Except for that one time where you have to get the propane tank out of the trunk and you put the keys in the trunk to use both hands to get the tank out, then close the trunk…safely locking the keys inside the trunk.
With certain lines of cars this is impossible to do: the car must be locked from the outside. VW has this feature.
100% guaranteed.
When I learned to drive one of the things my dad taught me was to never, ever ever put your keys in the trunk. I still remember back in college just about having a heart attack when one of my friends set her keys down in her trunk to do something. It’s a really good way to lock them in there.
On my current car you can’t lock them in the trunk. If you put the (smart) key in the trunk and close the lid it’ll just pop right back open. There is a downside that if the key is too close to the car the same thing will happen. For example, if I have the key in my coatpocket and sort of lean on the trunk to close it of if you have the key in a purse and use the purse to close it. But it’s pretty rare for that to happen. It has to be really close.
Even today if I have to leave my keys in my car for some reason or another I’ll roll a window down just to make sure that if I do someone manage to lock the doors by accident I still have a way back in.
From the outside, but yes.
If you lock the car, with the key, from the inside, you’ll still be okay.
Remember that BlondeStar Commercial.
Almost - if you’re really determined you can still lock your key in it. If you push the “lock” button with a door other than the driver door hanging open, then set the key down in the car, and close the door, it locks. The lock button won’t lock the car with the driver door hanging open. It’s paranoia about spacing out and doing exactly this with the tailgate that led me to wondering about getting an emergency key made.
Yep, we rescued a elderly couple (I say “elderly”, but thinking back on it, maybe about my age now) in the deep desert, who had done this. They had been out there for hours, had run out of water (the ice chest was in the trunk), etc. We went in thru the back seat, and the skinny guy with long arms grabbed the keys. But if we hadn;t come along… 'their bodies were later found".
Those keypads are trivial to bypass and access the car; they’re basically a giant gaping security hole, and in terms of protecting against anything more than a casual vandal, you might as well just leave the car unlocked. Leaving your keys inside the car is like putting your deductable amount under the windshield wipers.
The classic place to hide spare keys on the car is inside the gas filler door. However, the reason that it is “classic” is because everybody knows it, so again, not very smart unless you don’t mind someone stealing the car.
Stranger
Umm, funny, but no.
I can lock my car from the inside with the fob, and then when I get out and close the doors, it’s locked still.
Are you really sure about the part I bolded? It may not come as the factory default but many of these key locking features can be programed by the owner with a few simple steps. Some obscure steps like turn the key to run, push the lock button 3 times, push the radio button, etc. There can be many programmable settings outlined in the owner’s manual.
I programed my 2002 to last door closed locking. I can get out and hit the lock button and walk away while others are still exiting, once the last door is closed it will chime and lock all doors. That wasn’t a factory setting and there are other settings I could choose. You said it is a 2013. The settings are in the computer and do not add cost to the car, or not much. You might be able to enable the feature of not locking with the keys in the ignition.
Do you have a owner’s manual? If not you might want to Google your make, year and model with the words programmable locking, or something like that.
What vintage VW are you talking about? On the old VW’s, you could circumvent that by holding up the door handle as you closed the door. Many Japanese cars worked like that too. I’m honestly not sure if it was really an intentional “feature” or just a quirk of how the door latch mechanisms were designed. In my years of driving old imports, lifting up on the handle as I closed the door just became second nature, so I’m not sure it would have stopped me from locking the keys in.
Is it an older car (say, pre 1995)? I can’t think of any car that I’ve been in that allowed anyone to exit while the doors where locked UNLESS they were designed to automatically unlock at least that door when opening it from the inside.
A car that lets you lock the doors (from the inside) and then open the door (again, from the inside) without unlocking it seems like it’s just asking for the user to lock the keys in the car at some point or another. Either in the ignition or because you took the keys out of the ignition after driving and set them down to do something, say, look at your phone or rifle through your purse. Whatever you did to distract yourself and forget that you tossed your keys on your lap or the passenger seat or in the cup holder.
Like I said, all the cars I’ve seen, if the doors are locked, the door handle either doesn’t do anything or the door unlocks when you pull on it.
OTOH, I’m aware that most cars have at least one design flaw somewhere in them, that could be yours.
No, that’s not what I said. If you open the door, push the fob to Lock, then exit, the door will lock behind you- even if you leave the keys behind. And it’s a newer car.
Got it.
I wonder how many cars force you to close all the doors before the key fob will work for just that reason.
I have two D rings, a big one that holds all my keys and clips to my belt, and a smaller one that has just my car key and clips to the big one. I also have a spare key that stays on the big d ring. I have locked both key-rings in my car, just not at the same time, yet. As a pizza boy, i jump in and out of my car a lot, in a hurry, and the two key setup has worked great for me.
Helpful tip-- climbers D rings and/or chain “quick links” are much more durable than your average cheap keyring that clips the same way. I wear out keyrings quick, but have a quick link that has lasted through years of constant use.
Excellent point; I am not positive that my car doesn’t have this feature already. I’m doubtful, but I’ll check the owner’s manual.
Without having read this whole thread, let me mention my experiences. Apologies if this is redundant.
First, depending on the kind of key, maybe you can get a duplicate that doesn’t need that huge fat plastic thing. My car has a huge fat plastic thing with some buttons that does various things – but the key itself also works just fine on its own. I have a spare copy of that, which I carry with me at all times on a separate keyring. I’ve done that for many many years, even long before the era of modern electronic keys.
But even more basic: Make a habit of carrying your key. Habits are your friends.
Time was, I used to lock my key in the car occasionally. Here is how I stopped doing that: I determined to make it a mindless unalterable habit to use the key to lock the car door when exiting the car and never to lock the door any other way.
It took me a while. For several months, I tried to remember (occasionally successfully) to NOT lock the door the “wrong” way. Every time I blew it (meaning, I didn’t lock the key in, but I did lock the door without using the key) I usually caught myself in the act. And EVERY time that happened, I required myself to re-enact the entire procedure of disembarking.
That is: I’d require myself to:
[ul][li] Unlock and open the door.[/li][li] Get back into the car and sit in the driver’s seat.[/li][li] Put the key into the ignition slot, turn it, and start the engine again.[/li][li] Repeat the ENTIRE sequence of actions of shutting the engine, disembarking, and locking the door, consciously doing it the right way this time.[/ul][/li]It didn’t take long. Within about a month, I had very solidly reprogrammed myself into ALWAYS using the key to lock the door, without ever having to even think about. It was programmed into my hindbrain. Part of the newly programmed behavior, by the way, includes having the key physically in my hand before I shut any door, when I am on the outside of that door. This includes shutting the trunk too.
I promptly enlarged the scope of this project to encompass the locking of my door also whenever I left home.
That was 30-some years ago. From that day to this, I have never once locked my car key into the car or trunk, nor locked myself out of my house or apartment. Not once.
I make it a habit never to touch the interior door lock controls. The car will lock itself once it gets going, and when I leave I always use the key fob from the outside.
On my old car that didn’t have a fob, I tried one of those magnetic things that fell off. One of the structural members underneath was hollow inside, I tied a key to some wire and put it inside, impossible to see but able to fish out since I knew where it was.
For newer cars, I second the suggestion to get a chipless key cut and find a place to hide it. If you’re worried about completely loosing your key, get a dealer key made and programmed, cut the metal off, and hide it someplace inside. If you loose your key tape the two together and you can move, a car thief finding both “half-keys” is rather unlikely.
This. I barely remember another way to lock the car. And if I ever have to momentarily leave the car with the motor running, I’m in the habit of rolling down the driver’s window.