Locked keys inside

[bsimpson]

Have a 2015 3500 sprinter with the side bus style door (not a sliding side door). Unfortunately my son locked the keys inside yesterday. Can see them sitting between the 2 front seats. Any advice/tips on how to 'break in' to my own van? Is there any way to open the bus door without breaking it?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Kajtek1]

Are you talking about front passenger swing door?
I was adjusting mine and that thing has like 6 locking tabs around, so don't think easy to break in.
More likely a locksmith can put air bag on your driver door, create a gap for his long tool to reach the keys.

 

[bsimpson]

 

[Cheyenne]

Use your spare key

 

[bsimpson]

This is my sprinter- not sure if bus door is the correct name but this is what im talking about.

 

[Kajtek1]

Different door, than what I had, but I still think calling locksmith is good idea.
For few dollars savings, you don't want your van messed up.

 

[alunbell]

Is there any chance you could unlock the front doors using the mercedes.me app?

 

[Kajtek1]

Is there any chance you could unlock the front doors using the mercedes.me app?

Those things become available for MB sedans in 2015, when it took till 2020's to have them on Sprinters.

 

[vreihen]

Is there any chance you could unlock the front doors using the mercedes.me app?

Not on an NCV3. We can't even buy spare flip keys from the dealer unless all keys are lost!

Call a locksmith. They have burglar tools to break into a vehicle.....

 

[Maslin]

Slim Jim it. The driver side seems to be easier than the passenger side, for some reason.

Or call a tow company, they’ll have the door open in 30 seconds for a couple hundred dollars.

 

[autostaretx]

Would an electrician's steel "snake" get through the slider's door seal?
Then you could push it in to reach the keys.
(think of it as a professional "bent coat hanger", but it's far better than that.)

As @Maslin wrote, a tow truck driver (or AAA) would be able to open a front door in a minute or two.
The "slim jim" approach slides a flat steel shim down the inner surface of the door's window (hence the airbag to pry open the door frame) to attempt to manipulate the lock mechanism. I *think* the NCV3 Sprinter has a push/pull steel cable between the latch itself and the inside door handle, suitable for tugging/pushing by the shim.

--dick

 

[autostaretx]

If you had Kajtek's front door style, you could reach across the front seats with a snake and tug on the driver's inside door handle.
But you don't...

--dick

 

[3Play]

I hesitate to suggest this, but with many vehicles, the top of the front door frame can be carefully flexed outward and blocked into that position with enough gap to snake a fish tape across to the other handle, or lift the door lock, or in your case, maybe snag the keys.
I have done this quite a few times, but not on a Sprinter, the doors may be too stiff.
If you have AAA, now is a good time to use them.....
Another option is to remove one of the front fixed windows, not easy, but doable if you know what you are doing.
All these options put glass at risk, I like the locksmith option best if the others prove too difficult...

 

[Kajtek1]

Ditto on the top door frame flexing.
From what I know, slim jim doesn't work on MB, but I have seen it couple of times, how special air bag with hand pump can push the top of the door for a gap, where telescopic arm can slide.

 

[ECU]

I remember school bus drivers just prying on the two doors until they pop. Don't know if the tech is the same after 60 years.

 

[Kajtek1]

I think the door above is US addition, so it just might.

 

[jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com]

If there is any relevance, I closed my 06 T1N drivers door one time in my backyard with the key sitting there on the passenger seat and I heard that fatal click that locked all the doors. So close but so far from what I now had to deal with. There was my key a couple of feet away.

I pried the top of the passenger side door open enough to get a hanger through the insulation without tearing the rubber up. It just barely worked to retrieve my key.

My Sprinter came with three sets of fobs, and I had the two other fobs 'safely' stored inside where they did me no good. A lesson I only needed to learn once. My spare fobs are now stored in the van on out of town trips only.

I feel I need to store these extra fobs in special signal resistant bags when on a road trip, but it has never been an issue. Yet. My fob works fine with the extra sets hidden inside.

I used to have a door opening key without a fob that I could stash in my trunks while surfing. I haven't seen that door only key in a long time, and have missed paddling out almost as long. Such is life for us all in due time. haha

I believe the door contacts are to blame for my misfortune of living on the coast. A slight removal of oxidation on the door contacts can make the difference when you need it. Keeping a spare key or fob out of the van comes highly recommended.

 

[Maslin]

Would an electrician's steel "snake" get through the slider's door seal?
Then you could push it in to reach the keys.
(think of it as a professional "bent coat hanger", but it's far better than that.)

As @Maslin wrote, a tow truck driver (or AAA) would be able to open a front door in a minute or two.
The "slim jim" approach slides a flat steel shim down the inner surface of the door's window (hence the airbag to pry open the door frame) to attempt to manipulate the lock mechanism. I *think* the NCV3 Sprinter has a push/pull steel cable between the latch itself and the inside door handle, suitable for tugging/pushing by the shim.

--dick

There isn’t any block on the locking mechanism from the outside. You can just Slim Jim it Between the glass and the window seal, literally 10 seconds.

The cars have a plastic housing around the lock to prevent this, the vans are wide open.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

There isn’t any block on the locking mechanism from the outside. You can just Slim Jim it Between the glass and the window seal, literally 10 seconds.

The cars have a plastic housing around the lock to prevent this, the vans are wide open.

That's nuts.

Then again, I was just dismantling the front-back adjustment lock for a 202s manual front passenger seat. Talk about over engineering...

 

[lindenengineering]

Suggestion -Its wot we do!
Pop out the fixed 1/4 light in the passenger door, then reach in and open the door.
That "light" is the Achlles heal of Sprinters.
Brought to you by members of Linden's Scarlet Pimpernel Society.
BTW its very easy to refit once removed--none the worse for wear .
Dennis