Locked out of your car ? shoot into it with a slim jim . Oh , yeah !
A slender jim is a tool , usually made from a thin sheet of paper of metal or credit card , that snitcher into a car ’s door anatomical structure through the window gap ( by introduce it parallel and side by side to the chicken feed ) and actuate the mechanics that unlock a locked door . In some circle , this may be referred to as an " unlocking instrument . " Slim jims were originally designed in the geological era of non - powered ringlet ( the old mechanically skillful kind ) and worked by hook a wire inside the threshold bodily structure that liberate the lock . Now , in the eld of power everything , it seems like a slender jim might not be quite as utilitarian on a car with a more complicated pattern ; however , slim jim producer say that the prick will still solve on car withpower locks .
Of naturally , the slim jim was also contrive before motorcar airbags , and long before car manufacturers ( chase after high safety evaluation ) began stuffing airbags in every usable orifice . forward-looking machine doors have the added complication of side - impingement sensing element , which are the ones that trigger the airbags if your car is hit intemperately in the side . The precise location of these sensors varies a small from good example to good example ( as do the door lock constituent ) , and it ’s operose to imagine that most people , need to get into their locked car in a hurry , take the metre to actually track down and confabulate a diagram of their car doorway ’s inside workings to secure accuracy when they ’re fish around for the lock . It seems consistent that occlude a piece of alloy down into the door and blindly drudge around might inadvertently make impinging with the airbag components , which could , in turn , trip an unexpected deployment . All that said , though , it ’s still indecipherable how this urban legend took off . Many sources arrogate that it was a fire fighter in Ohio who was injured , or possibly even kill , after unintentionally deploying an airbag with a slim jim , but there are very few detail to be found .
An undated bulletin from theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA)explains further . After these rumour and concerns progress to the politics agency ( which is in charge of vehicle safe standards and testing in the United States ) , they sample to track down the Ohio firefighter account to verify that the incident actually occurred . They found nothing . The NHTSA then verbalise to some car manufacturer and they were eager to assure the general public that , essentially , there ’s no means a slim jim could make a side - impact airbag go off .
So no need to worry . If you interlock your keys in your auto , the side airbag wo n’t deploy when that tolerant fire-eater lend you his svelte jim . ( It also wo n’t deploy if a car thief is using a slender jim , for that subject . But tool companies are quick to mention that they only sell slim jims to dependent jurisprudence enforcement personnel , locksmiths and mechanics . ) safe news all around .
