http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/womans-stolen-car-is-returned-with-gas-money-and-apology-note/85177146/
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/womans-stolen-car-is-returned-with-gas-money-and-apology-note/85177146/
I think every now and then the stars align and you end up with two nearly-identically-keyed cars that are the same color in the same parking lot at the same time, and the lock cylinders are worn just enough to unlock/start with a key that is "close enough."
In the mid 90's I remember leaving the grocery store with my father and getting into someone else's Dodge Dakota as it was identical to ours. If I remember right he even started it before realizing his mistake.
I've personally started a crap load of Ford vehicles, from my crown Vic, to work vans, to a 90s f250 with little more than a bobby pin and small screw driver.
Rumor has it that the key to my p71 has a 50/50 chance of starting any others I may come across. I've not tested it though, because those ones all tend to have cops sitting in them.
Dumb luck and confusion can make anything happen though. My mom's 99 Taurus had the key fob. When I worked at the mall, I'd hit the panic button to find the car at the end of the day. During Xmas season, 2 or 3 other tauri would start making noise whenever I hit the button,a but I never tried the key in them.
If you took the key out of my Sonoma while driving, you wouldn't need it at all to turn it back on again if you left it in acc instead of off. That was a fun feature to mess with people.
Holy Crap! I didn't realize this was local to me.
Old Toyotas only had 21 different keys. Collect all 21 to steal your way to an entire fleet of 80's yota cars trucks and vans! (Note: limited number of yotas exist)
Apparently you can start an old Land Rover with a key from a filing cabinet. Or you can't start it at all no matter what key you have. There's very little middle ground.
I've said many times over the years, there are only so many key cut combinations per manufacturer, every once in a while, this happens, especially in older cars prior to chip keys.
The locks only provide for a limited number of combinations for keys. There's at least one article per year about somebody going to the mall/store/ball game/concert etc. and leaving in the wrong car. Nothing new happening here, it's just statistics and damned lies...
The key to my 2002 ford focus opens the doors (both sides) and rolls the ignition tumbler on my FILs 2005 ford f-150.
F-150 is a chip key though so it doesn't start.
FIL was a traveling salesman for companies that provided fleet cars. He has many stories about company events where someone locked their key in their car and just asked a bunch of people for their keys. Sooner or later someones key would open the door.
I don't actually think my car has a key that works in the doors. Someone re-keyed the ignition tumbler so long ago that sometimes you don't even need a key to start the car. Now I need to go check if I have a spare key in case my remote craps out.
I had a friend in college who lost the keys to her mx-6 and for 2 years started it with a Swiss Army knife screwdriver. (Never locked it)
THIS is the practical excuse I give SWMBO for having at least a little bit of visual customization on every car we/I have ever owned. Even if it's jut a decent set of non-factory wheels, if your car has something different on it, it reduces the chances of an accidental theft.
I actually never thought about this WRT cars, but older Cessnas have ~20 key cuts as well; similar to Toyota, apparently.
The accidental theft reminds me of two dingbats I work with. A few years ago, they both had Corollas in the same color, only one was a generation newer. I sat in my car watching one dingbat try unsuccessfully to get into the other one's car for about five minutes before she figured it out and got into her own car 
.
Trackmouse wrote: Old Toyotas only had 21 different keys. Collect all 21 to steal your way to an entire fleet of 80's yota cars trucks and vans! (Note: limited number of yotas exist)
There's a guy on one of the Toyota boards that has all 21. He will send them to you, you figure out what one you need, cut it, and send them back
At a rallycross this year one e30 guy locked his keys in the car. With 7 other e30s there we definitely tried everyone else's keys. Unfortunately, the damn Germans didn't make it that easy, and he had to smash out a quarter window to get in instead 
In High School years the key to my 56 Chevy would unlock and start my friend Doug's newer Buick every time. Doug never was sure where he would find his car parked or what or who would be in it.
A guy I work with locked his keys in a early 90's GM product. Me being the resident car guy he comes to me with a coat hanger asking for help. Me having once owned a GM product that was slightly older asked him how many km's(my country speaks metric) were on the car. I decided that it was old enough and had enough km's for the make your own GM key trick. I walked to the nearest tree, snapped off a twig whittled it down to the appropriate size. Inserted it into the lock and opened it. I told him to hide the stick in a drawer at work.
In reply to irish44j:
Oof, never smash a quarter window. the full windows are SO much cheaper and easier to replace.
irish44j wrote: At a rallycross this year one e30 guy locked his keys in the car. With 7 other e30s there we definitely tried everyone else's keys. Unfortunately, the damn Germans didn't make it that easy, and he had to smash out a quarter window to get in instead
He didn't leave the trunk unlocked??
Once upon a time SWMBO and a friend of hers owned near identical mid90s Saturns. I think the only thing different about them was one was a 95 and the other a 96. Sure enough same key. Figured this out when girlfriend sent me to get something out of the car when they were parked right next to each other. I opened the door and said to myself wait a minute. Luckily they were amused by the coincidence.
When we moved to our current locale, we brought with us a 91 Dodge Shadow. Ended up handing down to daughter. Her friend from school had a Plymouth Sundance. Same car. Keys would swap and work in both cars.
You'll need to log in to post.
