Locksmith messed up my door.
Had the unfortunate problem of leaving my toad's ignition key on while towing it, and when I arrived at the park I was hosting at, the car battery was so dead, I could not use my fob to unlock it. Cal...
Forum Discussion
TinyoneRV wrote:
How is an airbag be used to pry open a door without doing damage to something? I seems somethings gotta give; the lock, the door?
Using the "airbag wedge" is common now.
In the past everyone used a "SlimJim", a thin flexible metal piece that slid down through the doors weather stripping to unlock a door. Commonly, the weather stripping would be damaged. Many times, the locking mechanisms inside the door would be damaged.
The airbag wedge was developed for two reasons: 1. To avoid the damage done by SlimJims, and 2. the newer, electronic locks do not have the mechanical system that the SlimJim is designed to unlock.
YES, an airbag wedge CAN damage a door. So can an old fashioned SlimJim. The idea is to force the top of the door away from the car frame to give enough room to slide a long rod in to either hit the unlock door button, to manually lift or push the door lock itself, and more commonly to actually open the door by pulling the inside door handle. You try to avoid forcing the door too much, but some vehicles have very thick weather stripping that will block the rod, and so the door has to be forced further away from the frame.
I have done a bunch of these "lockouts" in the fire department... we are called if a kid is locked in a car, or there is another immediate hazard. Otherwise AAA, towing service, or locksmith is called. Our local Police Dept has stopped unlocking cars due to risk of lawsuits.
If you need to get into a locked car, 3 basic things can be done: get a spare key, use an airbag wedge or SlimJim which might damage the door, or break windows.
