How did they do it?
 

My son lives in San Francisco and his 01 Tacoma was stolen the night before last. He called the police and they filed a report. Yesterday afternoon his girlfriend was checking the impound website and there it was. He had to produce the police report or it was going to cost him $600 to get it released. To his surprise there wasn't any damage to the ignition or glass. When he opened the door the chimes went off like the key was in the ignition. His key only went halfway into the ignition but was able to turn and start the engine. After that his key went all the way in. My question is, how did they start the engine without damaging the ignition switch. Maybe he forgot to lock the truck but he says he always does. How did they get in without damaging the lock or breaking a window? Who killed Kennedy? Why are we here? So many mysteries.

Terminator stole the truck. Liquid metal type. Made a key out of their finger and started truck.

Was Jimmy Hoffa in the trunk?

glad he got it back.

i'm not saavy enough for a life of crime. i have no clue.

True story, a friend of mine back when we were in skool in Boston had a vanilla jane 80's Chevy econo****box that would randomly go missing for days at a time. Only to be found in the neighborhood parked somewhere. No damage, and... the doors locked! The popo finally allocated resources, caught the perps. They were using it for drug transactions.

As to your riddle, when you have some time, grab pizza, beer, and pull a chair up to your computer. Take a ride on the internet!

No single piece of information out there on a *topic* is enough to wholly solve the riddle you ask. But with patience and perusal you should be able to piece things together from multiple sources to get you ever so close but not quite. Then if you took industrial arts in middle skool and not home economics, still have all your fingers and toes, you should be able to have an *idea* as to the final part of your riddle.

Who knows, you may even consider a career change with the new learned skillz!

maybe jammed a slim screwdriver into the ignition that did not leave evident external damage

Perhaps they just had a giant ring of Taco keys and found one that worked well enough?

My old landlord who stole vehicles, had all sorts of ways to aquire keys. He could look at the cuts of a key, and memorize it, then easliy reproduce it later that evening .
He also had an inside guys at a few dealerships , who could make keys off vin #'s. This was 15 years ago, I bet there are some smart crooks out there , and high tech ways to do it now .
Has any body had the vehicle in their possession lately ? Shop, valet, .
I keep wondering how long before people will be 3d printing keys.
Also, saw on tv a few weeks back, the car theives can read your keys transponders from outside your home, or auto, and open door , and start cars without any key .
This would not apply to a 2001 taco though.
They may have even slim jimmed, or air bagged the door open, then raked the lock with a paper clip.
My locksmith buddy is not a very sharp guy,yet , he can open a lot of locks, by feel. Its pretty interesting.
I am not sure if that old yota has any sort of theft system. I think my 04 did.

Our cars were broken into a few years ago, everyone single one of them on one side of the street for the entire block. The bastards took everything including our baby clothes. Not a single trace of force entry. They must have some electronic device that open doors

Not needed here. You simply rub the bottle and say "I summon fastfredracing. I summon fastfredracing."

On the other end of the spectrum, the day I brought my Speedster from my old place to the new one I drove all the way over there (45 miles) and realized I had forgotten the key. I still had some tools in the old garage, including a test wire (16 gauge wire with aligator clips on each end). I unscrewed the bezel and pulled the ignition switch down under the dash. Hooked up the clips, used a screwdriver to short across the starter contact, and I was off.
It would have been very interesting if I had been stopped. Driving a valuable collector car that is obviously hotwired, no registration or proof of insurance, and the driver doesn't live at the address shown on his driver's license.

Cops would have never caught you.

The cable to his hood release is bad from 4years of east coast salty roads. It releases but won't re latch. On the list of fixes. The perps popped the hood for some reason and didn't take or damage anything. Maybe that has something to do with how they started it. It is a stick shift so maybe they rolled started it after messing with wiring under the hood. Just a guess.

Lock was probably picked. Key wouldn't insert very far because lock wafers are in position already for the lock to be in the unlocked position. Once picked into position #1 (radio works, etc.) it can be turned with a srewdriver into position #2 (windows, fan, ignition, etc.) and into position #3 to engage the starter & will then spring back into #2 to drive the vehicle. You can then turn the ignition switch back to #1 position to kill then engine. As long as you're careful to not turn the ignition past #1 to lock, you can continue this indefinitely (as long as battery doesn't drain if some things remain on).

The ignition lock on an '01 Toyota is hardly high security...an old school wafer lock cylinder that can be picked fairly easily. There are no transponder chips in the key or other security devices, so it's straightforward.

I used to be a locksmith apprentice and worked closely with a master locksmith for a while but decided it was better as a hobby rather than a livelihood. Got safe & vault technician training which was pretty cool but ultimately there are too many 'smiths chasing too few dollars.

I believe you have solved the riddle. Thanks

A lock is just a basic first line of protection.
There are plenty of mechanical and electric lock pick guns on the market but I've never tried it.
One bar under slight pressure turns the cylinder and one bar flicks the pins into release alignment.

I think worn Toyota keys were rumored to be highly universal back in the 80's.
Thus the ranking of #1 stolen in big cities.

01 Taco wouldn't be too different than my 99 Camry. When you disconnect the battery it cycles the power locks when you reconnect it and leaves them unlocked. No alarm so it wouldn't go off doing this.

And not sure on the Taco but on a Camry you can pop the hood from the outside without using the cable release inside. Just reach in the grille and pull on the lever and the hood is open. It's an easy and quick way to get into the car if you lock your keys inside (if you're honest) or to unlock it to get inside without breaking glass if you're not.

You have probably read the "story" about a guy that had an old 911 chained between two trees. Nose chained to one tree and tail/motor chained to another. His other 911 was stolen off the property. However the one between the trees was unchained, reversed nose to tail, re-chained and locked.

Note on the dash said "When we want it, We'll come and get it."

I have replaced ignition key tumblers with new keys on older cars. About $50 for the gear.

Deal is you need to insert the original key into the original tumbler and turn it to "accessory" and depress a pin to extract. Suspect if you can get that point without a key you could start the car also.

had a jeep stolen about 10 years ago and that's how they did it. found the truck my self abandoned in a nasty part of town. they ran it out of gas. i put a gallon in, inserted key and drove away

they did mangle the door trying to unlock it rather than just break the window