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#1240: The Forget-A-Key

Oct 06, 2012
This week on Car Talk, medical school student Christine is having a little trouble remembering things--happily, she's not leaving any forceps in patients, but she is repeatedly leaving her keys locked in her Camry. Does she need to gift all of her classmates with copies of her key? Elsewhere, Judy and her husband went car shopping and agreed on everything except the color. So who better to ask to adjudicate than two guys who are color blind? Also, Jose hopes his MIT degree has prepared him to tackle a leaky valve cover; Sarah faces one more Anchorage winter with a recalcitrant heater; and on Stump the Chumps we welcome back Dickie, who couldn't figure out why water was shooting out of his girlfriend's steering column. All this, plus a new Puzzler from the Matchstick series, and lots more, this week on Car Talk.

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How do you make 16 ninety-degree angles out of 4 match sticks?

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9 Comments

Key key

I'm guessing your caller Christine is fiddling with her phone before getting out of her car (I've been guilty of locking my key in my car while distracted by disconnecting and taking all the i-stuff out before going in to work). She needs to put a spare key (I hope it's not a chip-key) in her cell phone case, behind the phone where it won't be visible.
Favorite Moment: 
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Jeep Grand Cherokee Advice

Decent show, although as mentioned below the rental grand prix was a little out of the 'recent' realm. in regards to the jeep grand cherokee brake situation, I was listening to the show while driving my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and felt the same brake issue, which I haven't repaired. this is due to the poor design of the Teves calipers on the 1999-2002 WJ grand cherokees that dont center well and warp the rotors.. the only way to really eliminate the issue is to replace the Teves calipers with Akebono calipers. There is a TSB on this, and jeep started producing the WJ with Akebono calipers in 2002. read more about it here http://www.wjjeeps.com/brakes.htm
Favorite Moment: 
The description of Tommy's daughter seeing the fire behind the dash through the radio hole in his Chevy....
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Good And Wrong Answers

In Woonsocket, RI- Monroe Tire And Repair is open 7 days a week some nights till 8 PM. If you hide a key on a car a thief wil find it. The woman who locks her keys in her car can put a spare key on a lanyaard around her neck. I keep a key for three cars on mine. I put it on everytime I take my keys. (No, I don't carry a wallet. Two or so weeks ago a woman said her heater wouldn't work. You said it could cost $800 or so dollars. She can get an inverter and put a heater on the back seat. The type that doesn"t get hot on the outside and blows hot air. I did it for years.
Favorite Moment: 
The older guy who said his girlfriend would have to take a chance.
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Use a spring clip to not forget the keys

I have my keys on a little spring-release clip (the kind shaped sort of like a question mark). As soon as I take my keys out of the ignition, I clip them to my shirt, usually at the neckline, but anywhere works. Keep in mind that keys in sight of passers by are more tempting to a car theif. Kids and keys are never to be left in the car!
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Better than usual?

I don't know, they all sort of run together. I only wanted to say that the woman forgetting her keys inside her car should take a time-tested hint from the male gender. PUT your keys in your PANTS pocket! All my adult life, I have made it a habit to check for my keys in my front pants pocket, where they always are during waking hours, unless I am in the shower, or driving. Women never do this... and if I had a dime for every minute I've waited while the women in my life look for their keys.... I'd have ... I'd have a pile of money, I tell ya.
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what color is safe?

I can't believe that we are to just take as fact that a light car is safer than a dark car. I can understand at night a dark car is more difficult to see if it HAS NO LIGHTS ON, but during the day the worst color is a silver or light grey car. My wife and I both agree that we will never have one. That color gets lost in bright sunlight far too easily.
Favorite Moment: 
Don't drive with your lights off at night!
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The defogger

I also use heater. Full blast of heat will fog up the glass at first. But it will raise the temperature of the glass up above the dew point and it will not fog up again. Also keeps you warm, regulate heat with windows/heat controller. No AC needed.
Favorite Moment: 
With the car smoking at a stop.
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Where Not to put a Hide-a-Key

I went through a phase of locking my keys in my 1986 Honda CRX when I was in my teens. I invested in a Hide-a-Key at Canadian Tire and put it in a place I thought would be a sure-fire hiding place where it was hidden and the magnet latched on like was glued there. Turns out the top of the muffler isn't an ideal spot, all that remained the next time I locked my keys in the car was a black gooey residue where the Hide-a-Key once was.
Favorite Moment: 
The Italian part.
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The key to hiding a key on the outside of the vehicle.

The key to hiding a key on the outside of the vehicle. I'm absent minded too, but do not carry a purse. Hiding a key on newer cars is infinitely more difficult than before, but I have found a convenient procedure. It involves locating a conveniently accessible, removable rubber plug near the outside bottom of the vehicle body. FIRST, tie a short piece of string to the key. The other end of the string is glued to the inside of the rubber plug. The "Shoe-Goo" adhesive brand works great). SECOND, locate a good hiding place, easily accessible from the outside of the car, without getting "down and dirty." The initial locating procedure may be easier if the vehicle is on a lift. Typical locations near the underside of the body: there are rubber plugs used for sealing holes; i.e., 1) the underside of the bumper, 2) inside a fender well, or 3) along the bottom of a side-frame rail. Remove the plug (it should pull-out easily), and glue the string (tied to the spare key) on the INSIDE center of the plug's surface. Alternatively, you may be able eliminate the glue by wrapping a few turns of string around the portion of the plug that inserts into the hole. THIRD, remember to replace the key/ plug soon after use so that it may be useful in the future. Regards, Ethan
Favorite Moment: 
please see above.
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