TruckHacks - Weak Door Lock

One night my car alarm went off, but by the time I'd gotten downstairs there wasn't anyone around. I looked over my truck but didn't see anything wrong. Figuring it was a false alarm, I went back upstairs to bed. The next morning with full daylight to help I noticed that the door lock cylinder had been punched in. While I think car alarms are a PITA, in this case it did exactly what it was supposed to and scared them off.

Click on the images for a bigger / higher resolution one with accompying text to point out some specific items.

You might be surprised to learn that the only thing standing between a thief and the inside of your vehicle is one or two screws held in by some pretty flimsy plastic. A quick strike to the lock cylinder from the outside of the vehicle with a screwdriver is all that's needed to break the plastic and give them immediate access to the inside.

 

You can see just how thin the plastic is where the screw goes into.

This image shows the plastic separation which allows the entire lock cylinder (not just the keyway) to rotate. By rotating the entire cylinder it will lock and unlock the door.

Connecting to the door handle are two rods. The longer opens the door latch once the door is unlocked so you can open the door. The shorter connects to the lock cylinder to unlock the door. Just pulling up or pushing down on the short rod is all it takes to unlock or lock the door.