This morning I was unable to unlock my Jeep Grand Cherokee; her transponder keys are both shot and I’ve been opening it the old-fashioned way (key in door handle) for a few months. Today the key wouldn’t pop the lock up, so I called a mobile locksmith service.
The Jeep was, naturally, parked behind our other cars in our narrow driveway.
I haven’t had a car lockout in 30 years. When it happened then I was a brokeass young’un and had to break a window because I couldn’t jimmy it via the old twisted hanger standby. I was fully expecting my guy today to use the modern equivalent of a slim jim.
Anyway, the locksmith inserted two things in the door frame that looked a lot like blood pressure cuffs and pumped them until the door was gapped enough to insert something like a miniature plumbing snake with a grabber claw at the end. He positioned the claw then used a joystick-y control to close the claw on the locky thing and pop it up. Took 30 seconds and the $100 bill was* almost* worth getting to see this technique.
Maybe I’m easily amused, but I thought this was ingenious!
But in the long run, it’s not as cheap as the locksmith’s $100. Provided you learn your lesson after the first time.
Use license plate bolts with a flat-blade screw head, and keep a spare key hung on a wire behind the license plate. You can get access to it with a dime or any suitable piece of flat metal. I’ve been saved by that twice.
But in the long run, it’s not as cheap as the locksmith’s $100. Provided you learn your lesson after the first time.
Use license late bolts with a flat-blade screw head, and keep a spare key hung on a wire behind the license plate. You can get access to it with a dime or any suitable piece of flat metal.
A friend and I locked the keys in a rental car at Big Bend NP, over a hndred miles from the nearest locksmith, who is in Odessa. A park ranger there has a tool, and performs lockout service gratis for park visitors. Often.
It uses 3G cellular network. It’s great! Works the remote start as well. So as long as I have an internet connection and my car is parked somewhere with a cell signal, I can start it, stop it, lock it, or unlock it. Being able to start it up and get it warm before I even leave the store is wonderful. I don’t know how we ever lived without it. Or without heated steering wheels! What kind of savage civilization did we have in 2007!?
When my passenger door is closed, the top of the door frame sits about 1/4" proud in comparison to the car body. This is because an overzealous locksmith bent the top of the frame of the door outward using the inflatable sleeve. This is the same locksmith that didn’t realize that that much outward pressure on a car door will totally bind the latch mechanism, preventing the door from opening. He was yanking the shit out of the inside handle, incredulous that the handle wouldn’t open. I was pissed.
That’s too bad that you have to replace the whole thing. I’ve always had the kind that can be opened and the battery inside replaced. I think last time I took it to a Batteries Plus and they took it apart and replaced the battery for me.
After my wife and kids went through a spate of locking keys in vehicles I purchased a good lockout kit. It includes a wedge, inflatable cuff, a plastic strap and loop, and various rod attachments that can be screwed together in multiple configurations. It cost less than one locksmith bill. It stays in my garage because Murphy’s law says that, if stored in a vehicle it will be that vehicle that gets locked out.
In the 3 years since I’ve bought it, no family has locked keys in their car. I have only used it to practice. I consider it an inexpensive insurance policy - as long as I have it and can get to it nothing will happen!
I think I could have made money when I was locked out of my car.
Technically, I wasn’t locked out. Both doors were just frozen shut and I couldn’t get a good enough grasp on either door handle to pull them open. I knew that if I could get inside I could a better grip, or even start the car and warm it up enough to open a door. I was able to open the trunk, and I had left the rear seats folded down.
If that was worth $100, how much would you have paid to watch me drag my aged body through the trunk, into the back seat, between the front seats, and shove the driver’s-side door open?
I don’t know what your particular fob looks like, but for my last car, a Mazda, I was able to just buy the plastic shell with the buttons on eBay and just replace that part (along with the batteries) when mine went kaput.
Hmmm, I’ll look into this. I bought a “universal programmable” transponder for the BMW that didn’t work, but it’s probably easier to find something for domestic cars.
When my two fobs fell apart(2004 Honda Accord), I bought two fobs off ebay–price $16 dlvd. The key blank in each needs to be cut by a locksmith and the chip inside the old one transferred to the new one. My local locksmith charged me about $35 each to cut the keys and transfer the chip. Total price–about $43/new fob.
