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What to Do When You’re Locked Out of Your Car Trunk

Although taking care of trunk locks is just as important as maintaining car lock doors, most car owners ignore their trunks until they stop working. The good news is if you get locked out of your trunk, there are many different ways to get back in. You can decide whether to tackle your trunk on your own or choose to hire a Campbell car locksmith to help you solve the problem. The best solution for your current situation will depend on why your trunk isn’t opening.

 

Why Won’t My Trunk Open?

Before we take a look at what you should do when you’ve been locked out of your trunk, let’s look at some reasons why you may be locked out in the first place.

 

You Locked Your Keys in the Trunk 

Yes, you read that right. Most people don’t think that this will happen to them until it does. Unfortunately, when drivers lock their car keys in their trunks, they can become locked out of their entire car. If this happens to you, don’t beat yourself up. There are several solutions to explore which will be discussed later on.

 

Your Trunk Lock Is Broken

There’s a possibility that your trunk isn’t opening because the trunk lock itself is damaged. The lock could be broken or malfunctioning due to a faulty trunk latch or other internal mechanisms in control of locking the trunk. Malfunctioning locks can be caused by wear and tear, external forces, or excessive force. Being cautious when handling your trunk and regularly maintaining it can help prevent the lock from becoming damaged in the first place.

 

Your Key Fob Isn’t Responding

This is not typically an issue for drivers with older vehicles because many older vehicles do not utilize transponder keys. However, this can occur with newer car models from time to time. A car key fob is used to send commands to your vehicle, like unlocking and locking the car doors and trunk, for instance. But if your car key fob wasn’t programmed properly or the batteries are drained, you may be unable to unlock your trunk—or let alone get into your car.

 

To determine if your key fob batteries are drained, you can test out a second key fob (if you have one on hand). If the second key fob performs unlocking and locking functions successfully, this verifies that your primary key fob has dead batteries.  

 

What to Do if Your Trunk Won’t Open

Here are several methods that can help you unlock your trunk: 

 

Check Your Trunk Again

Although this may seem like an irrelevant and unnecessary step, it doesn’t hurt to try again. If you’re able to unlock your trunk the second or third time around, this will actually save you quite a bit of money and time. Before checking to see if your trunk will open, it’s imperative that you take a deep breath and try to remain calm. Doing this will ensure that you don’t cause any damage to your trunk lock or vehicle out of sheer frustration. Try putting your key into the lock or pushing the appropriate button on your car key fob to unlock your trunk. If your trunk is still locked, you can move on to the next step.

 

Check for Interior Access

Check to see if you can open your trunk from inside your vehicle. Obviously, this method will not work if you locked your keys in the car and cannot get inside. If that’s the case, you’ll need to call a Campbell car locksmith to unlock your car and retrieve your keys. Alternatively, if your trunk lock is broken, you’ll need to contact an automotive locksmith near you, even if you are able to access the trunk. 

 

For some vehicles, the inside of the vehicle is not always divided from the trunk. This means you can access the trunk by reaching over the backseat, which will give you temporary access to your trunk but will not fix the underlying problem. 

 

Another option is to use the driver-side manual trunk unlock to open your trunk from the inside of your car. However, this will not work if the trunk lock is damaged.

 

Call an Automotive Locksmith 

Even if you utilize the solutions above, you should understand that these solutions are only meant to give you temporary access to your trunk and you’re going to need to call a Campbell car locksmith anyways. For example, if your trunk isn’t opening because the lock itself is damaged, opening your trunk from the inside of your car won’t solve the real issue. 

Automotive locksmiths are trained and have lots of experience in dealing with car lockouts and other countless car lock issues. They deal with problems like faulty trunk locks and unresponsive key fobs on a daily basis and will be able to resolve your issues without damaging your locks or vehicle. If you’re looking for a Campbell car locksmith, Real Time Locksmith is a reliable locksmith company that serves San Jose and the surrounding communities. We will gladly help you with all of your automotive lock issues!

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