How to Unlock a Car Door With Power Windows and Locks

When you own a car that has power windows and locks, you are faced with a unique situation if you happen to leave your keys inside the vehicle. If you’re not part of an auto club or do not subscribe to verbal roadside assistance, then you will have to resort to other solutions. However, this sort of thing happens all of the time so it is nothing to be embarrassed about. The information below will share with you a few steps that can help you get back inside to retrieve your keys.

Tip: Keep in mind that cars with power windows and locks will not stay locked if the keys are in the ignition; this is a sort of theft protection.

Step 1 — Check the Doors

Before attempting to circumvent the power windows and locks, you should always check every door. There are several options with your car’s controls that can mean all the doors aren’t necessarily locked. Also, if you have a passenger with you and they happen to open the door as you’re locking the car or after, there’s a distinct possibility their door wasn’t locked. That being said, checking all the doors before resorting to other solutions can save you a lot of trouble.

Step 2 — Try a Remote

You will often be given a spare key as well as a key fob, or remote opener, when you purchase a car that has power windows and locks. Most people do not keep their spare on their person, opting to leave it at home. The obvious solution is to have someone bring your spare key, but this is not always possible.

However, sometimes you will be given a spare key remote as well, and fortunately, these fobs use radio waves to open the locks much like a garage door opener. If you have a cell phone on you, place a call to someone that can access your home and the spare key. Put your cell phone up close to the lock of the car and have them press the unlock button. The door on the car will be unlocked as the cell phone, being digital, may be able to transmit the signal from the electronic key.

Step 3 — Thread a Coat Hanger Inside

If the previous step didn’t help, then you can use an old-fashioned, wire coat hanger to open the door or windows. Start by twisting the hanger near the top hook to straighten it out; keep the hook on the end bent, but decrease size so that it is smaller and firmer. At the far left upper corner of the window on the driver’s side thread the end of the hanger between the rubber seal and the window. Push down on it until you see the wire inside the car.

Maneuver the hook to the console that houses the controls for the power windows and locks. Use the hook to press down on either the unlock button or the window’s down button, whichever is within reach. The window down button will not work for all cars as most require the key be in the on position for windows to operate. Either control will work for you to get inside.

Step 4 — Call a Locksmith

When you have none of these things handy, it is best to simply call a locksmith. Trying to manually push your window down or maneuver it can break the mechanisms in your door permanently, which will cost much more to repair than just getting the pros to unlock the door.

Car power doors and windows

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Power doors wiring

MEMBER
2001 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
8.1L
V8
4WD
MANUAL
140,000 MILES

35 Replies

Assumming you also transplanted the door panels with the switches and wiring harnesses, the driver’s door only needs two wires for that window to work. One is the ground wire and the other is the 12-volt feed. That should be tied to the fuse box to a point that goes dead with the ignition switch off. If wired direct, there is always the liability risk if water drips into the switch, creates carbon between the contacts, then starts a fire.

I’m going to find a diagram for the 2003 model and post that for you, but in the meantime, tell me what came with the doors. Did you get the wiring harness that goes through the door hinges on one or both sides? If not, for just the windows, you’ll need to run two wires from the driver’s switch over to the passenger’s switch. Do you also have two rear windows?

We’ll worry about the locks later, but if you’re going to run wires before I get back tomorrow, run a pair for the locks right away so you don’t have to do that part of the job twice. Make life easier on yourself by using different colors, or use labels so you can tell them apart easily.

Well, I stand corrected. Starting in 2002 on some GM truck models, they built the Body Computer into the radio to insure it couldn’t be replaced with an aftermarket unit. Along with that, the insane engineers lost all track of common sense when it came to designing electrical circuits. The power window circuits that worked fine for over 70 years now have to include multiple computers. In fact, every window switch is a computer module on 2003 models. In the past, a switch with multiple contacts inside ran a window. Today, the switch sends a signal to the built-in computer circuit, then that computer performs the switching functions and runs the motor, but only if approved by the Body Computer. It is not practical to try to transplant the 2003 Body Computer into your truck because it is part of a team that includes the instrument cluster, the door modules, and the Engine Computer. Those door modules run the power lock motors. Those also used to be real simple and reliable, but no more.

What I would recommend as the first approach is to see if you can find window switches from an older GM truck model that will fit in your door panels, then I’ll draw up a diagram for you on how to wire them. Regardless of the year, all power window motors run on 12 volts. We need to find switches that didn’t have small relays attached to them. That way the internal contacts will be large enough to handle the current directly.

If that is not an option, there is a three-position, center-off, spring-loaded switch listed on eBay that is perfect for this application, but I’ll have to check if it will handle the current. You’d have to cut about a 1 1/4″ square hole in the door panel, and have about two inches of clearance behind it. That switch will also work for the power locks.

When you’re in the salvage yard, harvest the rubber accordion boots the wires run in between the door hinges. Also look for a 30-amp thermal circuit breaker in an under-hood fuse box. Because windows are considered a safety system, fuses are not used because if an intermittent short occurs, a blown fuse is permanent. Thermal circuit breakers reset automatically after a few seconds, so in an emergency, it’s possible for the windows to work again.

It’s a good idea to use a circuit breaker for the power door locks too. GM used to be good about placing accessory 12-volt terminals in their fuse boxes for add-ons, but they really aren’t meant for circuits that draw a lot of current. It’s better to run the fused wire right to the circuit already in the fuse box for power windows. We might have to rob the terminals out of a fuse box in the salvage yard. To save a few pennies, they might have been left off on the assembly line since that wasn’t an installed option on your truck.

The web site we use for online service manuals is running frustratingly slow today so I can’t look at wiring diagrams for earlier years. I’m going to have to dump this on you for now to check in the salvage yards to see if you can find switches that will pop into your door panels. Start with the 2001 models. I’ll let you know when I find some years that will work.

Car power doors and windows

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