Locked out of car

[philipharmes]

My wife is 200 miles from home at a scout camp.
Our niece went to the boot to get something & has somehow managed to leave the key inside the boot & lock it at the same time.:aargh4:
The car only came with one key when bought.
The RAC spent 2 hours this morning trying to break in but couldn't.
I will try VW in the morning to see if they can produce a new key from the VIN.
My niece thinks she left the key on the right side of the boot floor, so I was thinking it might be possible to break the right rear light cluster & get my hand in.
Does anyone know if there would be enough room once all the plastic was removed to do that.
Or if anyone has any other ideas it would be appreciated.
Otherwise it will be a hammer to the glass job.
Thanks.

[zollaf]

i have got the keys out of a passat boot in that way before. i used a battery drill to remove the lens, then the backing, followed by the help of a big hammer. a complete rear light cluster is a lot cheaper and easier to fit than any glass. there is some plastic in the way, but thats easily pushed out.

[philipharmes]

Nice to know it has worked for someone else.
I was going to take a battery drill, hacksaw, pliers, small mirror & torch, plus of course a replacement lens.
Did you manage to avoid damaging the bulb holder unit.
Were you able to get your hand inside the boot or did you need a pickup tool.
I was thinking perhaps an old bowden cable outer with a magnet attached.

[pete99]

Nice to know it has worked for someone else.
I was going to take a battery drill, hacksaw, pliers, small mirror & torch, plus of course a replacement lens.
Did you manage to avoid damaging the bulb holder unit.
Were you able to get your hand inside the boot or did you need a pickup tool.
I was thinking perhaps an old bowden cable outer with a magnet attached.

Pick up tool ?. DIY places have those telescopic -magnetic pick up things . Mine even has a light at the end (little LED). Extends about 6/700 mm.
Got mine from Stax trade centres--but other places will have them .

[Max-Power]

I had this problem a few years ago doing the same thing. I had to signup to VW breakdown and pay the call out charge (which totalled £250) to get the to sort it out.

They did something under the car to enable the electrics when the alarm went off as they "pryed" open the front door on the car and rolled down the electric windows by poking a wire coat hanger through and pressing the buttons. Luckily my back seats weren't locked so they just popped it down and put a light into the boot to find the key! what a pain.. i should have just put a hammer to the back window, would have been cheaper!

[philipharmes]

After much Googling, I found that if you get access to the engine via the undertray, you can apply 12v to a certain wire on a certain electrical connector that will enable power to the windows. ( I won't give full details here for obvious reasons ).
I then got the RAC back who prised the door enough to get a prod onto the window switch & bingo, I was in.
So fortunately nothing had to be broken in the end.:beerchug:

[snapdragon]

Wow. It is the stupidest feature ever. The car locks itself if you only open and close the boot. Great if you put your keys down in the boot. Not.

[Max-Power]

nicely found philipharmes, guess you had to sign a damage waver form like me? (i.e. they're not responsibly for damage for opening the car). Painful when they bend the door like that!

snapdragon, it's a very stupid design since the sister car (Audi A4) has the same feature, but has something in the boot that detects if the key is in there when you close it! Considering the cars are the same base design under the shell you'd think they'd use the technology for that in both cars!

[caldirun]

Wow. It is the stupidest feature ever. The car locks itself if you only open and close the boot. Great if you put your down in the boot. Not.
If you unlock the car with the remote, open the boot, press the lock button on the remote then put your fob in the boot and close it, the car locks it in. May be better than leaving the car open when you walk away after closing the boot and letting someone take all your goodies!
A spare key (just a blade will do to let you in the boot) in a Keysafe hidden on the car somewhere, is a great idea (my mate locked us out in the middle of the welsh mountains once, was I glad of the Keysafe that day!)

[stig414]

Re the Audi part to this thread: my Audi had auto boot, and when the key was inside the boot and you closed it, it wouldn't latch and then sprang straight open again. I do agree though that as they share the same underpinnings, something as simple and quite important should be standard across the ranges.