Last Updated: Jan 16th 2017 at 12:55PM You may remember a video shown on Autoblog some years ago (Obama was still in the U.S. Senate – Ed.) where someone poked a hole in a tennis ball, lined up the hole in the ball with the keyhole of a car, pressed really hard, and the door unlocked. After reading your comments from that post we decided that it was definitely worth testing to see if this tennis ball technique works for ourselves. One of the commenters on this subject used pressurized air to attempt unlocking four different doors to no avail, and another used a plunger (we wish we had video of that), but no one tried a tennis ball like the video in question. Take a look at the video below to see what happened when we tested the use a tennis ball to unlock your car trick. We tried it on four different vehicles, and used two tennis balls, each with a different-sized hole in it to verify our findings. Check it out, and if you have a tennis ball and a screwdriver lying around the house, try it yourself and let us know in the comments if you got the same result we did.

We're guessing you probably will. These are the least reliable cars in America Best-selling automobiles of 2016 New Car Buying Guides Most and least efficient car companies Fastest-depreciating cars in the United States Find and compare 2017 Models NASA engineer brought on to work on Uber's flying car project Uber's latest option is a personal chauffeur Google Maps redesign puts traffic, transit, places, and more at the bottom of the screen 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Road Test 2015 Chevrolet Colorado: Does Anyone Like Door Lock Plungers? Granddad's Oldsmobile had them. So did mom's station wagon and my first car, a Ford Ranchero. I'm talking about golf tee-shaped door lock plungers. The kind that bruised your arm when you hung it out the window. The kind that thieves (and owners that locked their keys inside) could easily defeat with a bent coat hanger. The automakers' anti-theft response to this was the banishment of the tee-shaped head in favor of a textured cylindrical surface that fingertips could grip but coat hangers could not.

The revised plungers still had to stick up to accommodate grabbing fingers in the lock position, so arm welts remained an occupational hazard for window-down drivers. Meanwhile, the in-flooding Japanese competition tended to use a roller-action locking mechanism down by the inside door handle that instantly seemed like a better idea. I don't know why, but the use of plunger-style door locks seems old-timey and quaint in our 2015 Chevrolet Colorado, especially since our test sample has power door locks. To be fair, it's hardly alone in this. There are several others that go the same way. But does anyone really like or depend on them? What am I missing other than a well-developed sense of nostalgia? Here the manual locking mechanism is a necessity because the Colorado comes in Base and Work Truck configurations that don't come with power locks. In those versions you lock the truck with the plunger before closing the door. And it's easy to reach across and lock the passenger side if you see that it's unlocked.

But the Colorado's plungers are flush in the lock position. cost of andersen 400 series patio doorHooray for no arm welts, but how do you unlock a manual-lock Colorado from inside?garage door repair in ocean county nj You pull the door-opening handle twice, of course. 4 door jeep wrangler for sale in scThe first one unlocks the door and lifts the plunger, the second one opens it.bi fold door casing It works just the same in our power door lock-equipped Colorado, but there's generally no need. midland garage door sizes

The doors are set to auto-unlock — all four or just the driver's door — when the transmission is shifted into Park. garage door bottom roller off trackOr we can use the power unlock switch that's nearby. external oak doors leicestershireFor us the manual mechanism is a back-up system for when the power locks fail. Having said all of that, I prefer roller or lever-action manual locks located down near the inside release handle. I've never been a huge fan of any iteration of the plunger arrangement, aesthetically or otherwise. Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 3,386 miles See 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Inventory in Your Area Build and Price Your Car Used TMV from $17,213 Current Long-Term Road Tests 2016 BMW 340i xDrive 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata 2016 Nissan Titan XD 2016 Tesla Model X ebeaudoin's 2001 Toyota Camry Graham Peters' 2013 Mercedes-Benz B250 michaell's 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R PF_Flyer's 2014 Nissan Versa Note Roadburners's 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 Sandman's 2015 VW Golf SE TSI TX_Traveler's 2010 Toyota Prius Share your own long-term updates.Here's how to participate. Past Long-Term Road Tests 2014 Acura MDX AWD 2015 Acura TLX SH-AWD 2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon 2009 Audi A4 Avant 2015 BMW M235i Convertible 2014 BMW 328i xDrive Gran Turismo 2008 Buick Enclave CX 1987 Buick Regal Grand National 2011 Buick Regal CXL Turbo 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 2011 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 LT Crew 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LTZ 2007 Dodge Charger SRT8 2013 Dodge Dart SXT Rallye

2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT 2009 Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 2009 Dodge Viper SRT-10 2015 Dodge Viper GT 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 2008 Ford Focus SES Coupe 2013 Ford Focus ST 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 2015 Ford Mustang GT 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour 2008 Honda Accord EX-L 2007 Honda Civic GX 2010 Honda Insight EX 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS 2007 Infiniti G35 Sport 2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 2014 Kia Cadenza Limited 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo 1996 Lexus ES 300 2013 Lexus GS 350 2015 Lexus RC F 2006 Lexus RX 400h 2014 Mazda 3 S 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv 2014 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring AWD 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster 2011 Mini Cooper Countryman All4 2007 Mini Cooper S