Can this possibly work?

[The Electrician]

http://www.ehow.com/how_7301470_instructions-unlocking-car-cell-phone.html?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=test63&utm_campaign=cars

And if it does, how?

[Dongulus]

No. Cars remotes unlock through IR or RF transmitters. A cell phone doesn't reproduce these signals through voice transmission.

[c4757p]

Tips & Warnings
If you do not have a remote with your keys, you cannot use your cell phone to open the car door.

As completely moronic as this whole thing was..... the sheer stupid obviousness of this statement is what stuck out at me the most...

[bookaboo]

Ha, reminds me of the time my dad phoned my grandad pretending to be the phone company engineer checking the line. Asked him to go into each room and recite the alphabet loudly.

Incidentally, reciting the alphabet loudly has more chance of unlocking your car than this.

[Dongulus]

I propose a revision that is more likely to work:

Step 1: Dial home, or dial the person who has the spare set of car keys if you find yourself locked out of your car.
Step 2: Hold the cell phone 1 foot away from the car door lock.
Step 3: Yell "Ready" so the person on the other end of the line can hear you. Have her press the unlock button on the spare set of keys. You will hear the door unlock immediately.
 

Step 2: Ask them to come by to deliver your keys. 

[c4757p]

My secret to never locking my keys out: lock the car using the key. Seriously. Why anybody in their right mind would ever think to lock anything - house, car, whatever - from the inside, and then exit, is beyond me.

[tehmeme]

My secret to never locking my keys out: lock the car using the key. Seriously. Why anybody in their right mind would ever think to lock anything - house, car, whatever - from the inside, and then exit, is beyond me.

 
It hasn't happened to me, yet, but in moments of absent mindedness (usually talking to the mrs or dealing with kids) i have come close a couple of times.
After locking the car remembering I had things in the trunk, opening it with the key (rather than the fob) putting the keys down to get a good hold of the items then nearly forgetting to pick the keys up... I know 

[c4757p]

That I can see. Trunks are dangerous because they're always locked when they're closed. I've come close to doing that a few times too.

A nice improvement would be to have the key slot under the trunk, so you can leave your keys in the slot while you fart around in the trunk, without worrying about them scratching the paint.

[GeoffS]

My secret to never locking my keys out: lock the car using the key. Seriously. Why anybody in their right mind would ever think to lock anything - house, car, whatever - from the inside, and then exit, is beyond me.

+1 on using the keys to lock the car - of course in my case I've no option as I don't have a remote 

[c4757p]

My (used) car came with an aftermarket remote but no receiver... So yeah, I've got no remote either.

However...... using the remote still counts because you're doing it externally. I meant that you shouldn't lock the car with the interior lock button.

(I also don't even usually lock my car... I live in an area with more deer than humans and don't keep anything in my car, I'm not too worried. I'd rather the thieves open my door to find out it's empty than smash in a window. But don't tell anyone!)

[GeoffS]

It's not possible to lock my drivers door manually from inside so that avenue of stupidity forgetfulness is denied me.
I'd love to be able to have a remote locking facility, I drive a big van and walking around it to make sure all the doors are locked, is a long trip. 

[Stonent]

Open your car door with a tennis ball!

[peter.mitchell]

Open your car door with a tennis ball!

Doesn't work.
However, on older cars, i'm pretty handy with a coathanger.

[edm68]

The last 10 years or so I've always carried two sets of keys with me. I haven't locked myself out during that time, but there would be at least 3 or 4 times that I recall that I would have if I didn't have that other set of keys with me.

[G7PSK]

I am pretty certain that the aerial for the central locking is not inside the metal work of the door far more likely to be the rear window demist strip or car radio aerial, so holding the phone speaker close to the door has nothing to do with it and the car locking system is not audio based but could the phone signal in some situations overpower the cars electronics and open the doors I have heard of airbags being set of by radio transmitters but never seen this myself.

[rollatorwieltje]

My secret to never locking my keys out: lock the car using the key. Seriously. Why anybody in their right mind would ever think to lock anything - house, car, whatever - from the inside, and then exit, is beyond me.

Locking yourself out of your house is easy over here, there's no lever on the outside to pull the latch in. I notices in the USA the doors have a lever / rotating knob on the outside as well.

My car can be opened with several other keys... I wouldn't be surprised if I could open it using a teaspoon.

[tom66]

eHow is mostly nonsense, I'm not sure if it's deliberate or just poorly moderated...

Amusing:
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5009814_fix-cracked-plasma-tv-screen.html
Fixing a cracked plasma screen, as long as it does not leak plasma (the liquid component of blood?)

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7278353_open-car-door-tennis-ball.html
Opening a car door with a tennis ball

[Shock]

Get married and never be locked out again.  Unless it's by them. 

[SeanB]

Most remote open systems have the antenna buried under the dashboard either as a wire dangling out of a black box, or as a wire taped to a non metallic part of the dash structure during assembly. they typically have a short range, as operation past 10m is not really desired as then it is possible to accidentally unlock the car by the keys in your pocket pressing the button, or there being another remote with the same code nearby ( Birthday affect) being pressed.

[Psi]

Maybe you could unlock your car using a phone if you
- Clocked the phone cpu at 433mhz
- Had the cpu go in and out of sleep at the same timing as the alarm remote code signal
- Held the phone 10cm from the alarm antenna

 

Like that old trick of using a cpu to transmit a tone to a AM radio

[ciccio]

(I also don't even usually lock my car... I live in an area with more deer than humans and don't keep anything in my car, I'm not too worried. I'd rather the thieves open my door to find out it's empty than smash in a window. But don't tell anyone!)

Well, this remember me af a friend, who worked in a day center for drugs-addicts (they went there to get free methadone).
He had an old Fiat Uno, which was maybe the easiest car in the world to open (and the most stolen car in Italy), and they opened it about twenty times.
A clever thief could open it by simply pulling out the upper side of the front door: the windows will hang out and there will be enough space for  the hand to reach the door lock.
He ended up leaving a windows sign saying: "the doors are unlocked, and there's nothing to steal inside", but the druggiest did not believe it, and they smashed the window..

I once has a Ford Escort (1980's model) without remote or even centralized closure, which had a very "clever-stupid" not well documented feature: if you closed the  driver's door while holding the lever up (as to open the door) the door would lock.
This was though of being a nice feature (you could close your car without using the keys) but ended in a lot of people locking the door with the keys inside the car.
Best regards

[c4757p]

Well, this remember me af a friend, who worked in a day center for drugs-addicts (they went there to get free methadone).
...
He ended up leaving a windows sign saying: "the doors are unlocked, and there's nothing to steal inside", but the druggiest did not believe it, and they smashed the window..

Yeah, that's not really surprising. Luckily I don't work or live around druggies - I know there's always a chance someone could do it anyway, but then again, they'd do it whether or not I locked the door. I'm just hoping I get a nice thief

I once has a Ford Escort (1980's model) without remote or even centralized closure, which had a very "clever-stupid" not well documented feature: if you closed the  driver's door while holding the lever up (as to open the door) the door would lock.

Whoever had that idea should be flogged.

[c4757p]

My secret to never locking my keys out: lock the car using the key. Seriously. Why anybody in their right mind would ever think to lock anything - house, car, whatever - from the inside, and then exit, is beyond me.

Locking yourself out of your house is easy over here, there's no lever on the outside to pull the latch in. I notices in the USA the doors have a lever / rotating knob on the outside as well.

Wait - huh? What do you mean? Because the door I'm picturing can't be opened...

[rollatorwieltje]

Wait - huh? What do you mean? Because the door I'm picturing can't be opened...

The key itself is the lever. After unlocking it can be rotated further to pull the latch in. On front doors there's usually only a lever on the inside, even when you didn't lock the door you still need a key to get in from the outside.

[G7PSK]

The slit tennis ball apparently worked with older cars that had a pneumatic operated central locking system you did not squeeze the ball but applied the slit in it to the drivers lock and then hit the ball with the palm of your hand as hard as possible this forced air into the system and flipped the lock.

  http://www.rbmpartsnews.com/Articles/PneumaticCentralLocking

http://www.google.com/patents/US4468942

It was mostly used on German cars Mercedes and VW both used it.

[SeanB]

Older Nissan's had an unlock sensor if you crashed. Flat hit on the centre of the roof with open palm and the doors all popped open.

I did break into a vehicle once, and the owner thanked me. It was on fire and I put out the fire, all he had to replace was a driver's window that I took out with extreme violence with a CO2 fire extinguisher, before opening the engine bay  and cooling off the red hot battery cable that was shorted to the fuel line. Then disconnected the battery, luckily the terminal was loose so I did not have to do the fire dept method and knock the terminal off with the fire extinguisher as well.

Was not so lucky with a Mk1 Ford Escort though. Took 30 seconds from the shout from the driver to the car being completely engulfed.  Called the fire dept and they got there in 3 minutes, but all they could do was put out the remains, pull it to the side and put sand in the hole in the tar.