Keys Locked In The Car - Funny Really.

[G54]

Well, b*gger me.

Had a flat battery this morning - must have been that elephant sitting on it.

Got it charged. Then late this afternoon I unlocked the car, lifted the bonnet catch, opened the bonnet and attached the terminals to the battery.

No problem.

Erm. Oops! Keys are in the car and by attaching the live terminal the central locking is automatically operated. So now the keys are locked in the car The door is slightly ajar but still locked. I have no means of opening it.

Sigh, m/c keys, house keys and car keys all locked in the car with no way into the house as the door is locked because I have been out to get the battery and never went into the house on my return.

No water, no coffee, no anything.

Luckily I have my phone with me. Phoned my favourite engineer. He comes out with a slide and a wire. He proceeds to try to use the slide down beside the window to unlock the car. At the same time he pushes the door fully closed !!

Anti theft means he cannot use a wire or a slide to unlock the car. And now he has fully closed the door, cannot get a long wire in to reach the handle to open it After 40 minutes he gives up trying to get the door unlocked.

Ahh, what fun.

After several phone calls he finds most shops are now shut for the evening. But seems a specialist he knows is coming to the house.

The man arrives, looks at the car and gets out some special tool. In 2 minutes he has unlocked the door. Whoopeee!!

Cost me 400 Baht - cheaper than a new window - and next time I will remember that if I connect the terminals to the battery to make sure the keys are not in the car.

Stupid idea to have the car doors lock automatically when connecting a battery.

You have been warned - for those like me who would never give this a second thought.

[joskydive]

Wow, that sounds exactly like something I would do without a second thought. Luckily, I have a spare set of keys!

[TVmonitor]

It's comforting to know that anyone with the right gadget can open just about any vehicle in Thailand in just a few seconds!?!?

[longball53098]

Depending on the car make and model and options installed it may be possible to have a dealer repair shop connect a mother computer to the car's computer and change the configuration settings for the locking system in you're car.

In the US I had my car changed to lock the doors at a specific speed and unlock the doors when the ignition was switched off.

You're model may or may not have some function similar that may allow you to change this auto lock function.

But if you think about it the manufacturer maybe is correct in locking the doors when powered is applied to the car as a possible security measure. Call it the "default" setting.

[katabeachbum]

Done the same. Took me hours. The auto lock feature can possibly be removed, check manual. Did it in a Ford Excursion 6,8 V10 by pushing several buttons similtanosly according to manual.

[G54]

Wow, that sounds exactly like something I would do without a second thought. Luckily, I have a spare set of keys!

But if the house keys are also in the car, s mine were, and the house is locked.....

It's comforting to know that anyone with the right gadget can open just about any vehicle in Thailand in just a few seconds!?!?

Same in most countries IF you have the right equipment, though many car are harder to get into. Besides, a thief can just as easily smash a window to get in, if that is their intention.

Maybe possible to change the computer settings, but easier to remember this happens and to keep the keys out of the car when playing with batteries

Would have saved me hours to have known, or for the car makers not to have had this setting in the first instance.

[Plus]

I've seen a guy open an older Corolla with nothing more than clothes hanger, one of those made from a piece of wire.

He just made a hook, slid it between rubber sealing and the glass, and pushed the lock button up from the inside. Not an easy thing to do without experience, though, and then there's alarm.

Once I had water insude my key fob, so I could open the door but couldn't disable the alarm.

The trick was to insert the key, turn on and off about ten times, and alarm died. Took less than a minute, but still wouldn't recommend this method to thieves.

[jcon]

400 THB consider yourself lucky (and don't do that again, next time there may not be a mechanic **cough, thief*** around)!

P38 Range Rover "Super Locked" : <deleted>' Fort Knox. Yes, you can get locked inside your own car without the ability to unlock anything to get out.... you gotta break OUT of the car... gotta love RRs!