Stupid automatic door locks

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve had my new car for a little over a month now. During that time, I’ve had to scrap ice and snow off the car more than a few times. Today was no exception and as I warmed the car up and scraped away at the ice, the car decided that TODAY it was going to automatically lock the doors for me. So it’s about 10 degrees outside, 7:45 in the morning, and my car is locked with the engine running with me standing outside looking in and now suddenly going to be late for work. I go to the apartment’s management office and wait till 8:00 when the maintenance guy shows up. I tell him I’ve locked my keys in the car and I need to get into my apartment.

He says, “You don’t have your apartment key?”

“No,” I say, “It’s on my keyring.”

“Where’s that?” he asks.

It’s in my CAR, you moron! I mentally scream at him. Out loud I calmly say, “It’s locked in my car.”

So he asks what apartment I live in and gets a key. Then he asks for some proof that that is the apartment I live in, since he can’t let me in there just cuz I say I live there. I show him my driver’s license, which still has my old address in it, so now he’s not sure whether to let me in or not. I tell him he can go in with me to make sure I don’t steal anything, and he agrees.

So we go into my apartment and I hunt around for my spare key, or the remote for the keyless entry. Can’t find either. Then it dawns on me where they are. The spares are in the pouch of the folder that had all my car information in it.

The folder is still in the glove box from when I paid the tax and title for the car 2 weeks ago.

I beat my head against the wall for about 5 minutes, when the maintenance guy stops me by suggesting I get a hanger from my closet. Guess what? I don’t have any wire hangers, just plastic ones I bought when I moved in.

I call work and explain why I’m running late, then commence with the head-beating-against-the-wall thing again.

Luckily, the maintenance guy was resourceful enough to whip up a wire thingy from stuff in his tool box and worked it to push the automatic door lock and get me in my car.

Thank God I have the next 3 days off. It’s been a long week.

2

Let me tell you a little story about a little girl named Silver Fire and her late best friend Pambino. One day, Silver Fire and Pambino decided to go for a little drive. On their way home, Silver Fire saw a turtle on the side of the road. Because she loves turtles so much, Silver Fire asked Pambino if they could stop and help the turtle back to the ditch. Pambino agreed and slowed the car to a stop. Because there wasn’t much traffic on this road, the two girls decided they could just hop out quickly, rescue the turtle, and return to the car. So they left the car running and rushed out to save the turtle. Except one of the girls accidently hit the “lock” button. And so the two friends were locked out of the car that was sitting in the middle of the lane. The two girls had to walk to the nearest house a few blocks away to call Pambino’s parents. They, having a spare key, came and unlocked the car. And the turtle lived happily ever after. :slight_smile:

3

Aw, Crunchy that sucks…kudos on the three days off. At least you have the keys now.

Silvefire, you’re too cute. Did the turtle ever get a name? I hereby re-dub you Silvefire, caretaker and protector of elderly turtles, she who aids all that is well and good in the universe. How’s that? :stuck_out_tongue:

4

I always carry a “slim jim” (flexible, flat piece of metal designed for unlocking cars from the outside) under my back seat in case I lock the keys in the car. :wink: :smiley:

A guy at work has a car that locks the door automatically. I always picture him picking up a nervous female hitchhiker… and a few seconds after she gets into the car CLICK!

5

My ex had a Jeep that had (I believe it was all one system) the alarm (you know, the one with a whole series of cacophonous sounds that somebody somewhere’s parrot has learned), auto door locks and remote. That system called for manny a rescue run. And of course the alarm went off far too often for anybody’s good.

But your post, Crunchy, summoned a vision of one of my most cherished images from that whole relationship: My ex, nostrils flared and smoke coming from her ears, standing next to the very noisily alarmed Jeep, madly stomping the remote into the pavement.

Thanks for the memories, pal, and Merry Christmas!

6

This is why I keep a duplicate key tucked in my coat pocket. I can go in and out and not worry about locking my car.

Robin

7

**
Nope, but I got a nickname. From that day forward, for about a month and a half, I was no longer Sarah. My “name” was Turtle.

Good enough. :slight_smile: I’ll have to fix my screen name, because I’m really picky about that. Other than that though, it sounds like a really nice sig.

8

boy, wouldn’t that just suck if you left your coat in the car?

9

Keep car key in wallet. Works best if you are a male who keeps wallet in pants pocket. For women as always I am at a loss. MTS

10

It is people like you that help make my pay check!
Thank you and merry christmas.:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Actually, you would be amazed how often that happens.
At least you had a spare key even if not in an accessable place. To many people have only one key.
I am amazed here in alabama how often people start their car to warm it up, owning one key, and having it lock on them.
My personal pet peeve is people starting their cars and NOT locking them if they are not outside scraping the windows of ice and such. In my fouler moods makes me want to walk the streets in the early morning and go joy riding in these fools cars.
I personally keep many spare keys about. One on the key ring I always use. One in the house, one in my wallet, one on a key ring in the house I can turn over to a mechanic, one tied on the underside of the car with a strong wire.
Of course, no matter how hard you try, anyone can manage to lock their keys in their car with no access to a spare.
Depending on the model car you have spare keys are inexpensive. Even some of the newer cars which have transponders. If the car is a standard key (not side milled) you can get dupilcates that will work the doors and trunk but not he ignition.
Sorry it happened to you CF. Of course, to make you feel better, I shall regal a short story to cheer you up.
Three months ago I was training a new apprentice on automotive lockouts. We arived at the sight to help this lady get into her Van. I looks at the apprentice who had never even had a chance to get a good look at our automotive tools and told him to go unlock the car. He started to whine because he never had done it and had no clue how to open one of these vehicles.
I laughed and said. it is simple. Walk over to the passanger door, reach in the rolled down window and hit the power lock on the door.
Yes, the lady had sat there 20 minutes waiting for us to come unlock her van, and she had the passanger window rolled down the whole time :slight_smile:

Osip

11

You will be a happy Osip to know that there actually are some of us here in your town who have common sense, and who warm their cars up with the spare key so they can lock the doors while they finish their breakfast. I’ve always wondered in an Osip would try to boost my car while I sit idly by in the kitchen drinking coffee. Thank you for confirming this :slight_smile:

BTW, I locked my keys in a vehicle one time, and had to call a locksmith. He took some kind of wedge thing and a hammer, and in literally 15 seconds, he was in. For this I had to pay $65.

12

There is a solution, all you need to do is get in the habit of detaching half of your keyring whenever you exit your vehicle while it is still running.

Cheap, highly effective and one visit from the locksmith pays for a lifetime supply of these doohickies.

13

If the lid covering your gas tank doesn’t lock from the inside of the car, you can get a nifty hollow gas cap with a 3 digit combination lock on it. Slows gas thieves down, and has room for a spare key on the inside.

14

Damn 65 Dollars? when was this? what time of day/evening?
That seems a bit high for Huntsville unless it was well after midnight or out in the boonies.

I hope he at least lubed ya before hand :wink:

Osip

15

At least the stupid alarm wasn’t going off in the OP!

I hate these things, they came standard with the newest car. I carry the key only and my wife always decides to alarm it, so I need her key to get anything from the car…

16

This was when I lived in NYC, so that explains the price. It was also 10 years ago, and around 2PM on a weekday, so I don’t even want to know what they charge now. Osip, you could probably make a small fortune up there!

17

Oh, err yes I possibly could. Errr did someone set you up to try to persuade me to move to NYC?
just curious.
BTW do you ever use your ICQ???

Osip

18

Damn, you figured it out! Indeed, someone has gotten to me, but made me promise not to say anything to you.
[sup]um, no, not really. Just a spooky Christmas coincidence, I guess.[/sup]

And yes, I use ICQ, I just haven’t had it on for a couple days. I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to get you to move to…uh, I mean, I’ve been working. Yeah, working from home, that’s it.

19

I’ve become so paranoid with locking my car doors that I do it instinctively, without even realizing it. I open the door, and lock it, all with one movement. More than once I’ve shut the door, only to realize my keys are still inside. My favorite was the time I got out at the carwash, shut the door, and realized I didn’t have enough quarters. Go to get one, door’s locked. So not only can I not leave, I can’t even wash my car either! The police officer that came to slimjim me outta there was having a hard time not laughing at me.