What would the role of a thermistor be in the power door lock circuit
of a car? It's in series with the door lock "motor", which might be
a solenoid or maybe a rotating motor.

Is it possible that it is meant to lower or turn off power to the
mechanism if the circuit is left closed for some reason and the
solenoid would otherwise overheat?

The symbol it uses for a thermistor is a resistor symbol in an
elongated circle, like a high school running track around the football
field. Is that the usual symbol for a thermistor.




After 40 years of resistance, just bought a foreign car, a Toyota, and
the shop manual is not nearly as clear as the ones I've had for Ford,
GM, and Chrysler. Part of that is because the car is 5 years newer
than the last one and so cars are more complicated, and some is
because parts of it are in bad English, and other parts in
incomprehensible English, but parts of it just don't include as much
information.