Locked my keys in my car... best way to open it

reply to post by jude11


not sure how smashing your car window would be stress relief, unless someone isn't bothered about the price of replacing it ...

This will only work if the unlock button is horizontal, or atleast level enough to push it with an object.

Get a flat head screw driver, stick it in the top of the door between the door and the car and pry it open just enough to fit and maneuver a car antenna in the crack doesn't have to be an antenna but I find it is easist.
Something stiff enough to push the unlock button is the main idea.
Works every time on my car and doesn't do any damage.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
Saw a really cool trick on a movie called 3 days later last night.

U heat a key and poke a hole in a tennis ball so the size is about the same as the keyhole on your car, you put the hole on the tennis ball over the keyhole and whack the tennis ball a few times.

Dont know if this actually works or not but it looked cool and convincing.

P.s how do we know you arent gonna use this info to break into others peoples cars?

this used to work on old cars in the uk.. you just cut aa tennis ball in half, put it over the lock and push it hard.. it used to pop the lock open. i doubt this will work on a mustang.

i dont know much about the mustang locking mechanism (we dont have them in the uk, or very few anyway) but here are some methods that work on euro cars..

get a wedge shaped block of wood, push it between the back of the door (at the top) and the body.. if you slowly work it between the gap to force the top of the door out, giving you a gap to get your arm or an old hanger between..
depending on the locking mechanism and whether the windows are electric or not you should be able to open it..

alternatively you could pull out the rubber between the body and the side widow.. pull the metal of the door out (without damaging it) until you have a gap big enough for your hand to fit through, this way you can get to the locking mechanism and unlock it manually..

not sure if these will work on a mustang, but they do on most european cars.. hope you get your keys. breaking the window should be your last option.

This happened to me over the winter.

I started my car up, locked it with my other set of keys, lost my other set of keys (couldnt find them, lol) My car ran for 3-5 hours or so, in the mean time I tried to open the lock with a coat hanger (no luck, lol) AMA came and opened it for me after 3-5 hours. We had carpet cleaners come a little while later, I believe they found my keys in the basement (although, im not 100 percent sure) and I dont remember going down there in before I realized I lost them, haha.

Cheers

we have a bunch of car thief in here lol

I was in downtown Seattle and I asked a garage attendant what they do for lockouts and he handed me a card that advertised lockouts for $20. I was loading computers and the door slammed shut on an incline. I couldn't leave the truck to get spare keys & risk loosing the boxes, so I called the $20 lockout guy.

The coolest part is I learned how to get in without doing damage. What they do is slide a thin bladder inside the door frame and with a little hand squeeze pump they pump up the bladder until it creates a large enough gap to put a rubber wedge in to hold the spot then they move the bladder to get at least one more point to create a work space in between wedges or the bladder & a wedge. Once the gap is wide enough to get a tool in they unlock the door. For electric locks just a long tool to push the unlock button or a variety of angled tools for pulling manual locks including one with a noose that will tighten around a lock with the pull of a string.

The wedges sort of look like those used to split wood except they are hard enough rubber to hold their shape, but soft enough not to do damage to your finish.

No scratched paint outside or inside or broken expensive rubber seals and no damage to the door or hinges with this method. The larger the doors the easier they flex.

The key is the rubber wedges as you can use them without the bladder by inserting one if you have the finger strength to do what the air bladder does being careful not to over flex the door if your rocking because you don't have the strength. With two people one can flex while the other inserts the wedge to hold a gap.

I've unlocked a few cars in my day. I take a clothes hanger or some other type of sturdy thin rod and puncture down through the weather stripping of either front door and hit the unlock button. Never had problems with leaks after doing this. Before trying this, I've forked out about $75.00 to a lock smith to come unlock it.

Let's say you do it in the middle of nowhere, say a forest. Your vehicles antenna works wonders. Other than the classic go over the window and hook the lock to open it, you can just find any random wood laying around to wedge into your window. Most vehicles you can see the locking mechanism and using that antenna, you can easily push/pull it. Most cars 2001 and newer put like a white mesh of plastic around the rod which makes it easy to spot which rod is the right one. Now for heavy duty trucks, they rivet a sheet of metal over it so you have to do it the old school way.

And for the record, I used to work at a car dealership and sometimes would get locked out of the vehicle I was working on. I always used that approach as it doesn't do any damage. This isn't of course the best way, but like I said if you are in the middle of nowhere and without tools, it works wonders.

Call a taxi he will help you out

or if you have 2 hard plastic triangle and a long metal stick
last time the guy used that equipment and it worked like a charm
we were able to even get out my big set of keys that was sitting on the chair through a 1 inch space

I learnt this trick by watching someone steal a car in 20 seconds flat.........cut two wedge shapes out of a bit of wood so that they are about 4-5 inches long, an inch or so wide and the whole thing tapers to a point a bit like a slice of pizza only thinner. Pull the top corner of the door and put in a wedge, ram it in and put the other wegde in aswell to help hold it. Long peice of wire made from a coat hangar with a bend at the end like a hook, use the hook to open the car from the inside. I was astonished at how simple it was, and it got round all the security the car had built in, thieves were off in seconds, getting in took 10 secs and starting it another 10, unfortunately it took me 5 seconds to get to the phone and another 25 before i could speak to someone, they were long gone....

If you have airbags and dont mind replacing them, go round the front and give the bumper/fender a great big kick.....pop go the airbags and the doors open as well, this is a safety mech so you can escape in the event of a crash

sometimes its cheaper to replace a window than call a locksmith and pay for replacement keys/locks....

Follow this video step by step.

This guy was in the same situation..

OK ... for future reference ... I've found that keeping a copy of my door key in my wallet has helped immensely. Have only needed it twice but felt like a genius both times.
And for those of you who have locked your keys in your car while running. I haven't tried this on anything newer than an early 90's model car, but if you can completely block off the exhaust (assuming you don't have an exhaust leak) you can kill the engine and save some gas. (ex: single tailpipe is easiest, stand with back to car and plant bottom of shoe firmly against exhaust pipe)

Originally posted by GmoS719
This will only work if the unlock button is horizontal, or atleast level enough to push it with an object.

Get a flat head screw driver, stick it in the top of the door between the door and the car and pry it open just enough to fit and maneuver a car antenna in the crack doesn't have to be an antenna but I find it is easist.
Something stiff enough to push the unlock button is the main idea.
Works every time on my car and doesn't do any damage.

Best option and one which I have used many times over the years working in field service. Your car antenna or any nearby car antenna will work for this. If it won't unscrew bend it, loosen, then straighten again and remove. If you're home find a coat hanger or similar piece of stiff wire. Prying the door gap open at the rear upper corner can be done with fingers and sticks - just keep increasing the gap and wedging larger sticks in place until you have the necessary clearance. A screwdriver helps but can cause damage. Avoid damaging the weatherstrip. Bend the wire as necessary to manipulate the lock mechanism. This is easiest with power lock buttons but can work with most manual locks as well.

This might help...

Have a look at your windscreen wiper blades....If they have a thin piece of metal running down each side of them, pull out one of the pieces of metal carefully.

Go to the door and pull the handle up...you will have to get on your knees to be able to see under the handle..there should be a gap(hole) where a connecting rod - from the handle - pulls the lock actuator through the skin of the door.

Very(very) carefully slide the thin piece of metal from the wiper blade into that hole/gap and try to push the door snippet up(the internal hand actuated lock) with the thin piece of metal. You will have to try and visualise where the bottom of the snippet is and by "trial and error" you can usually push the snippet up from underneath it.

You can also try this method with coat hanger wire but be careful as the coat hanger wire will be too thick to fit into some cars.

Be patient with this method, it works well on the right car but can take a while if you haven't done it before.

NOTE .... This won't work on cars that have the internal door lock down near the window winder/switch...in that case, use a "slim jim".

On some of the suggestions on prying open the door with a wedge....be very careful as this can bend the whole door.

One of the tricks we used to use in the force was by using some nylon parcel banding from a supermarket or local store as it would not cause any damage to the car.

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned here already.

You obtain a piece around 2ft long and slip it in between the rubber of the car door and the body work. If you have a door button it is easy to manouvre it around the button and pull it up.
If no button then a longer piece can be guided around the door pull.

I will check online to see if there is a video available as it will show it better than my explanation.

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Thats a hoax and it doesn't work. I saw the same video

reply to post by jstanthrno1


i've been told by people from many races that i'm the least prejudiced person they ever met, so this is how i dealt with the problem.

i was driving my sister's car when i locked myself out downtown.

i knew i was in trouble, when i saw a puerto rican and asked for his help.
he laughed, said that's easy, he said a prayer to jesus and unlocked the car.

i thanked him and he went away smiling.

As expected, there many youtube videos on that subject:

one of my favorites:



using an inflatable bag: