W4XEN,
I thank you for taking the time to review the product.

Your review brought up two very good points:
Always know how to use anything you own.
After testing is the product really useful?

I would not want to tell anyone how to spend their money but your problems opening it call into question it's usefulness, especially in an emergency. I do not think it could be opened if someone was cold and / or injured.

For less then $15 there are a number of small firesteels and strikers that are designed to attach to a key chain.

A homemade solution would be to put a small firesteel into a tube or keychain pill bottle and attach it that way. Wrapping Jute around the firesteel first gives you tinder. Depending on the size of the tube you could wrap duct tape around it as long as you don't hinder opening the tube. The striker can be attached on its own small split ring so it can be pulled off by stepping on the keys and pulling (if you have to remove them one-handed.) Four feet of paracord can be braided into a key fob.