Help! Locked keys in car!
05-14-2004, 04:07 PM
#31
Rennlist Member
Originally posted by Dave
I don't use this anymore, but maybe I should. A couple decades ago I was on a canoe trip and one of the people on the trip overturned and lost their little bag that they'd stashed all their stuff in to keep it dry, including their wallet and keys. Thinking about what to do when locked out with no key or cash or even ID and I came up with a plan. I had a key made on a blank with no rubber or anything on it so it would be nice and flat, the same blank you'd put in your wallet but that wouldn't help if you lost your wallet too. Then I looked under the car for a convienent spot and settled on a flat spot under the driver's seat, I scraped off the gooey undercoating and using a self tapping screw I fastened it to the bottom of the car. I used a screw with a hex head that also had a straight slot so it could be removed with pliers or a knife blade and ran the screw right through the hole in the key. I got a can of spray on under coating and gave the spot I'd scraped off, along with the key and screw head, a light coating. With the undercoating replaced you really had to look to see that there was a key there and nobody would suspect it was there in the first place. If I were ever in a real bind I'd be able to remove the key with just about any tool that I could beg, borrow or steal (even a pull tab from a soda can would probably have worked), scrape the gunk off of the key (5-10 minutes with a finger nail) and open and start the car. I never ended up needing it and haven't bothered to do it with the 6-8 cars I've had since then, but if your prone to getting locked out this might be a good idea to try.
I don't use this anymore, but maybe I should. A couple decades ago I was on a canoe trip and one of the people on the trip overturned and lost their little bag that they'd stashed all their stuff in to keep it dry, including their wallet and keys. Thinking about what to do when locked out with no key or cash or even ID and I came up with a plan. I had a key made on a blank with no rubber or anything on it so it would be nice and flat, the same blank you'd put in your wallet but that wouldn't help if you lost your wallet too. Then I looked under the car for a convienent spot and settled on a flat spot under the driver's seat, I scraped off the gooey undercoating and using a self tapping screw I fastened it to the bottom of the car. I used a screw with a hex head that also had a straight slot so it could be removed with pliers or a knife blade and ran the screw right through the hole in the key. I got a can of spray on under coating and gave the spot I'd scraped off, along with the key and screw head, a light coating. With the undercoating replaced you really had to look to see that there was a key there and nobody would suspect it was there in the first place. If I were ever in a real bind I'd be able to remove the key with just about any tool that I could beg, borrow or steal (even a pull tab from a soda can would probably have worked), scrape the gunk off of the key (5-10 minutes with a finger nail) and open and start the car. I never ended up needing it and haven't bothered to do it with the 6-8 cars I've had since then, but if your prone to getting locked out this might be a good idea to try.
05-14-2004, 06:01 PM
#32
Race Car
Originally posted by rich k
You stole my thoughts. I have employed this trick on my daily driven probe. I stashed a key under the car along with a house key too. I have a habbit of locking myself out of anything with a lock. Scaling the wall to the second floor in the snow became a hastle so there it is. Agian embarrasing but just sharing info.
Hope you can have a laugh at my stupidty.
You stole my thoughts. I have employed this trick on my daily driven probe. I stashed a key under the car along with a house key too. I have a habbit of locking myself out of anything with a lock. Scaling the wall to the second floor in the snow became a hastle so there it is. Agian embarrasing but just sharing info.
Hope you can have a laugh at my stupidty.
05-14-2004, 06:07 PM
#33
Race Car
Originally posted by Peckster
Nice work Dave! You will never ever lock yourself out of your car now.
Nice work Dave! You will never ever lock yourself out of your car now.
This was back around '83 IIRC and the car was my '74 VW Dasher! I never locked the keys in again after I put the key there, I'll bet that thing went to the scrapyard with the key still in place. My next car I never got around to it and never needed it, since then I haven't bothered since I just don't seem to get locked out anymore. I've needed to get out the spare keys less than 10 times in the last 20 years and I've always been at home when I've needed them.
05-14-2004, 07:22 PM
#34
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Join Date: Sep 2003
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Nah, house keys get stashed at the house, my last couple houses had keys stashed in the garage. This house, I haven't gotten around to having an extra copy made for this purpose (it hasn't even been 5 years yet!) but my wife gave her parents a key in case of emergency and they're only 3 blocks away
05-14-2004, 09:06 PM
#35
A girl I used to work with came back to the client's office after lunch one day. Later, around 6 or 7 that night she was getting ready to leave to go back to her hotel and couldn't find her keys to the rental car. Another coworker on the same project helped her look around her work area then suggested they go out to the lot and make sure she hadn't left them in the car. Well, she had, and the car was still running.
She did this same thing again a couple years later.
She did this same thing again a couple years later.
