Pop the car trunk lever

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
A friend and I were talking about our recent car repair experiences. She happend to mention that she gives the mechanic the "ignitioin only" key so he is not tempted to open the trunk and nose around. I told her that was silly, he could pop open the trunk from inside if he wanted to. She was shocked to learn this and wanted to know how. We went out to her car and I showed her the lever under the seat that opens the trunk lid. She was aghast. On my car the same lever opens the gas cap and the trunk depending on if you push or pull it. Maybe bacaue her are two different levers, she didn't see it.
I thought everyone knew they can open the trunk from inside the car.
 

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I remove important stuff from my car when it’s being serviced. But I can set it so the inside button doesn’t work without the fob in proximity. The gas cap won’t open without it either.
 

Having that lever in the trunk to be able to open it from the inside is an important safety feature. I believe that all cars for some time now are required to have it. Kids have gotten into trunks playing around and have died inside there. The wife of a family friend here in Hawaii had been kidnapped by a person who came by and asked if there was some work he could do. Even though the husband was a doctor they still wanted to get work done cheaply. Anyway, the guy called the doctor at the hospital where he worked to tell him about what he did with his wife and to ask for a certain amount of money as ransom.

The car was parked somewhere not that far from the house but by the time they found it, she had died of suffocation and I'm sure panic had something to do with it to. Where I was working at that time most of my co-workers were sure it was the husband who did it. So wrong, but that's how people are sometimes--jumping to conclusions.

Make sure that everyone you know knows about that trunk lever, including your kids
 
I take my gun and my emergency cash stash out of the car when I take it to be serviced. There's nothing else in there I'm concerned about.

One thing I learned about the "ignition only" key, I've always heard it referred to as the Valet key, is that it's water proof. At least mine is. I checked it out by leaving it in a coffee cup full of water overnight. That's good to know if you are ever going surfing by yourself. You can lock up all your valuables in the car and then just take the valet key with you into the water. Assuming you have a pocket that you can securely close.

Beats leaving your keys hidden under a towel on the beach. I did that once when I went surfing with a friend of mine back in the day. We had driven all the way from Largo to St. Augustine, about 170 miles. And while we were in the water someone who had been watching us took my keys, opened the trunk and cleaned our wallets out of cash. My buddy and I had to go up and down the beach panhandling for change to get enough gas money to get home. :mad:
 
Olivia said:
Having that lever in the trunk to be able to open it from the inside is an important safety feature. I believe that all cars for some time now are required to have it. Kids have gotten into trunks playing around and have died inside there. The wife of a family friend here in Hawaii had been kidnapped by a person who came by and asked if there was some work he could do. Even though the husband was a doctor they still wanted to get work done cheaply. Anyway, the guy called the doctor at the hospital where he worked to tell him about what he did with his wife and to ask for a certain amount of money as ransom.

The car was parked somewhere not that far from the house but by the time they found it, she had died of suffocation and I'm sure panic had something to do with it to. Where I was working at that time most of my co-workers were sure it was the husband who did it. So wrong, but that's how people are sometimes--jumping to conclusions.

Make sure that everyone you know knows about that trunk lever, including your kids
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I knew about the one inside the car. But I did not know about the one inside the trunk!

But you are right, there is one there too! I just checked. I didn't lock myself inside the trunk to test it though. What I did was put down the back seat and crawl in that way. And it worked!

So thanks! I learned something today!:)
 
I only give them the ignition key from my key ring because I don't want to risk having my apartment keys duplicated by a young hungry technician.

I understand that the vast majority of people are honest but why tempt them or create an opportunity for them to make a stupid move.
 
I have a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. I can press a button on the back seat and the back of the seat unlatches, and folds down, leaving the trunk wide open. I think this is so that you can put long things into your trunk, say golf clubs. And by unlatching the back seat, it gives you the extra .room. A person could easily crawl into your trunk, where we, all, store our diamond tiaras and gold bars, when we're not using them. I had a Toyota that did the same. So this is probably an industry wide option????locked-keys-in-trunk-im-trying-let-back-04eisr54mvlzjgqnuk5sohf2-5-0.jpg
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
Two questions. #1 What are those important things in your trunk?
#2 Why are you storing important things in the trunk of your car?
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I live in an apartment. I use the trunk of my car to store tools and other necessities.

I have a battery charger and a jump starter as well and a tire pump.

Where I live in the winter, you need those items.

Also I have the ownership papers and proof of insurance that I keep in the car because if you have your car broken into they usually clean out the glove compartment.
 
Olivia said:
Having that lever in the trunk to be able to open it from the inside is an important safety feature. I believe that all cars for some time now are required to have it. Kids have gotten into trunks playing around and have died inside there. The wife of a family friend here in Hawaii had been kidnapped by a person who came by and asked if there was some work he could do. Even though the husband was a doctor they still wanted to get work done cheaply. Anyway, the guy called the doctor at the hospital where he worked to tell him about what he did with his wife and to ask for a certain amount of money as ransom.

The car was parked somewhere not that far from the house but by the time they found it, she had died of suffocation and I'm sure panic had something to do with it to. Where I was working at that time most of my co-workers were sure it was the husband who did it. So wrong, but that's how people are sometimes--jumping to conclusions.

Make sure that everyone you know knows about that trunk lever, including your kids
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What good does that do if you are kidnapped and taken somewhere.

That lever won't do you any bit of good if you are locked in the trunk.

You need to find something that works from the inside of the trunk.
 
Camper6, I don't know when, but there is a Federal Law that all cars with a trunk have to come equipped with a latch inside the trunk, which opens the trunk. The latch is found ,inside the trunk, on the key lock mechanism.
 
Every car I've owned recently has a trunk that can be double locked. The 2nd lock is either on the driver's side floor or in the glovebox.
 
debodun said:
A friend and I were talking about our recent car repair experiences. She happend to mention that she gives the mechanic the "ignitioin only" key so he is not tempted to open the trunk and nose around.
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Maybe instead of worrying about a mechanic taking something from your trunk one should just concentrate on finding a auto repair facility that can be trusted with your entire car. The business I use causes me no worry about anything being removed from my vehicle.
 
TravelinMan said:
Maybe instead of worrying about a mechanic taking something from your trunk one should just concentrate on finding a auto repair facility that can be trusted with your entire car. The business I use causes me no worry about anything being removed from my vehicle.
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In that scenario, you'd be trusting everyone who got near your car - not just the mechanic.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I have a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. I can press a button on the back seat and the back of the seat unlatches, and folds down, leaving the trunk wide open. I think this is so that you can put long things into your trunk, say golf clubs. And by unlatching the back seat, it gives you the extra .room. A person could easily crawl into your trunk, where we, all, store our diamond tiaras and gold bars, when we're not using them. I had a Toyota that did the same. So this is probably an industry wide option????View attachment 79100
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Same here @fuzzybuddy ...mine is a 2001 and what I go thru now with popping the trunk is awful...sometimes the key works, sometimes it doesnt....sometimes the inside pop-the-trunk feature works, sometimes it doesnt...my son has to crawl in the back seat, put them down like pictured above, stick his hand in to reach the unlatch button in the trunk and wah-lah....he's cussing the whole time, by the way....
 
The cable that opens the trunk needs some WD40 sprayed on it on an older vehicle now and then.

The mechanism that opens the trunk is mechanical although a remote might be used.

Spray the mechanism latch in the trunk and work it back and forth if you are having a problem with it.

Now let's tackle the hood latch and opening that one. After years of fooling around with it, one day I examined the mechanism and there is an adjustment there to close the hood without having to slam it so that it wakes the whole neighborhood. I just had to move it down a fraction and it now works perfectly. The cable on my son's car was broken and so the hood wouldn't open. We were lucky because we spotted the same car (a Volkswagen) at a place that we deal with. We asked the owner if he could open the trunk for us to see how the mechanism works. We were able to make a hook out of a coat hanger and popped the hood open and replaced the cable.
 

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