No, it is not illegal to lock your car in Alaska. Nothing in Alaska Statutes Title 28 prohibits locking your vehicle doors, and the state’s regulations actually push the other direction: drivers are required to secure unattended vehicles, not leave them open. The claim that Alaska law forbids locking your car is internet folklore, and it borrows from a real practice in a Canadian town rather than anything on Alaska’s books.
What Alaska Law Actually Requires
Alaska Administrative Code 13 AAC 02.480 tells you what to do before walking away from your vehicle: stop the engine, put the transmission in gear or park, lock the ignition, remove the key, and set the parking brake unless freezing conditions make that impractical.1Cornell Law. 13 AAC 02.480 – Unattended Motor Vehicle The regulation says nothing about door locks. Whether you lock the doors is your choice, and the rest of Title 28, which covers registration, licensing, insurance, traffic violations, and safety equipment, is silent on the question too. The framework treats vehicle security as something drivers should practice.
Where the Myth Comes From
The story people are half-remembering is about Churchill, Manitoba, a small town on Hudson Bay known as the “polar bear capital of the world.” Residents there routinely leave car doors unlocked so anyone caught outside during a bear encounter can dive into the nearest vehicle. It’s a local custom built on community trust.
Even in Churchill, the practice is not required by law. An RCMP spokesperson for Manitoba has confirmed no statute obliges residents to leave vehicles unlocked. The Alaska version of the tale seems to come from people hearing “polar bears” and “unlocked cars” and assuming the only U.S. state with polar bears. Some Alaska communities do see bears regularly, including Kaktovik and Utqiagvik on the Arctic coast,2Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Polar Bears – Wildlife Viewing but any decision to leave a vehicle unlocked there is personal, not legal.
Anchorage Goes Further Than the State
Anchorage Municipal Code 9.36.010 tightens the state’s approach. Leave a vehicle unattended on a public street and you have to stop the engine, lock the ignition, and remove the key; on a grade, the front wheels must be turned toward the curb. If the vehicle is left running in a public or private parking lot, the parking brake must be set and an automatic transmission must be in park.3Municipality of Anchorage. Anchorage Municipal Code Chapter 9.36 – Miscellaneous Rules The fine is $50 plus a $10 surcharge, and it applies whether the doors are locked or not. The ordinance is aimed at preventing theft and runaway vehicles, which is the opposite of what the myth suggests.
Puffing and the Real Trouble Alaskans Run Into
Alaska winters make idling a warm-up tempting. Law enforcement calls it “puffing.” If you leave your car running with the key in the ignition and walk away, you can be cited under the state regulation or the Anchorage ordinance, depending on where you’re parked.
Remote start systems sit in a gray zone. The engine runs, but the key isn’t in the ignition and the doors stay locked, and Alaska’s regulation is written around leaving the key in the ignition. Alaska has not passed a specific remote-start carve-out, but in practice officers are looking for keys-in-ignition situations rather than locked vehicles warming up remotely.
The bigger cost isn’t the ticket. A running, unlocked car is the easiest target a thief will find, and Alaska was the only state to report an increase in vehicle thefts through the first half of 2025, with a 26 percent rise driven largely by the Anchorage metro area.4National Insurance Crime Bureau. Nationwide Decline in Vehicle Thefts Continues Through First Half 2025
Insurance and Liability If You Leave It Open
Leaving your car unlocked or with the keys inside can complicate a claim. Some insurers reduce or deny theft claims when the vehicle was left unsecured, arguing the owner’s negligence contributed to the loss. Comprehensive coverage generally handles stolen vehicles, but policy language often carves out situations where the owner skipped basic precautions.
Liability is the sharper risk. Vehicle owners are not automatically responsible in most states when a thief crashes their stolen car, but leaving the keys in the ignition in violation of an unattended vehicle law can shift some responsibility back onto the owner. You broke a rule designed to prevent that exact outcome. The $50 unattended vehicle fine is pocket change compared with a liability claim from a serious accident involving your stolen car.
Federal Standards Assume You’ll Lock It
Federal law is built around the same assumption. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 114 requires every passenger vehicle sold in the United States to include a key-locking system that prevents the engine from starting and locks either the steering or the transmission (or both) when the key is removed. Vehicles must also sound an audible warning when the key is left in the starting system and the driver’s door is opened.5eCFR. 49 CFR 571.114 – Standard No. 114 Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention A state law telling drivers to leave their cars unlocked would run against a federal safety framework that has been in place for decades. Alaska has no such law, and the search for one turns up only a myth.