Ok I am Stupid

paradon · Sep 22, 2010

I locked my keys in my QP. Fortunately the car is in my garage!

I called a couple of shops and nobody wants to touch trying to open the car door. Can you not just shim the door like you can on most other cars?

Obviously I could use an extra set of keys but it seems like overkill.

Anyone have a simple solution?

alvav · Sep 22, 2010

Safest (and in the end, probably cheapest) is to have dealer cut a new key. You need a second key anyways so...

paradon · Sep 22, 2010

I am going to get a second key anyways but I managed to get into my car.

Fortunately the keys were in the trunk so I gently pried open the drivers door near the top about 1/2 inch and slide in a fibreglass rod. It is a straight line from the window to the trunk release button so it took about 5 minutes to pop it.

Nice to know that with all of the security on the car, a crook can get into the trunk in all likelihood even faster than I did. Had the button been placed anywhere else on the dash it wouldn't have worked.

Maserati Blue · Sep 22, 2010

I can't stress enough the importance of having a second or third key for your car.

Essentially, you shouldn't buy a used car without all its keys! Sure, most people will answer that "if the price is right...", I guess thats one way of looking at it, but if one day someone drives off with your car, don't be surprised... anyway, the price was right

right?

veloce49 · Sep 22, 2010

A nice thing about the XLR that I own is you can't lock your keys in the car. If you leave the key, the door won't lock and the horn gives three short beeps. It's happened at least 5 times in 6 years. Seems like an easy feature to incorporate in all remotes.

Maserati Blue · Sep 22, 2010

Essentially, its hard to lock your keys in the car, at least in my GS. Since you can't lock the car from the outside if you don't have the key in your hands.

The only way you can lock your keys in the car, is if you follow this procedure:

1) Get out of the car, close all doors, windows and boot lid
2) Lock the car with the button on the key
3) Press the button that only opens the boot lid
4) Put your keys inside the boot
5) Close the boot lid

Now you've got your car locked with the keys in the boot

I don't know any other way of having your keys locked in the car, but the above procedure seems rather unlikely to happen. Especially if you only open the boot lid from the button inside the car, which means the car will always be unlocked.

mowlas · Sep 22, 2010

paradon said:
I am going to get a second key anyways but I managed to get into my car.

Fortunately the keys were in the trunk so I gently pried open the drivers door near the top about 1/2 inch and slide in a fibreglass rod. It is a straight line from the window to the trunk release button so it took about 5 minutes to pop it.

Nice to know that with all of the security on the car, a crook can get into the trunk in all likelihood even faster than I did. Had the button been placed anywhere else on the dash it wouldn't have worked.

Hi Paradon.

I am curious. If the car was locked, how were you able to pry open the driver's door? If one can do that so easily when the car is locked, that is rather worrying?

Thanks

Shak

Maserati Blue · Sep 22, 2010

It is generally acceptable that given enough time you can enter inside any car. For example, you can just brake the glass and get in, total time required: 2 seconds.

Thieves usually brake the rear window to get into a car they want to steal, so they don't cause obvious damage to the car and the broken glass doesn't get into the drivers area or the front of the cabin.

If you don't want to cause damage to the car, its know that you can just "pry loose" the rubber that fits around the door and/or window. Which should give you a few inches to work with. Maybe thats what he did?

elambo · Sep 22, 2010

veloce49 said:
A nice thing about the XLR that I own is you can't lock your keys in the car. If you leave the key, the door won't lock and the horn gives three short beeps. It's happened at least 5 times in 6 years. Seems like an easy feature to incorporate in all remotes.

I had a Benz with that feature and loved it (the more oft-used benefit was that it automatically opened the doors when I approached the car), but it's a type of always-active system which goes beyond these basic remotes. And in your XLR, it knows the difference between keys left in the car without the driver and keys left in the car inside a person's pocket, so not exactly simple. In a 6-figure car it would be appreciated, I agree.

qacollision · Sep 22, 2010

I have done the same thing in my Jag XJR before. I locked the key in the trunk and the car was locked. But in the Jag, the alarm went off when I tried to stuff a (drycleaner) hanger through the gap in the door and roof rail, and the trunk was locked for good. I had to go to the dealer and cut another key. It's funny how the Maserati alarm is usually so sensitive, because if I leave the sunroof tilted open and arm the car, the alarm goes off sometimes, but if you stick something through the door gap, the alarm was fine.

steveflyswright · Sep 22, 2010

Isn't that ironic that I just bought a second key (400 bux) and am getting it coded at the dealer tomorrow.:cheers:

paradon · Sep 22, 2010

mowlas said:
Hi Paradon.

I am curious. If the car was locked, how were you able to pry open the driver's door? If one can do that so easily when the car is locked, that is rather worrying?

Thanks

Shak

On many car doors you can pry open the top of the door about 1/2 to 1 inch using a screwdriver or wedge. That is enough of an opening to slide in a coat hanger or rod between the seal and the door frame. Pros have a little airbag that they can insert and then inflate to do the same thing.

I am guessing that the car needs to be towed to the dealer to get the key programmed if you need to get a new one and you have lost your only set.

mowlas · Sep 23, 2010

paradon said:
On many car doors you can pry open the top of the door about 1/2 to 1 inch using a screwdriver or wedge. That is enough of an opening to slide in a coat hanger or rod between the seal and the door frame. Pros have a little airbag that they can insert and then inflate to do the same thing.

I am guessing that the car needs to be towed to the dealer to get the key programmed if you need to get a new one and you have lost your only set.

Thanks. So I assume that prying the door doesn't warp or distort the upper frame permanently?

Not sure about what programming a new set entails?

Part of me is thinking that this thread is not such a great thing to have up for too long as it could give opportunists or even insurance companies a little too much voluntary information!

paradon · Sep 23, 2010

mowlas said:
Part of me is thinking that this thread is not such a great thing to have up for too long as it could give opportunists or even insurance companies a little too much voluntary information!

I thought about that before I posted my comments, but when I considered that I got the tip in the first place from the Internet, I figured that the cat was already out of the bag!

TBigs · Sep 24, 2010

programming the keys yourself

Turns out you don't need to go to the dealer and fork over a pile of cash to get your keys reprogrammed. Here's an excellent thread that Andrew found recently that describes a procedure for doing it yourself (post #8):

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2659

paradon · Sep 24, 2010

TBigs said:
Turns out you don't need to go to the dealer and fork over a pile of cash to get your keys reprogrammed. Here's an excellent thread that Andrew found recently that describes a procedure for doing it yourself (post #8):

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2659

I thought that thread was just for programming the FOB (ie door lock/unlock, alarm, trunk release). I think you still need to get the key programmed to start the car.

I know with some cars there is a sequence you can use if you have 1 good key that allows you to insert the good key in the ignition, run the sequence and then insert the spare, but I haven't seen any instructions here how to do that if possible for our cars.

Ok I am Stupid

paradon

alvav

paradon

Maserati Blue

veloce49

Maserati Blue

mowlas

Maserati Blue

elambo

qacollision

steveflyswright

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mowlas

paradon

TBigs

paradon

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