man accidentally steals van. really!

[mojo]

http://www.kmov.com/news/News_OffBeat/kmov_offbeatnews_020319_samekeys.5ad5a0e.html


Same keys, different van
03/19/2002

Lincoln, Nebraska (AP) -- It was a case of mistaken identity for Hishan Alsaad.

He borrowed his cousin's van for a run to the store in Lincoln, Nebraska. But when he drove the van back, Alsaad wondered what happened to his cigarettes.

It turns out he was driving the wrong van. The make and color were the same -- and even the keys worked. But the van belonged to someone else.

Alsaad and his cousin reported the weird coincidence to police. Meanwhile, the owner of the van had reported it stolen.

Officers tested the keys and found they worked in both vans.

Alsaad says everyone laughs when they hear his story. :spock:

[WhiskeyPapa]

Same thing happened to my mom's coworker. Same story: borrowed vehicle, got in the wrong car, keys worked. But she realized her mistake before she got out of the parking lot.

Everyone assumes their keys are one-of-a-kind, but I think I read somewhere there are only about 200 unique keys for each ignition style.

[Nanotech9]

when we were over in spain (on the Is of Tenerife), my parents had an '85 honda accord, grey on grey.

one weekend we went and got some groceries, came back out, and all piled into "our car" (after loading the groceries in teh trunk and everything).

right before we backed out to leave, we started noticing things that werent ours - like a map, missing pockets on the backs of the drivers seats, and a small dent in the side...

turns out, it wasnt our car.

also seems to be, that there were only 2 grey 5spd, fuly loaded, '85 honda accord EX's on the island, and our key worked in both. (well, thats what the dealer told us when we bought our car - that tey had only imported two in that make / color etc.)

freaky.

[Kim]

oops! :)

[whitak24]

that is weird. i mean, 200 unique keys/ignition styles means that there's a pretty minimal chance of that happening. i'm kind of wondering if there are actually fewer unique keys than that.

similar story: when i was about 12 or so, my mom, brother and i were shopping at a plaza by our house that had walmart and a few other stores. my mom left us at walmart, parked the car, and we were supposed to meet her at another store after we were done shopping.
so we got done shopping and we were going to leave our bags in the car before going into the other store. but we couldn't get the car unlocked. eventually, we figured out that it was a different car that looked like ours, and we felt like idiots :heh: (although it was dark, so it wasn't _so_ bad)

[Jenny]

hehehe That's funny.

I had a male friend in high school (not boyfriend, just friend that was a guy) who had the same make & model of car that I did. A Ford Taurus. Mine was an 89, but I can't remember if his was, too, or a different year. They weren't the same color, so we couldn't mistake it for each other's, but our keys worked in each other's cars. lol We found it greatly amusing at the time. :heh:

[LPMiller]

that's really common with Fords, actually. you can usually get into a ford with any key made within the same year, by sliding it back and forth as you turn it. Part of the price for making keys keyed the same on both sides.

[dbax791]

The same thing happened to me in college. I was at work and when I went out to the parking lot my car was gone. I told my manager and he called the police, the cops came, and I filled out a stolen car report.

Turns out one of the waitresses let one of the waiters at work borrow her car. She said "Its the Toyota out in the parking lot". Well since I had a Toyota at the time he jumped in my car and her keys worked. He was actually "wanted" by the authorities for a few hours.

[Jenny]

Originally posted by dbax791
The same thing happened to me in college. I was at work and when I went out to the parking lot my car was gone. I told my manager and he called the police, the cops came, and I filled out a stolen car report.

Turns out one of the waitresses let one of the waiters at work borrow her car. She said "Its the Toyota out in the parking lot". Well since I had a Toyota at the time he jumped in my car and her keys worked. He was actually "wanted" by the authorities for a few hours.


:heh: funny!

[leemaj]

a while ago, someoen tried to open the trunk of our 84 camry, but their key didnt work, so they tried and tried and realized it wasnt their car. the trunk didnt open from the outside anymore. so either they did that or they were just tryhing to steal the car.

another story: same car, my dad left it unlocked at night. someone comes, opens the car, steals the cell phone, and leaves. this is kinda creepy cuz we live in a cul de sac, so why would anyone be searching for an unlocked car? beats me.


edit: this was back in the day when a cell phoen was not very common, and only business people had it

ask zcloydster about his truck and a guy named johnny b.

[xsiled2]

Originally posted by LPMiller
that's really common with Fords, actually. you can usually get into a ford with any key made within the same year, by sliding it back and forth as you turn it. Part of the price for making keys keyed the same on both sides.

the moral of this story: dont buy fords

[psycho-]

Originally posted by xsiled2


the moral of this story: dont buy fords

The moral of any story is not to buy a GM Car.

IT's called "Gawd...what are they thinking!?!?!"

[brain]

That happened with our 92 Honda Accord EX.

[whitak24]

Originally posted by psycho-


The moral of any story is not to buy a GM Car.

IT's called "Gawd...what are they thinking!?!?!"
since buying my buick, i have decided that GM = Generally Mediocre :heh:

[dbax791]

Originally posted by DarkFury
This is why you put an alarm on your car... Even if the key works, they still wouldn't be able to shut the system off...

(Unless they can find where the "kill switch" is... then you would be screwed...)

Bah! I HATE car alarms. I was just at the airport in "Economy" parking, and these idiots left their car alarms on. Oh by the way, the parking lot is adjacent to the south runway.

Folks a hint, a landing 747 + a car alarm don't mix. Every 3 mins while I was waiting for the shuttle "BRAAP BRAAP BRAAP BRAAP Whoo Whoo Whooo BRAAP BRAAP".:angry:

[boba world]

For some reason, old Toyota car keys work on other older toyotas all the time.. had lots of fun with this back in the days..