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[dave the builder]

....  ..... This is the minimum that anyone who only has one key for their car should do, as it means you can open the doors and release the steering lock.  ....

This is what I kept telling my daughter as her Siecento only had a single working key. Another key would have meant getting one from Fiat at a cost of around £200 & it wasn't worth spending that kind of money on a Fiat Shed. However when she locked her keys in the boot ..... 

you used a brick, some polythene and gaffer tape 

[Andy B]

....  ..... This is the minimum that anyone who only has one key for their car should do, as it means you can open the doors and release the steering lock.  ....

This is what I kept telling my daughter as her Siecento only had a single working key. Another key would have meant getting one from Fiat at a cost of around £200 & it wasn't worth spending that kind of money on a Fiat Shed. However when she locked her keys in the boot ..... 

you used a brick, some polythene and gaffer tape 

the first time .... a bloke from Green Flag spent an hour or so failing to pry the top of the door until he realised that the back windows hinged and then unscrewed the fastener to get in the car.
the second time .....  a very short time later, I got into the car in about 60 seconds via the Webasto type full sun roof. Ironically the keys were NOT in the boot this time, she'd actually left them in the gym, so she sat in the car park for an hour waiting for me to come from work for nothing. 

[Nick W]

Most lockouts are caused by stupidity on the part of the keyholder. Most of them. It was depressingly common to discover that the spare key to the car was on the same keyring as the one in use. As was every other key the idiot had ever owned. That made fishing them back out through a small gap next to impossible. Which was my fault apparently


So, in order:


Get a spare key, even if it won't reset the alarm/immobiliser
Keep it somewhere accessible, even if that means phoning someone to bring it to you.
Always lock the car using the key in your hand!!!!
Then put it in your pocket - a bag can be lost or stolen. If you lose your trousers then you shouldn't be allowed out on your own.
When the bloke turns up to help, and goes through the list of the best options, don't get upset when he refuses to touch the car until you've signed a damage disclaimer. And a lot of cars are very difficult to break into - we insisted that manufacturers make them so


And for the sake of your lock barrel, ditch all the unnecessary junk on your key ring

[dave the builder]

Very good advice Nick 

[Andy B]

Most lockouts are caused by stupidity on the part of the keyholder. ....

That would be me. Locking myself out of my car isn't something I've done very often, but the last time was locking myself out of my Smart Roadster. I was trying to sort its water tight integrity and popped the hatch to look for water .... in doing so I'd put my keys down & then just shut the tailgate 

[TheBoy]

Keys? Keys are so yesterday.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong with keyless entry?

[TheBoy]

Most lockouts are caused by stupidity on the part of the keyholder. ....

That would be me. Locking myself out of my car isn't something I've done very often, but the last time was locking myself out of my Smart Roadster. I was trying to sort its water tight integrity and popped the hatch to look for water .... in doing so I'd put my keys down & then just shut the tailgate 

I did that shortly after getting the Jag (though was at home, and do have a 2nd set).  To my complete surprise, as soon as the boot closed, it immediately re-opened, as it was able to detect the keys were in the boot

[Nick W]

Most lockouts are caused by stupidity on the part of the keyholder. ....

That would be me. Locking myself out of my car isn't something I've done very often, but the last time was locking myself out of my Smart Roadster. I was trying to sort its water tight integrity and popped the hatch to look for water .... in doing so I'd put my keys down & then just shut the tailgate 

I did that shortly after getting the Jag (though was at home, and do have a 2nd set).  To my complete surprise, as soon as the boot closed, it immediately re-opened, as it was able to detect the keys were in the boot

If you make something idiotproof, someone will find a better idiot.......


All that extra engineering to prevent a don't be so stupid as to leave your keys in the car conversation.

[TheBoy]

If you make something idiotproof, someone will find a better idiot.......

A motto of any old skool software engineer. Sadly ignored since Agile was invented

[aaronjb]

If you make something idiotproof, someone will find a better idiot.......

A motto of any old skool software engineer. Sadly ignored since Agile ship-whatever-compiles-and-fix-it-later was invented

Fixed that for you.

[TheBoy]

If you make something idiotproof, someone will find a better idiot.......

A motto of any old skool software engineer. Sadly ignored since Agile ship-whatever-compiles-and-fix-it-later was invented

Fixed that for you.

I thought that was what Agile stood for

[Andy B]

....
If you make something idiotproof, someone will find a better idiot.......

 ....

That's so true of almost any operator in almost any factory.