Midnight. I'm coming back from a trip. It's 8 degrees, and the gusty wind cuts to the bone. I take the shuttle to the economy parking lot, and luckily, my car is still there. I click open on my key fob, then I pull at the handle. Nothing. It's frozen shut. It snowed during my absence. There is no one around. (1) What do I do? (2) What should I have done to prepare for this?

In reality, I was able to find a door that wasn't frozen shut, and I was able to open the other doors by pushing from inside the car. Then I grabbed the deicing spray and sprayed down the winters. But how can winter travelers protect themselves?

Is this even a serious question?

It's winter. There isn't much you CAN do except put a tarp over the car or fork out the bucks to park inside. Bottom line is winter sucks and things freeze.

A decent tarp is 10 bucks. Problem solved.

I'm not sure it will work on the present generation of remote opening locks, but there used to be a light grease lubricant that you could inject into the key hole. It would spread to the inner workings and keep ice from forming and jamming the mechanism.

First place to stop is a local auto supply store and see what they have off the shelf. If nothing there, a call to the auto dealer service department might point you in the right direction.

Finally, I was never able to get the old trick of inserting a key into the lock, then heating the key with a lighter to work, but you never know. . .

With remote locks, if they're working, a frozen lock cylinder won't keep you out of your car. This was the door being frozen.

I've solved this a few ways. The hatchback in my girlfriend's car was the only way in, so I crawled forward and started the car from there a couple of times. My current car has a remote starter, so as it warms up from the inside the door can get a lot easier to open. If I can get to the ice scraper (sometimes the trunk is easier to open) I can use it as a chisel.

I would use a spray on Teflon lubricant on the weatherstripping on the doors.

Like this one:

Teflon Spray-on Lubricant

Note that one of the reviewers said they used it for this purpose.

If the de-icing spray works, you could wire a can of that somewhere out of sight
under the car.

I treat the weather seals on the doors of my vehicles with Silicon Spray about twice a year. This helps keep water from soaking into the foam rubber and freezing the doors shut. My fiance was having problems with frozen doors on her old Buick Century, and once I treated the door seals with Silicon Spray she hasn't had trouble since.

Teflon would probably work just as well. Make sure whatever you use dones't have any oil-bases solvents - Stick with pure Silicon Spray, or it could actually degrade the seals.

I use silicone spray on all rubber trim and lithium grease on lock cylinders every year before winter, never had a door/lock freeze so far.

I suppose, depending how much of a jam you're in, you could always try and thaw the lock by urinating on it...

granted, this method works easier for some than others.

But BWS48 has the right idea - there's some product out there for this problem. I've never tried Jzmtl's or RNewcomb's methods.

Equipped to unlock frozen car door

Sorry, couldn't resist.

-john

In my experience there are two things that cause car doors to freeze shut in extreme cold: one is rain (or wet, melting snow) followed by extreme cold and wind. The other is washing your car, and parking it soon afterward and then a big temperature drop.

The 'carwash freeze' is the worst, and all doors and windows and trunk could be compromised. You might have to pick a door and pry it open with a wooden shim. This can be avoided by driving the car for 20 miles or so with the heater on before parking.

The rain/freeze can be mitigated somewhat by parking the car in the sun so only one side faces the prevailing wind. The other side will not freeze.

Returning to a thread I started last winter...

As it turned out, I was away on business during the big freeze these past several days. Anticipating snow, I silicone lubed the rubber trim on the doors. At the airport, I parked the car at the (uncovered) economy lot, and I hide a can of deicer under the car. As it turned out, the snow wasn't terrible at my airport. However, there was enough ice on the windshield that it took a bit of time.

What I didn't expect was that the water dripped down from my car and froze on the can of deicer, completely encasing the spout and button. Fortunately, a few whacks with a knife took care of it. I almost looked really stupid: a deicer rendered useless by ice!

I had a similar problem just the other day. The padlock was OK but the hinges were encased in ice. I needed a shovel to break things up. Pretty minor compared to parts of the county where it looks like entire states are encased in ice.

the canoe racks that stay on my old Kanoe Kar year round don't fit %100,they are from another car long gone.so in summer i get a bit of water past the extra gasket i put on the door.
in the winter it's WD40 and a crowbar......

I never thought I "needed" remote start, but the "return to the airport" after bad weather scenario is where this really shines.

I can start the Jeep from the plane once we land or from baggage claim. The key fob has pretty good range, but The UConnect app on my phone can connect to the Jeep from anywhere I have internet. By the time I get to it, the windows are cleared, it's warm enough to probably soften the ice around the doors, (at least so far I've never had stuck doors.) Toasty warm heated seats and steering wheel. Man I'm getting soft. Now if it could drive me home while I nap...

Self driving cars are on the horizon. California is reputedly preparing the regulations which will allow field testing in just a few years.

What do you do with this combination? Most people seem to use wood shims to avoid damaging the door.

Do I need to pack a little prying bar?

You don't pack a pry bar?

If the door is frozen, don´t pry, but push the door in a little bit (should be a little play in there), repeat as needed. This will brake/weaken the ice and will loosen the door.

Keep the locks lubricated and just in case if it freezes. A little bottle of lock anti-freeze is always handy to fix a frozen lock(unless you stored the bottle in the car).

Returning to my car from the theater with my wife one winter night, I was annoyed to find my (driver's side) door lock frozen over.
Cursed, tugged, even torched it a bit with a bic. No joy. Just when I was ready to look over the top of my car to my wife, the door opened.... "what are you doing out there, she said".

Seems as if HER door was fine. She got in, sat down, and waited to see why I was dancing about in the cold. When she got bored, she pushed open my door from the inside. No problem. Much humiliation, though.

My then-girlfriend-now-wife's little two-door hatchback had both the driver's and passenger's door frozen over severely, but I was able to lever open the hatchback. While crawling through to the front wasn't easy, the difficulty was multiplied by the need to shut the hatch behind me.

The car I drive now has remote start -- I will get this for every car I own moving forward.