Car will not unlock at all with fobs or keys
 

My mom has been having this problem off & on for a while. I now have her car stuck in my driveway as it will not unlock at all.. The key will not turn in the door at all & neither fob will unlock it. I am trying to avoid towing it in to the dealer & wondering if anyone else has had this issue? It has got to be the door itself I assume since both fobs nor key work. I did run into this with my brand new terrain last winter, i was stuck IN the car & couldn't open the driver door from inside or outside. Thinking this is a major GM flaw? I keep randomly trying her clickers to see if it unlocks as that is what she has done before & suddenly it works, like the time in the grocery parking lot while my dog was stuck inside.. This is extremely annoying & she should be able to use her auto start without fear of not being able to go anywhere! I really hope others can shed some light on how often this occurs. Thank you!!

I have never heard of it before!

AAA? locksmith? fob broken? battery dead? My insurance policy includes lockout service, maybe hers does?

What year ? 2006 you may need new fob batteries. 2011 maybe not.

When you try the fob, do you hear anything trying to work in the door ? If yes, have you checked the other doors or the hatch to see if they unlocked ?

Has the ignition recall work been done ? If so, it should be a new key.

GM flaw ?....No. A Terrain and a HHR use completely different lock mechanism parts.

The key slot in the door requires periodic lubrication else gets dirty and the key won't work - give it a shot of WD-40, or such, to flush it out and try the key again.

Ignoring a flakey key fob will lead to either a dead battery in the fob, or a broken battery hold-down part inside the fob will eventually fail - both resulting in a dead fob.

Whispery just a simple question......

Your Mother's car, has it been neglected in maintenance? You mention it has been having trouble with the fob's and key condition for a while. Has it EVERY been taken to an independent or Chevy dealer for correction or repair?

Has there been other electrical or mechanical problems repaired or neglected?

The FOBs....will they operate the auto start, if it has it? How about the horn?

Hers is a 2009, the other one is a 2011 that one has had no issues other than the famous recall.. Now that i mentioned it to dad they both have new keys!! I am going to see if his key works in his because if it doesn't they need to fix that little problem. They maintain their vehicles better than most people feed their children. ( trust me I know this for a fact) :lol: One of moms fobs is relatively new as it broke when replacing the battery a year or 2 ago. Both of them do not work so its not the fobs. they lock fine just no unlock. auto start works.
When using the fobs you hear nothing at all trying to work. Well without sticking your ear to the frozen side ( its winter here) I live by a freeway sooo.. noise is kind of a way of life. I am going to go tinker with dads while he is here. Will update!! TY for the ideas!! :thumb:

Your profile says 2006 model.

Did anybody think that when it happened before to fix it? I would call that maintenance. Could have been a sign that things were getting buggy.

The linkage has been known to get hung up/broken.

Some have reported that the new keys from the recall don't work in the door. Two possible causes for that 1) idiot parts/technician and 2) somebody changed the locks previously.

Since the new keys and ignition cylinder are made to VIN, it is possible that somebody had replaced the door lock and the ignition with parts not keyed to the VIN.

I had to take the edge off of my new keys after I sent my HHR in for the recall. It was tricky to open the door until I did this.:smile:

I'm guessing the key cyl is rusted up and not turning or you have the wrong key.

If the recall was done it is possible and had happened that when coding the recall lock cyl they got it wrong and the new keys won't work in the door.

The key fob I will bet the contact for unlock pad is bad. You can take the key fob apart and use the lock pad over the unlock contact on the key fob board and I will bet you the car will unlock.

One other thing if you have On-Star, you can have them unlock the car with a phone call.