can get out using the interior handle. Think to myself, the child locks must be on, wait, no that can't be it because she was able to use the interior handle to exit. Its not a child lock issue. Double checked the child locks anyway, they are both in the off position.
Did some further testing testing later...back doors only open from the inside if the door locks are unlocked from up front or on a fob (EDIT...or manually unlocking using the manual switch on each rear door. Pulling the handle does not over ride the lock as it does on the front doors.
Is this normal operating procedure?? Seems odd and a possible issue if there was an emergency and someone had to get out ASAP. Oh crap!! Everyone out!!! WAIT!!!...unlock the doors from up there for me so I can get out because I'm panicking and can't find the manual lock/unlock that is mostly hidden? Bit over the top, but you know what I mean.
Shouldn't the interior door handle over ride the locks on the rear doors? Or is this someones idea of keeping the rugrats from falling out w/o engaging the child locks?
I digress, anyone have any ideas??

 

[IIGood]

Can the rear locks be unlocked manually (i.e., pushing on the actual lock switch)?

I can't remember if that's normal behavior or not...the rear doors not opening when locked. I remember years ago in cars, if the door was locked, you had to unlock them to exit the vehicle. But I know as of late, the door can still be opened from the inside with the locks engaged.

 

[ACQB]

They can be, neglected to add that in the original post/rant. I edited the above to reflect such...Oooops
Just seems odd to be that the back door interior handles don't override the lock mechanism as they do on the front doors.
Some sort of "safety feature" for the little ones is all I can come up with.

 

[IIGood]

Well, interesting...I don't spend much time in the back seat of mine, so I went and tried. Sure enough, the rear doors do not open if the door locks are engaged. But the front doors do open with the doors locked. I can only surmise that this is by design, but does seem a bit risky of a design for those in the back seat during an emergency, as you mentioned. Perhaps it is to protect children from inadvertently opening the door during normal operation...all I can think of as well.