Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Grand Theft Auto

Want to know my biggest fear about living alone in the middle of nowhere? It's not getting robbed, 
it's not suffering a life-threatening injury or illness, it's not spending Christmas by myself. 
It's locking my keys in my truck and having no one to call for help.
I'm paranoid about it and have multiple OCD processes in place to ensure it never ever happens.

So it was yesterday afternoon at 3:00 and I had just gotten home from the dentist. I got out of my truck, 
left one set of keys inside as I always do, then went around to the passenger side to remove my purse and mail, 
only to realize that I must have bumped the electric door lock upon my exit. The passenger side was locked, 
the driver's side was locked, and all four truck keys I own were locked inside. 
One of those keys was supposed to be in the house, but somebody forgot to put it back the last time she used it.

I cursed for a long while, then resigned myself to calling a locksmith, which I assumed would be cheaper than breaking a truck window and having to replace it. I made the call, set up an appointment for today, emailed the directions to him, and continued to beat myself up for having to waste a hundred-some dollars for the trip charge to the middle of nowhere.

I finished my work day and googled "how to break into a truck" just for the hell of it.
I watched this video, then ran out to the garage. Could it really be that easy?


Might I suggest that if you're going to lock your keys in your truck, the garage is the best place to do it.
I used a garden tool to pry open the top of the door and a long handled horse-training stick 
to reach inside and push down the electric lock.



When the horn started honking and the headlights started flashing, I started screaming – seriously!
It worked. I had unlocked the door.



The happy dance went on for several minutes, then I went into the house and called the locksmith 
to cancel the appointment, cautioning him that youtube might put him out of business.



29 comments:

  1. I hope all your problems can be solved by Youtube. You got lucky. The last time I decided to take a trip, I got all packed up and tried to close my hatchback, the latch was stuck on "lock" and wouldn't catch. I tried the key, the remote, nothing would unlock it so I could close it. I called a friend over, I used WD-40. We tried for 1 1/2 hours. I was about to take it to a dealer. Finally, I googled it and got it fixed in two minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done, you! Sort of.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I'm impressed. You are the woman! I'm also ocd about locking myself out even though I live in town.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are amazing and super self sufficient! I bet you are still smiling and happy dancing even today! Horray for you!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. i am going to watch the video as soon as i can stop laughing and get control of the mouse. my husband is howling with laugher. i read this to him and when i got to the punch line we were laughing so hard i could not read out loud... i google any and all things and almost always find an answer.. supe great post... maybe hide a 5th key in the hen house?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm having a hard time reconciling your amazing ingenuity, your life on the ranch, kicking cholla, roping snakes, not being afraid of murderers out in the middle of nowhere --- with the fact that you wrote 'purse.' :) !!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Carson, I will share with you our remedy for locking keys in a vehicle. This has worked many times for us. Have a flat key made that will only unlock the door. Drill a hole in the key the size of your license plate bolt. Place it behind the plate and screw it into the bumper. You can remove the screw with a quarter or screwdriver and HELLO,,,,there is your “Unlock Smith”.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 7MSN aka Never a Dull Moment. Glad to see you had an eventful weekend and always come out on top!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent suggestion, Diane! I also have a paranoia about locking my keys in my vehicle..checking pockets, purse contents for keys before getting out of the vehicle, but it has happened recently in spite of myself. Luckily, I was able to get our school police officer to open it with his slim jim, but in my youth, I did break out the window after having locked myself out for the umpteenth time. It's a very helpless feeling, isn't it? Good for you and I'm sure the animals enjoyed your happy dance. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well done you! A Youtube video that's even more helpful than the one I watched on how to release yourself when handcuffed with cable ties..... Not that the latter is likely, whereas the car keys scenario is!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Like Diane, I have one hidden on the outside of my truck. Hasn't Smooch ever hit the lock? My sister's dog locked me out while I was pumping gas. I didn't have an extra key hidden and I had to leave the car and dog there. I walked home, got the key, and walked back to the gas station. Luckily I didn't live 1.5 hrs. away from home.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You amaze and educate. This is what makes us all let google data mine us. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  13. you are the woman......you kick butt in all situations and I am in awe of your style. Rock on

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm impressed, again, with your skills. This reminds me of a something one of my old elementary school teachers used to say: Find a way or make a way. I've seen a video of someone using a tennis ball to open a car door. I don't know if it actually works, but the video sure made it appears as if it did. You cut an X in the ball, place the X over the key hole and hit the ball as hard as you can with your fist. The burst of air is supposed to pop the lock.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I locked myself out of my van at a gas station. I called AAA and they unlocked the door remotely. OnStar can also do this.

    ReplyDelete
  16. So I went over to the video and watched it...laughed out loud when he actually said the words 'in the middle of nowhere'! My obsession with keys is obvious to most folks who know me. My solution is to carry a set of my car and house keys on a separate key ring that I carry in my jeans pocket, ALWAYS. It goes in first, comes out last, and I never leave the house without 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm not sure if this actually works (it worked on youtube anyway), but apparently you can take a tennis ball and use a heated screwdriver to poke a hole in it and then use that to unlock your car. You put the hole against the car lock and squeeze the tennis ball to forced air into the lock and in theory the door unlocks. I have no idea if it actually works. My mom wouldn't let me try it on her car and I don't get my own car until August, but if I tried it, my judgemental neighbors would probably call the cops.
    I think the method you used looks much more fun anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  18. oh boy what a day for you. It becomes a shock right when you lose your own control over a lock out. Like Linda said. Your the women. Sent over here from Sandra to laugh with you sort of not at you. .

    ReplyDelete
  19. well, so now your biggest fear vansihed, poof, gone! congrats to you. the sad part is that this trick, posted on you tube, can also work for bad intentions

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good to know. Now you've got to remember to always keep your "gardening/break-in" tools with you at all times in the truck bed.

    ReplyDelete
  21. My mother's car has locked itself unexpectedly (at home - thankfully). So I am so paranoid that when we are out in the country, I insist that the windows be left DOWN. It's a hatchback so the hatch usually up while we are gardening.

    The youtube video is a useful technique, but it wouldn't easily work on my old Jeep ... it has a manual rocker switch on the side of the door. Not impossible, but it would be tricky. Interesting comments about the tennis ball. I wonder if it varies upon the type of lock?

    Wiring a 5th key somewhere under the housing/front bumper might be a good idea.

    M in NC

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am totally impressed! You would make an awesome car thief, too.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I came over from Sandra's blog. Don't you just love the internet and all the cool things you can learn. Glad you were able to save yourself some money by doing it yourself. If I were to lock my keys in the car I would be out of luck because I have no garage and the tools would all be locked inside the house. I wouldn't be able to get in the house because those keys are attached to the same key chain as the car key.

    ReplyDelete
  24. You can install an aftermarket keypad, keyless entry system. My husband had one installed on his truck and it works like a charm. I believe it was about $150 installed. The keypad surface mounts below the door handle and uses a 5 digit code which you assign. Google it.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sweet!

    I locked my keys in the same way one time at a gas station - bumped the electric lock button. I have a housekey hidden where I can get to it no matter what at my house, but I was out of luck with those car keys and I had to call my husband, who was at work and not amused.

    ReplyDelete
  26. An American in Tokyo7/8/14, 5:54 PM

    Woo hoo! Glad you got your car unlocked!
    However, you might not want to show the actual photo. Someone might use it to break into your truck in the future!

    ReplyDelete
  27. An American in Tokyo7/8/14, 5:55 PM

    Oh, if you have a neighbor you trust, why don't you give them an extra key?

    ReplyDelete
  28. I was going to write Diane's suggestion--we learned about it from a very charming locksmith who let us back into our car at Chimney Rock, NC. He told us to duct tape the key onto the back of the license plate, though Diane's sounds a bit more secure. By using only the flat key, without the security microchip, even if somebody were to find it and get into your truck, they couldn't start it with that key.

    ReplyDelete