This is a rare breakdown, but one that you may have to face at some point in your life as a driver: the key gets stuck in the car lock. Nowadays, the vast majority of cars are opened with a remote control, without having to resort to the blade that is inserted in the door. In fact, many do not even need the key itself to start.
However, there are models that still require inserting the key blade into the lock to open the door. Either because it is an old vehicle, due to a fault with the central locking, because the remote control is faulty or because the original key has been lost.
In all of these cases, it is possible for the car key to get stuck in the lock. When this happens, it is common to resort to various tricks available on the Internet, which promise to solve the problem, but are actually not as effective as they seem.
The key can get stuck in the car lock for many reasons. Among them, there is a lot of dirt inside the cylinder or it is so worn that it has lost shape or broken, causing the key to lock. It is also possible to get stuck because the lock is frozen in very cold weather.
From the Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) they explain that the most popular methods that people resort to to remove the keys stuck in the lock do not usually give good results. One of them is to try to remove the key with pliers, but the extraction task is very complicated and does not usually work.
There are also those who choose to heat the end of a silicone tube and apply it to the lock, so that it adheres to the key and pulls when it cools. But the silicone will most likely also stick to the lock and not just the key.
Another popular home trick is to use two clips to remove the key. “What you are going to get is that the clip breaks and ends up damaging the lock,” they warn from RACE. They also do not recommend using lubricating products. In the event that the lock is frozen, they note that you can try applying heat, although it may not be enough to solve the problem.
Therefore, RACE experts indicate that the most effective solution to remove a stuck key will be to go to a professional workshop to remove the door cylinder. If the key cannot be removed from the door even after removing the cylinder, the most economical solution is to look for a second-hand one. And if the cylinder removed from the original door is broken, it is possible to cut it to rescue the stuck key and use it as a mold to make a new cylinder.
