A majority of door locks used by Chinese households are vulnerable to lock picking and should be upgraded, the China Consumer's Association has said.

In a report issued on Monday, the association said that most of the door locks used by Chinese consumers in their homes are vulnerable to burglary and would not prevent break-ins.

"Despite some locks using techniques to prevent picking, it would only take seconds or less than a minute to unlock them without using the keys," the report said.

According to China's national standard on mechanical locks, issued by the Ministry of Public Security in 1994, locks are divided into two categories: ones with normal security levels, known as category A locks, and ones with high security levels, known as category B locks.

An investigation by the association found that more than 50 percent of households in China have category A door locks.

The association said that most consumers should upgrade their locks in their homes to category B locks, as it would even take a locksmith more than five minutes to unlock them.

"More important, the longer period of time to pick the locks would give the burglar much more psychological pressure, and thus it could prevent a potential break-in," the association said.

Wang Zhenya, president of Goldenkey Lock Co Ltd, which offers locksmith services in Beijing, said most residents have little awareness of how vulnerable their locks are to lock picking until they have been the victim of a burglary.

"It is worrying to me that most residents are still using the locks while not realizing that they could be the victims of house break-ins at any time," he said.

Wang said such locks are becoming targets for burglars. "It is a common technique for a thief to comb through a residential community and find the targets that have such door locks," he said.

Meanwhile, the national standard on mechanical locks should be upgraded "to protect families from break-ins", Wang said.

The consumer's association said a typical category B lock costs about 200 to 300 yuan ($33 to $49).

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn