If you ve had your car for a little while you probably don t think too much about your car door handle until one day you grab the door handle to get in and it feels off you can t quite place it but it just doesn t feel right the handle seems to operate but it s as though the door is still locked.
Coin in car door handle.
Then they wait for the car owner to show up and follow the owner home.
Completely unaware of what has just taken place.
The thief jams a coin into the door handle on the car s passenger side.
Last updated on january 11th 2016.
So if a penny or coin were thick enough to unlatch the door handle you d receive a door ajar dashboard alert.
Coins in car door theft warning there has been no rash of car or property thefts due to nickels or pennies jammed in door handles and car experts say that warnings about them are implausible.
When the owner tries to lock the car the mechanism fails because the passenger door handle is jammed which gives the thief the ability to enter the car through the unlocked door.
Modern cars have separate door latch sensors for each door so you d immediately know if the sensor s circuit weren t completed.
In other words the computer is fooled into thinking that the door is ajar.
The driver will leave.
Some analysts state that this action disables the central locking mechanism of the vehicle.
Then when you re ready to lock your car the coin will keep the latch from locking properly leaving it open for thieves.
The thief doesn t even have to follow you anywhere.
The coin is slipped between the handle and the door.
Here s how it works.
The way the sensors work can vary.
Thus crafty thieves place a coin then lay in wait to follow the victim to wherever they are going.
They can just wait until you come home from work blissfully unaware that the coin is still lodged in the car door and steal your car when you go inside for the night.