Door Lock weakness??

[tasheido]

I'm very P%&ed off.. this is the second time some a$#%le nicks my R4, last time took a CD player and some other stuff that i had lying around. This time i caught the guy but he fled, fortunately he didn't take much( took a flashlight i had inside) . I try to keep the stuff inside to a minimum of uninteresting things. Well anyway i am posting to find out if there are (obviously there are) any known weaknesses in the door locks. I tried to study how could the guy possibly have done it. He didn't damage anything. so he either opened with the string or used some sort of leverage thru the gap between doors to open the lock catch. Do you guys have any idea on the How its done and how to prevent?.. maibe a 200dB car alarm.. ear zapper.

thanks in advance

 

[angel]

I have noticd that R4 door locks can be opened with a "random" key having the same key blank shape as your R4 (mostly Renaults, but also Peugeot). This is especially true if your car is old and the locks are "tired". Also the door can be fairly easy opened from the gap since the catch is not locked when you turn the key. Sadly I don't know a way to improve the door locking system...

 

[malcolm]

I'm not sure if it is a good idea to post ways of breaking into Renault 4s. Mind you, I never lock mine - I just make sure there is nothing interesting inside it.

Pressing the door button reasonably hard is a good way to get into a locked Renault 4, although you do have to straighten out the bit of metal that bends on the lock afterwards.

The security is horrible on the R4. At least it's easy to get in without causing damage. A friend with a VW Passat had his car broken into 6 weeks ago. It's still being repaired!

 

[Cuno]

I never used to lock my old R4 either, i didn't have the key. Ignition lock was replaced by a push/pull for ignition and the push button under the dash for starter motor. I had 4 failed attempts to steal the car, but no one figured out the way to start it. Security by obscurity, as the computer folks call it

Now i lock my car, since i've moved to rougher city and fear that some homeless bum wants it for toilet/hotel. Hopefully no one will try to break in...

 

[tasheido]

Hmm.. Clementine's probably right

Maibe not a good idea. good thing is that the guy never damaged anything. Usually i never leave stuff there, i don't even live in a tough area. I've gave it some thought and i have some ideas on how to improve the security to some point. but now i don't have ANYTHING in sight. not even useless stuff i have lying around like papers maps and stuff. Sorry about the post. i was kind of ..well let's say it wasn't my best day.

 

[Enrique]

This reminds me of an anecdote of a neighbour. Back in the 70s he bought a brand new lime green R4. He went to a supermarket and when he got out he opened and almost started another R4 by mistake, with his own keys. The owner was around and the situation was starting to turn bad. Funny part was that my neighour insisted that it was his car and told the owner "hey if you want to steal my car go ahead, but leave me alone". After it was all cleared out, and they saw the cars were identical, they shook hands and went for a beer. Today they are good friends, but they don't drive R4s anymore

 

[La Poste]

This is something which has been nagging away at the back of my mind for years! When I lived in one of the less pleasant bits of Coventry someone broke into my GTL and nicked the stereo, which came as little surprise to be honest, but what did surprise me is that they did it by opening one of the front windows. No damage to anything, no signs of anything having been forced, and the window had definitely been securely closed beforehand. I've no idea how they did it, but a couple of years later it happened again (no stereo to be nicked this time, so I don't know why they bothered). It seems that there is a way of getting in through the front windows, but despite having tried myself (purely in the interests of research) I'm still no closer to discovering how.