Lock your keys in the car? Unlock it with a Tennis Ball!

[felson]

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I've never tried this, but I read that if you have a spare electronic door opener (at your house, for instance), then you can call someone on your cell phone and have the person on the other hand open your car door with the spare opener by having him/her point device at the cell phone, and then you point your own cell phone at your car door. Supposedly this works will work no matter how far away the person on the other end of the line is.

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no, this won't work. cell phones use audio as an input, not electromagnetic radiation.

[Thremp]

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A lot of car doors from the early 90's are very easy to open with random car keys manipulated carefully. I have even used a metal nail file to do it a few times (including on my old '94 Saturn). Ignition is much more fickle and needs the exact cut.

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I've found this to be the case whenever I cut keys. Keys that don't work for the ignition can still open the door.

I'm having a hard time visualizing how this works for even certain cars. I've never heard of a car key that didn't need to have torsion applied once the pins were lined up. And even just a puff of air shouldn't perfectly align the pins in the first place.

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Most people usually use too much torsion when picking locks... Not too little.

[fluorescenthippo]

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A lot of car doors from the early 90's are very easy to open with random car keys manipulated carefully. I have even used a metal nail file to do it a few times (including on my old '94 Saturn). Ignition is much more fickle and needs the exact cut. I have not tried this in many years but it used to be simple, my wife taught me this and she and I impressed many people at partys who had locked their keys in their car.

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there really arent that many different cuts for car keys. or at least this is what my dad told me a few years ago when he worked for GM

[BCPVP]

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A lot of car doors from the early 90's are very easy to open with random car keys manipulated carefully. I have even used a metal nail file to do it a few times (including on my old '94 Saturn). Ignition is much more fickle and needs the exact cut.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've found this to be the case whenever I cut keys. Keys that don't work for the ignition can still open the door.

I'm having a hard time visualizing how this works for even certain cars. I've never heard of a car key that didn't need to have torsion applied once the pins were lined up. And even just a puff of air shouldn't perfectly align the pins in the first place.

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Most people usually use too much torsion when picking locks... Not too little.

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I'm talking about the twisting of the key when you unlock the lock, not the tension you put on whatever you're using to turn the lock if you're picking it. Even when picking, you still need to turn the lock once you've engaged all the pins.

[MrX]

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A lot of car doors from the early 90's are very easy to open with random car keys manipulated carefully. I have even used a metal nail file to do it a few times (including on my old '94 Saturn). Ignition is much more fickle and needs the exact cut.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've found this to be the case whenever I cut keys. Keys that don't work for the ignition can still open the door.

I'm having a hard time visualizing how this works for even certain cars. I've never heard of a car key that didn't need to have torsion applied once the pins were lined up. And even just a puff of air shouldn't perfectly align the pins in the first place.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most people usually use too much torsion when picking locks... Not too little.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm talking about the twisting of the key when you unlock the lock, not the tension you put on whatever you're using to turn the lock if you're picking it. Even when picking, you still need to turn the lock once you've engaged all the pins.

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Still seems amazing to me that I could turn the door lock with a metal nail file. To me it seemed like I was putting an 'uncut' key in the door. Took less than 30 seconds of fiddling with it gently untl it turned.