Breaking into the G8 after you lock keys in trunk

[nofattys]

Yes, I did it, and I cursed myself through the entire 5+ hour ordeal. Basically here is a "what not to do".


Initially I started with a call to On-Star and a fake story about me having a baby in my hands, 100 degree weather and being stuck in a parking lot. On-Star didnt give a shit, which is why I never subscribed to the service in the first place and they were no help, so I turned to my trust old pal, the metal slim jim, attempting to go through the window seam and popping open the front lock, 35 minutes of that had me sweating like a whore in church. No luck

Then I had a neighbor who worked for AAA come over with a shim and airbag device, the shim helped pop over the door a bit with the airbag going between the frame of the car and the door frame, creating a 1 inch gap. We used a heavy steel 4 foot wire in an attempt to open the door. First we started with the door handle, which we were able to pull all the way open, but GM saw fit not to include an unlock mechanism in this car, so that didnt work. Since the door button needs to be pushed in to unlock, that was a no go. More cursing ensued.

My second attempt was from the drivers side window to get the wire to hit the unlock button in the center console. With the force of God and Zeus, I couldnt for the life of me get the button depressed far enough to trigger an unlock. I actually was pressing down so hard on it, that i broke the plastic surround, but the trigger refused to go. The neighbors had to shield their children's ears with earmuffs due to my brazen and often overtly loud attempts at simply cursing the button to trigger.

My third attempt was brilliant. I went in through the passenger side window, manipulated the wire to open the glove box, and was able to depress the trunk release button in under three minutes. Once again, the brilliant anti-theft engineers at GM/ Holden thwarted my master plans but disengaging the truck release button when the car is locked. That was a mood killing moment, by this point, my shirt was soaked all the way through and my balls were stuck to my leg, it really was 100+ degrees outside.

My 4th attempt was through the passenger side window, attempting to possibly hit the unlock button from this side. I will report that with the slightest possible touch, the lock button engages, but again with the power of Satan and his evil minions called forth, the unlock button wouldnt work.

Finally, after 4.5 hours, the hammer came out to the back window. I smashed that fucking thing not once, not twice, not even three times, but 6, yes 6 times before the window finally shattered. My GF and three of our neighbors came outside because it sounded like bombs were going off, thats how hard I was hitting the damn thing.

Now what is the true moral of the story?! There are three. 1st, buy an extra set of keys if you lose one like i did. 2nd, dont remember that you could go to the dealer to by a key to unlock the door after you smash the window like I did. Now instead of buying a 25 dollar key, I have to buy a 250 window and pay 50 bucks to have it re-tinted. three, you cant subscribe to On-Star without pushing that stupid button on the rear view mirror, so if you are procrastinating, just do it before someone dumb happens, you me as an example please if you have to.

Feel feel to roast me as you see fit, I deserve it!

['02 ws6]

Wow...that's quite an event you had. Sorry you had to result in bashing your window....I cannot say I wouldn't have done the same thing after 4.5 hrs. Now we all know of the alternatives I guess lol. I thought unlocking car was part of the Roadside Assistance program in your warranty though? Maybe not, I know it covers flats.

[jzpiano]

:charlie3: Sorry to laugh at your trouble, but this is LOL

[MyGrayG8]

Whoops. Well, it could have been worse. Knowing my luck, I would have been cut by the broken glass.

[wreckwriter]

What a bummer! Really nicely told though!

[nofattys]

The unlock thing was part of roadside program, but god knows if I couldnt do it, he wouldnt have been able to. Im not the swiftest when it comes to my keys, and this wasnt my first rodeo, normally I am quite proficient, but this bull didnt want to be tamed. Lesson learned.

Oh and to top it all off, the window wont be in till Monday, and we had a torrential down pour here in NY for about 25 minutes, 3 inches of rain. Im scared to go outside and check if my plastic bag taped to the window held up.

[Devilish34]

I just put on my loller skates

[Punisher]

that sux man...but at least we know how much trouble someone would have to go through to get into our cars...

[peterg22000]

our cars came with a spare (non flip) key... where was that key during this whole event?

[nofattys]

I bought the car pre-owned, only came with the flip key. I bought a second flip key, only to have it lost, and failed to buy another.

Well I lucked out, before I paid 250 for a new window from a glass company, I looked on pace and gmpartsdirect, and got the window for 46 bucks plus shipping. just trying to find the console now, and she will be as good as new in no time

[Panzer Leader]

On Star Basic Package should open it. Even so they could have remotely opened the door for you. I won't make any cheap jokes. Did it several times including busting out the glass. (Yes I was that pissed)

[silentW]

nofattys,
After a 5 minute survey of the situation, I would have called the locksmith. For about $50, and maybe an hour wait, you would have been back in the saddle again. By the way, you should have received a couple of OnStar decals with their phone number, to place on the driver and passenger window just for such an emergency.

~silentW
Upper Marlboro MD

[nofattys]

I called on-star, because the unit hasnt been activated since I bought the car, they disable it, and it cannot or they would not enable it over the phone even though i offered to pay. I should have called the locksmith, but when I did that with my BMW (like I said, this wasnt my first time), the guy broke the door and it cost me 600 bucks. Now that I found the window for 52 dollars shipped, Im not so upset anymore, I can install it myself, the new lock mechanism for the console is 100 bucks though :(

[polo]

Wow, I just walked in the door after being on vacation all week, and this was the first thread I looked at. Holy shit that was funny! Sorry you had to go through that, but man it made me laugh! I don't know if I'd be able to bust my own window, but after 4.5 hours I'm sure I'd be so pissed off that I wouldn't think twice about it. I'm glad you found a cheap replacement!

[-Ray-]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, but you told it so well I read it all the way through.
I had the same problem once. I called the insurance company and they said I didn't have lock out insurance. I could add it for $25. I added it while I was on the phone with them, and they called a lock out service for me. It took about 45 minutes to be on my way.
However, I would have had some satisfaction at breaking the window. I hope you did.

[nofattys]

Well, I have been slowly getting my vehicle the way I want it, if it had been a month or two ago, I wouldnt have cared, but this month I have had the worse luck with the car, first some old lady backed up into me and thrashed my rear bumper, and now this. The saving grace about the bumper is it had a couple of scrapes from my gf putting the kids bikes in the trunk, and the body shop is painting my GXP diffuser for free when they replace my bumper, so I killed two birds with one stone and it didnt cost me a penny.

I also just bought a new window switch since i wrecked the old one, that was 30 bucks instead of a hundred on ebay, now all i need is a shift cover and i am set. With my post, I like to poke fun at myself for being an idiot, and hopefully, i save someone else the trouble, time and heartache of attempting the same things I did, none of which worked.

Ray, when you called the lockout service, how did he end up getting into the car?

[-Ray-]

Slim jim, but it wasn't my G8. I'm not dumb enough to lock my keys in the car. j/k :)

[travis gore]

no need to roast I think you have been thru enough. that really sucks. Nice strory telling skills btw.

[kevinm0131]

That really sucks, but as many others have said, nicely told story. Perhaps you should become a writer. (That is if you are not already one)
Kevin

[SRG963]

Sorry to hear about this, although well told.

[nofattys]

Thank you for the compliments! I am going to school to be an english major, but I am going to law school after that.

and Ray, I wish I wasnt stupid enough to have locked my keys in my car haha. I feel like such an idiot, but it is what it is.

[Panzer Leader]

nofattys,
After a 5 minute survey of the situation, I would have called the locksmith. For about $50, and maybe an hour wait, you would have been back in the saddle again. By the way, you should have received a couple of OnStar decals with their phone number, to place on the driver and passenger window just for such an emergency.

~silentW
Upper Marlboro MD

Wow thats news to me about the decals. I will check with the dealer tomorrow.

[Panzer Leader]

Thank you for the compliments! I am going to school to be an english major, but I am going to law school after that.

and Ray, I wish I wasnt stupid enough to have locked my keys in my car haha. I feel like such an idiot, but it is what it is.

You are going to be a Lawyer? All bets are off, time to roast him like a pig at one of Georges Barbeques! I smell bacon burning!

[barr1340]

Sorry to hear that. My wife says part of the deal for me to have the car is to have onstar she says I drive too fast hmmmm. I say naw not yet anyway!

[GT-610]

now that was a great story...it happened to me with two different cars...one i got open myself,the other i gave up and had my wife drive to me with keys.neither of those worked for you as we all know and I would have probably done the same thing out of anger and frustration...for next time and/or anyone else in the same situation,you CAN break the widow for free-just call your insurance co. and say its cracked...whoopie,within 2 days safelight will be swappin it for ya! happened to my friend a ways back...

and holy shit youre not kidding about the temps OR the rain here on the island(I'm in patchogue)

[Mav]

Ive had OnStar unlock my car after leaving the keys in the trunk. Dont know why you had issues having them do it...

[GT-610]

because if you read this post he stated he did not have a subscription.same happened to me and they wouldnt open it without me pressing the stupid button!

[Mav]

I didnt have one at the time either, but I told them Id sign up for a year if they did it. ha!

[nofattys]

You are going to be a Lawyer? All bets are off, time to roast him like a pig at one of Georges Barbeques! I smell bacon burning!

LoL, I am going to be an Elder Law Attorney, I hope to advocate for disabled people in order to save their money from the government stealing it to provide health benefits should they need it.

[stryker g8gt]

Sorry about the crap you had to go through to get back in... damn........ If no one has had to break a side car window in a late model car do not think it is just a whack. I had to get to a guy that had a heart attack in his car, and he was locked in.... I hit the rear window 4 times with a tire iron before it broke....

[r08g8]

Good story like many people have already said. I worked out of town for a week. When I got home I went to get into my car and I could not find the keys to save my life. Went and looked in the window and there they were sitting in the driver seat I was so pissed. The first thing I thought was call OnStar to unlock my car. Since it had been parked for a week (at my apartments) with no key cycles they were unable to unlock the car. OnStar did however call a locksmith for me and got into my car but it was a pain it the ass.

[zepcom]

So when you say you 'went in through the passenger window' does that mean you left it down a little bit? (otherwise how would you have gotten to the glove box, right?)

I wonder what luck you would have had if you tried to push down the rear seat midsection then hook the glow-in-the-dark pull-handle with that wire contraption that you made? I know, I know, "hindsight".

You are very gifted at telling a funny story though, and it's awesome that you got such a great deal on the replacement window. Make sure you tear apart the rear seats to get all the pieces of glass out, don't want those shifting over time and ripping your seats!

--zepcom

[texn884]

This story made me laugh for sure. I feel for you my friend. You have to wonder how the bad guys get into cars so easy, oh ya that is only on TV and they use a slim jim and reach under the dash and pull two wires down and put them together and away they go with your car.

4.5 hours of sweat and shit, I think knowing my temper I would of pulled out my 1911 and shot the fricking window and then another 7 rounds just because. Then I would of felt better until I would of seen the mess I made and said Self, why did I just do that?

I think now you know the moral of the story, have a extra set of keys and have a OnStar subscription and have a cell phone with you with some cash in your back pocket to call a cab and then come back the next morning and your car will be gone with now glass on the ground and that will make you even more PISSED OFF wondering how the f-ck they got in with out breaking a window?

[polo]

The thing I love about this the most is that this thread is in the "DIY projects" sub-forum.

"How to get your keys out of a locked car... break the damn window"

[r33pwrd]

next time call the dealership and have them cut you a key ;) been there done that... about 25 bucks and I even had a spare key when it was all done :)

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

As far as I know the dealer needs the registration to cut a key, and mine is inside my car so that wouldn't do me any good. I think most people keep in their car, so the ones that do would also be SOL.

[r33pwrd]

As far as I know the dealer needs the registration to cut a key, and mine is inside my car so that wouldn't do me any good. I think most people keep in their car, so the ones that do would also be SOL.

all they NEED is the vin... My buddy locked his key in his tahoe and I took him to the dealership and we explained we could not get the registration do to it being locked in the car. He gave him a copy of his license and he cut the key for us.

[CanadianEh]

I locked my keys in the trunk last year... I was taking a snowmobile engine out and set my keys down in the trunk to pick it up, completely forgot and closed it :facepalm2:

I called onstar and they unlocked it for me and I was on my way within 2 or 3 minutes

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

all they NEED is the vin... My buddy locked his key in his tahoe and I took him to the dealership and we explained we could not get the registration do to it being locked in the car. He gave him a copy of his license and he cut the key for us.
Wow that's not very safe, someone could walk in the dealership and give them your VIV, then steal your car. All they have to do is look on the dash through the windshield and write it down.

[BW G8GT]

Wow that's not very safe, someone could walk in the dealership and give them your VIV, then steal your car. All they have to do is look on the dash through the windshield and write it down.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. That doesn't sound like a good practice for a dealership.

[polo]

Wow that's not very safe, someone could walk in the dealership and give them your VIV, then steal your car. All they have to do is look on the dash through the windshield and write it down.

While I agree that it could be a risky thing for the dealership to do, they did at least look at the guy's drivers license to make sure that he was the owner of the car. I would rather a dealership check someone's license than check their registration. Anyone could break into my car and steal my registration and take it to the dealership and have a key made, but a license has the owner's name and picture. Now if they require that you have registration and a license in order to get a key made, that's the safest thing. Only requiring a registration is just more risky than only requiring a license.

[BW G8GT]

While I agree that it could be a risky thing for the dealership to do, they did at least look at the guy's drivers license to make sure that he was the owner of the car. I would rather a dealership check someone's license than check their registration. Anyone could break into my car and steal my registration and take it to the dealership and have a key made, but a license has the owner's name and picture. Now if they require that you have registration and a license in order to get a key made, that's the safest thing. Only requiring a registration is just more risky than only requiring a license.

If the dealership is able to verify through a license that person requesting key purchased the car, I'd feel that should be ok. If person just shows up with license in hand to verify who he is, and not show he initially purchased the car, that's different.

[nofattys]

When I went to pick up the window, I actually asked the deal about the key. They arent able to cut G8 keys because they are laser cut, rather than machine cut, it would have taken three days to get the new key, all the while my car was blocking the entrance to the driveway. All in all it cost me 110 bucks with the window, and to replace the window switch and console that i marked up with the steel wire.

Someone asked if I left the window open to get inside the glovebox, and thats a big negative. I used a small airbag to pry the door frame off the car and used the wire to open the glove box.

Another hint, if you ever do have a broken window, use a leaf blower in one side of the door, and put a shop vac on the other side, turn both on at the same time and the blower will force every piece of glass into to the shop vac in about 15 seconds.

[zepcom]

Another hint, if you ever do have a broken window, use a leaf blower in one side of the door, and put a shop vac on the other side, turn both on at the same time and the blower will force every piece of glass into to the shop vac in about 15 seconds.

Awesome tip. I had the rear window smashed out of my previous car, a Grand Prix, due to a tree limb, and even after maybe 5-6 teardowns of the rear seat and trunk areas and vaccuming, I still was finding random shards of glass several months later. Those windows sure do make a mess when they 'explode' :shutup:

Good tip though.

[pokey]

Glad to hear you got everything taken care of. Interesting story, here's one in return.

Those windows ARE hard to break. One New Years Eve I locked my keys in my car on purpose to stop my buddy from pressuring me into driving him home. Keys locked in car argument over, right? (we were drinking and I told everyone I would drive them to the bar and we would walk or take a cab home) I wasn't worried about the keys because I had an extra set....well like a dumbass I forgot my extra key was in my apartment, which was locked and the apartment key of course was locked in my car.

Here comes the funny part, I was hooking up with a girl that night and wanted to get into my apartment for good reason. Well my car was a beater POS Festiva so I didn't care at the time about the windows. I found a brick and proceeded to try and break the side window ( I couldn't ) Eventually I went to the hatch / back window. This one broke. Well....being I was a little (ALOT) drunk ...when I went to climb through the broken window to get my apartment key I hit the bridge of my nose on the broken glass. The next morning the nurse at the hospital thought that was one of the funniest stories he heard in a long time as I was being prepped for stiches. Lucky for me it was a clean cut so it healed with not much more than a funny story left behind.

So, moral of my story. If you lock your keys in your car on purpose make sure you remove your house / apartment key, o... and duck when you are climbing through broken windows!

[lowstrife]

Yeah, that's why we have 3-4 sets of keys for all the cars we own. One for each person, then a spare in the house.

And yeah, windows are a bitch to break!

aiSTAcYl0_w

[dllb]

Side windows aren't hard to break if you know how.

They can take broad pressure, like from the face of a hammer. But they can't take point pressure. Next time take an ice pick or center punch and tap the back lightly with a hammer.

Will explode in tiny pieces easy.

Watch how easy this little sharp point tool busts windows out.

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[Mav]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. That doesn't sound like a good practice for a dealership.

It was also illegal for them to do it. When I was a rep w/ GM we had the FBI bust open dealership doors for doing this (on a frequent basis). tsk. tsk.

[Mier]

I'm not going to say anything less I jinx myself. I will say that I made changes to the security settings and enforced habits to make sure I minimize my chances of locking my keys in the car. I also turned on my onstar and it's possible to haggle with them to get a low price.

[CZAR0806]

this is the only reason I've kept my onstar subscription....

[chuckie669]

I feel bad for laughing at your story. At least you were able to get the window cheap to fix. My luck, I would've gotten pissed off and tried to break the window only to miss and hit the center pillar or something.

[Mlozano]

Just thought i'd let you guys that don't already know, but the onstar lock/unlock only works for about 1 hour after the car is turned off. It's fine if you notice right away.

On another note, i would have been impressed if you maneuvered the rod to push the onstar button, then screamed from outside through the activation process.

[KEV-O]

Wow thats news to me about the decals. I will check with the dealer tomorrow.

some cars came with th decals already on the rear little window, where as others, like me they came in the onstar pouch thingy along with a cd

[KEV-O]

Just thought i'd let you guys that don't already know, but the onstar lock/unlock only works for about 1 hour after the car is turned off. It's fine if you notice right away.

On another note, i would have been impressed if you maneuvered the rod to push the onstar button, then screamed from outside through the activation process.


ahaha, that would have been classic

[brlepore]

Not sure if this was already posted, but I found this out the hard way in my 04 joe gibbs silverado. The reason the button wouldn't work is because there had to be enough weight in the front seat to trip the sensor, the same way your passenger side airbag wont engage without enough weight.

[texn884]

Amazing how much technology they put into unlocking the doors.

[FrolferG8]

I had this happen to me just the other day, I was leaving the store with a hand full of bags, popped the trunk tossed the bags in and closed the trunk. That is when the light bulb went off " Shit my keys were in that bag!" No worries though I have AAA, so i thought. i call AAA and they send someone out. Luckily i left the sunroof tilted open, so he tried to use is steel rod to depress the unlock button no luck, then tried to open the glove box and depress the trunk button, as mentioned before no luck. After about an hour or so with AAA there he said "I'm going to have to call you a lock smith but don't worry your a gold member AAA will pay for it.

So after waiting an hour and half or so the locksmith pulled up. the first words out of his mouth were "O that's a G8? i cant get into that, it has a laser cut key!" and he was gone with in minutes! DAMN AAA what do i pay for???? after he left i called my buddy and had him bring him slim Jim and the rest of his needed tooling. After he got there he look at it for 15 sec and said "did any one try to just hit the lock itself on the door? with his quick thinking he was in my car in about 45 sec, took him one try to figure out that you have to push these locks forward to unlock and not back like on most cars. so for future reference if you can get something on the lock itself do that instead of breaking the window...sorry i had to throw it out there

[BlackGT5]

Just use Onstar MyLink. Oh wait....:spank:

[texn884]

If we use our noodles we can do anything and this proves it. Just remember the G8 is break in proof.

[richmond2000]

on my G8 if you remote lock it the centre unlock button does NOT work so it was NOT an issue of not pushing hard enough GM out smarted your attempt

[kendall.alston]

hahaha pure motivation!

[imajeenyas]

I locked myself out, I got in. Find a rock.

[Crazy Paul]

Awesome.
So every criminal with internet access now knows how to break into a G8 and take whatever isn't bolted down.
At least remove the pictures of the modified tool so it requires them to think about it.

[-Ray-]

Fixed

[Crazy Paul]

Fixed
Thanks Ray.
Common Sense isn't always as common as the name may suggest.

[imajeenyas]

Thanks guys....its been a long week of child custody battles, no sleep, ptsd flare ups and crap like the lockout. I would like to believe it was more of a brain dead moment than lack of common sense.
You may want to remove the entire thread. Its where my ideas came from.

[STL_G8GT]

Thanks guys....its been a long week of child custody battles, no sleep, ptsd flare ups and crap like the lockout. I would like to believe it was more of a brain dead moment than lack of common sense.
You may want to remove the entire thread. Its where my ideas came from.

:) keep your head up

[imajeenyas]

Thanks. We already had to make one trip to another state to find and retrieve them.
Sorry again for posting the pics..