Locked out?

[cabinetman]

OK, for where this is going and for those who haven't seen it:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/35289/blondstar/

[LCHIEN]

Aggie Story

Aggie calls Car dealer
CD: hello, how may i help you
A: Yes, I just bought a car from you. we stopped on the way home to see a movie. I need to know what the cheapest window to replace is.
CD: well, I remember you. that would be the rear driver's side Window. But why do you want to know?
A: well, I locked the keys in the car
CD: I hate to see you do that to a new car, why don't you wait and I'll send a man down to open it for you?
A: no, I have to do it now. It's fixin' to thunderstorm and I left the top down.

[WayneJ]

I'll go along with RF not going through the telephone, but how does GM North Star work?They do it all the time, I think by phone.
Wayne

[onedash]

I'll go along with RF not going through the telephone, but how does GM North Star work?They do it all the time, I think by phone.
Wayne

This is impossible!! Anyone who claims it works is either lying, they got punked, or like others have mentioned they are close enough and the phone has nothing to do with it. If anyone falls for this and trys it go ahead and let us know how it didn't work...

On Star sends a signal to the vehicle via the antenna from a cell network. If you are in the middle of no where it wouldn't work. It does have GPS which is sent back over the cell network for location and air bag deployment data and maintenance alerts. Nothing to mind blowing there.

[Ed62]

When I first received the e-mail about this, I didn't think it could possibly work. So I had my wife activate the remote from inside the house while I went to the detached garage. It worked! But now I think the magic might have been in her not being far enough away. Just to prove it to myself, I'm gonna do it again, only further away. I don't really expect it to work. I think Loring's right about it.

Ed

[tedkitch]

How about opening your locked car door with a tennis ball? This goes with this thread perfectly. I've never tried it personally.

YMMV,

[Im A Little Petunia]

<<How far from the vehicle were you during the test?>>

Maybe not far enough, I was parked in a huge parking lot and was on the opposite side from my vehicle - probably a half a block away. I first tried with my remote and it would not work because of the distance? - or something else? Anyway, I then gave the remote to a friend and I went to my vehicle and used the phone and it did unlock. I went back (Phew - lots of walking :-o) ) and tried again from where my friend was standing - and the remote would still did not work. Perhaps I should have a distance of 4 or 5 miles between the remote and phone and try it again. I'll let you know. Too cold tonight though! :-)

Im A Little Petunia

[JSCOOK]

When I first received the e-mail about this, I didn't think it could possibly work. So I had my wife activate the remote from inside the house while I went to the detached garage. It worked! But now I think the magic might have been in her not being far enough away. Just to prove it to myself, I'm gonna do it again, only further away. I don't really expect it to work. I think Loring's right about it.

Ed

Might be worth pointing out, that your car remote system "may" have a range booster as well ...

Our Nissan Quest LXE is equipped with an optional range booster & antenna (in the back of the rearview mirror) that very drastically increases the range of the remote entry system and remote start ... to something in the range of 750' ... it actually allow the LOML to operate the functions from the 10th floor of her office tower to the above ground parking garage ... great for warming up the vehicle before you leave the office during our winters.

[TheRic]

One of my daughters locked herself out of her car yesterday, but didn't know what I'm now passing on to you.......

I call Bullsh!t

.....Besides, who locks their car with anything but the remote these days?

ME.....ME....PICK ME!!!!!!
Never have owned a car with a remote

.....I called my wife to come get me, and after settling in to wait for her, it dawned on me that the passenger window was wide open....

Tom, didn't know you were blond
OR were you just having a blond moment

How about opening your locked car door with a tennis ball?

I call Bullsh!t

[Thalermade]

Besides, who locks their car with anything but the remote these days?

Include me in the club. 1990 Jeep Wrangler.
Of course I only lock my vehicle about half the year.
From March to October when the softtop is on, it doesn't get locked whether the top is up or down.

If the remotes work over the cell phone, then, theoretically, one could "record" RF remote signals and play them back to break into vehicles.

Russ

[JSCOOK]

Besides, who locks their car with anything but the remote these days?

Remote or not, the nice part of owning a BMW's is that you can't lock the door unless you have the key or remote.

All vehicles IMO should be lock this way ...

[Black wallnut]

Phone network: cingular
distance to vehicle: about 2.5 miles
vehicle: 2000 GMC Yukon (not xl)
did it work: heII no!
what I learned: nothing

Now for a rant: It entirely peeves me off that my cell phones feed back through the TV, monitor, computer speakers, baby monitor and some of my driver's with high powered CB's give me feed back through my pc speakers at work! Why can cell phones not be made to not do this?

[Slik Geek]

my cell phones feed back through the TV, monitor, computer speakers, baby monitor and some of my driver's with high powered CB's give me feed back through my pc speakers at work! Why can cell phones not be made to not do this?

It's probably not the "fault" of the cell phone. Because the cell phone is an "intentional radiator", it has to pass certain FCC tests to insure that the RF energy it is radiating is "well behaved". The devices that are getting affected by the cell phone are probably not tested for RF susceptibility, or are tested at too low of an RF level.

In the United States, there aren't RF susceptibility standards for consumer devices. If a device is CE-marked (meets European standards), it should have passed the RF susceptibility testing. However, for many devices, the level at which the standards require them to be tested is fairly low. If you place your cell phone within a few feet of the device, the RF field is likely greater than the level used for testing (according to the standard).

The bottom line is that the devices are susceptible, so technically they are to blame for not being immune to RF fields. It can be done, but it adds cost to the product.

[LCHIEN]

Phone network: cingular
distance to vehicle: about 2.5 miles
vehicle: 2000 GMC Yukon (not xl)
did it work: heII no!
what I learned: nothing

Now for a rant: It entirely peeves me off that my cell phones feed back through the TV, monitor, computer speakers, baby monitor and some of my driver's with high powered CB's give me feed back through my pc speakers at work! Why can cell phones not be made to not do this?

The cell phone is permitted to radiate - that's how it works. The radiation must be below a certain level and must be in a certain band.
It is the responsibility of the other devices to accept radiation at those levels and still function properly (Its what we call EMI) - electro-magnetic interference. It can be done with shielding and filters - computer speakers tend to be really bad about this. The signal cables are just the zip cord type and have no protection, apparently there's no audio bandpass filter either. The radio signal gets in the audio preamp and gets rectifed and the signal modulation comes out as an audio signal to your ears.

If you know what you are doing you can identify interference GSM from CDMA phones quite easily, each has a distinctive sound.

[Stan]

Remote -- schemote....

Been carrying a spare door key in my wallet for nigh onta 35 years -- ain't been stuck locked outside my truck yet.

I do have a truck now with 2 key fobs -- both of them are tucked nicely away and ain't been used since the novelty wore off about 2 weeks after I got the truck.