History Main / HassleFreeHotwire

* Downplayed in ''Film/NationalSecurity'' when Martin Lawrence has to hotwire a car carried inside a semi trailer with a bit of struggle of having to know the design and the model year. He ends up turning on the wipers and then the alarm, letting the bad guys know something's up. Naturally, when Hank first asks him to hotwire the car, Earl bristles at the notion that all black people know how to hotwire cars.

* ''Film/TheBourneSeries'': Bourne hotwires a car really really fast in the trilogy. He's hurt, people are chasing him, and he still does it in less than ten seconds.
* Chev Chelio hotwires a car in ''Film/CrankHighVoltage'' with the usual movie method of ripping out wires in the car and connecting them.
* ''Film/CrimeThief'': Possibly the silliest example ever, when Jean steals a car by sticking a pen knife in the ignition.
* In ''Film/DantesPeak'' Pierce Brosnan's vulcanologist can hotwire a pickup in about two seconds.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance''.
--> '''[=McClane=]:''' You know how to hot-wire this thing?
--> '''Zeus:''' Of course I can, I'm an electrician. Only problem is...
--> [Zeus turns the ignition with his pliers]
--> '''Zeus:''' It takes too fuckin' long.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] again in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' with VoiceWithAnInternetConnection.
* In ''Film/Godzilla1998'', Philippe starts a car by just pulling out his knife, flicking out the key barrel, and jamming the knife in it's place.

* {{Averted}} in the second ''Film/TheMatrix''. [[ActionGirl Trinity]] has to ask their (literal) VoiceWithAnInternetConnection to make her able to do so via a (again, literal) PowersAsPrograms system. Of course [[spoiler:this proves unnecessary, as she's escorting a rogue computer program who literally [[PlotTailoredToTheParty has the ability to open any lock]]]].
* In ''Film/MyStepmotherIsAnAlien'' the alien starts "borrowed" cars just by touching ignition locks.
* A bit averted in ''Film/NationalSecurity'' when Martin Lawrence has to hotwire a car carried inside a semi trailer with a bit of struggle of having to know the design and the model year. He ends up turning on the wipers and then the alarm, letting the bad guys know something's up. Naturally, when Hank first asks him to hotwire the car, Earl bristles at the notion that all black people know how to hotwire cars.

** Arnold's Terminator never ''hotwires'' anything, he does one better. He smashes and rips away the steering column cover, along with the lock cylinder, and then turns the ignition lock shaft with his fingers, which was clearly shown in the [[Film/TheTerminator first film]], and then repeated again in the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay second]]. Incidentally, due to its strength the whole process literally takes it 5 seconds, about as fast as most people take to start a car with a key.
*** Subverted when he steals the police van in ''Terminator 2''; in that case he looks for, and finds, the spare key stashed in the sun visor, as a demonstration of his ability to learn.
** Kyle Reese easily hotwires a car in the first film as well. Presumably he learned these skills in his post-apocalyptic ScavengerWorld. Possibly justified in that the film is set in 1985 and the car he steals looks like a 1970s-era model, when many cars didn't have anti-theft mechanisms like a locking steering wheel.

* Averted in ''Film/VincentWantsToSea'': when Dr. Rose loses her car keys, Vincent's father has to hotwire her car and break the steering lock, which takes some time. This later causes them trouble when they get pulled over in Italy - the officer is understandably reluctant to believe they didn't steal the car, especially since Dr. Rose doesn't have ID with her.

* In the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' [[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Star Lord'', Duncan Kalma and Sir Trane end up having to hotwire a [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] in order to stop a raid. As one might expect, 'Mechs are usually secured with all manner of safeguads to prevent them from being stolen, but the pair manage to shanghai a ''Warhammer'' with very little trouble. Trane doesn't believe it could be that easy since modern technology makes grand theft Battlemech almost impossible, but Duncan explains that he realizes that this is a much older model, one old enough to be tricked by the simple combination of a strong magnet on the security computer and forcing all the important moving-and-shooting protocols to start and therefore take all the priority runtime before the anti-theft safeguards can kick in.
* ''Literature/CircleOfThree'': {{Discussed|Trope}} and {{Subverted|Trope}} when one character gripes that, just because she grew up in an OrphansOrdeal getting bounced between foster care and fending for herself, people expect her to know how to hotwire a car and {{MacGyver|ing}} a bomb out of NoodleImplements. In both cases, she cannot.
* Averted in the Creator/StephenKing story ''[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Dolan's Cadillac]]''. Not only does the narrator have trouble making it work (even after being shown how it's done), but King says in a note to the story that he deliberately wrote that scene incorrectly to avoid giving car thieves specific instructions on how to hot-wire.
* In ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]]'', Julia proves able to hotwire cars through on-fly BloodMagic, simply by cutting her thumb and touching it to the ignition - an early hint that she's had a lot more practical applications for her powers than Quentin and the others.
* The kids from ''Literature/MaximumRide'' are all able to hotwire cars with ease, thanks to training their sort-of adopted sort-of dad, Jeb, gives them. While Max tells the readers that it works nothing like how it's shown on TV, she refuses to go into specifics for fear of inspiring a bunch of readers to steal cars.

* Alice hotwires some very expensive cars when she and Bella are in Italy in ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]: New Moon''.
* In the ''Literature/{{Underdogs}}'' novel "Tooth and Nail", Mark, Kate, and Simon flee after their raid on Oakenfold Special School in a car that Mark hotwires in a few seconds.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Ghosts Of The Sargasso", The Pirate Captain is able to hotwire the X-2 on the first try, despite having never hotwired a hydrofoil before. He even points out how surprisingly easy it was.

* Implied in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', as stationary cars can be stolen and start up just as fast as ones taken while running. In the fourth installment, the player can see the protagonist duck under the dashboard to start the engine whenever he jacks a car outside of a mission; the process is mostly automatic once you press the gas button, but if you keep hitting it, your character will do it faster. The DS version of ''Videogame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars'' requires work on the touch screen to hotwire a car.

* Alice hotwires some very expensive cars when she and Bella are in Italy in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}: New Moon''.

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[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', Captain [=McCrea=], someone who's never done anything in their entire life, including standing, is able to hotwire the ship's public address system in a second with no thinking. One can argue that, since he's the captain, he should know a thing or two about the ship, but, then again, he needs help turning the pages of a book.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/Godzilla1998'', Philippe starts a car by just pulling out his knife, flicking out the key barrel, and jamming the knife in it's place.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
** Arnold's Terminator never ''hotwires'' anything, he does one better. He smashes and rips away the steering column cover, along with the lock cylinder, and then turns the ignition lock shaft with his fingers, which was clearly shown in the [[Film/TheTerminator first film]], and then repeated again in the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay second]]. Incidentally, due to its strength the whole process literally takes it 5 seconds, about as fast as most people take to start a car with a key.
*** Subverted when he steals the police van in ''Terminator 2''; in that case he looks for, and finds, the spare key stashed in the sun visor, as a demonstration of his ability to learn.
** Kyle Reese easily hotwires a car in the first film as well. Presumably he learned these skills in his post-apocalyptic ScavengerWorld. Possibly justified in that the film is set in 1985 and the car he steals looks like a 1970s-era model, when many cars didn't have anti-theft mechanisms like a locking steering wheel.
* {{Averted}} in the second ''Film/TheMatrix''. [[ActionGirl Trinity]] has to ask their (literal) VoiceWithAnInternetConnection to make her able to do so via a (again, literal) PowersAsPrograms system. Of course [[spoiler:this proves unnecessary, as she's escorting a rogue computer program who literally [[PlotTailoredToTheParty has the ability to open any lock]]]].
* In ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2003'', [[FinalGirl Erin]] hotwires the van.
* Bizarre DoubleSubversion in ''Film/ASoundOfThunder'': the protagonists encounter an SUV-like vehicle (this is the future, mind you). One of the scientists mentions it has a special lock, and starts listing all the equipment they will need to break it. However, before she can finish, the team's ''doctor'' breaks the window with his gun and hotwires it in a flash. When everyone stares at him dumbfounded, he just says "How do you think I put myself through medical school, hmm?" So... yeah.
* Chev Chelio hotwires a car in ''Film/CrankHighVoltage'' with the usual movie method of ripping out wires in the car and connecting them.
* In one of the ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' movies, Zed (a convicted criminal turned police officer) hotwires a car by ripping out the appropriate wires and ''biting them''.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] again in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' with VoiceWithAnInternetConnection

* In ''Film/DantesPeak'' Pierce Brosnan's vulcanologist can hotwire a pickup in about two seconds.
* One of the young punks in ''Film/TheWarpedOnes'' needs about ten seconds to hotwire a car before he and his fellow teen criminals can go to the beach.
* In ''Film/MyStepmotherIsAnAlien'' the alien starts "borrowed" cars just by touching ignition locks.
* ''Film/InTheMouthOfMadness'': When Trent tries to leave Hobb's End, his brainwashed partner [[SwallowTheKey swallows his car keys]] as they're being surrounded by a mob of ax-wielding townspeople. He uses a screwdriver to dig into the base of the steering wheel and activate his car that way.

* The kids from ''Literature/MaximumRide'' are all able to hotwire cars with ease, thanks to training their sort-of adopted sort-of dad, Jeb, gives them. While Max tells the readers that it works nothing like how it's shown on TV, she refuses to go into specifics for fear of inspiring a bunch of readers to steal cars.

* Alice hotwires some very expensive cars when she and Bella are in Italy in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}: New Moon''.
* Averted in the Creator/StephenKing story ''[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Dolan's Cadillac]]''. Not only does the narrator have trouble making it work (even after being shown how it's done), but King says in a note to the story that he deliberately wrote that scene incorrectly to avoid giving car thieves specific instructions on how to hot-wire.

* In the ''Literature/{{Underdogs}}'' novel "Tooth and Nail", Mark, Kate, and Simon flee after their raid on Oakenfold Special School in a car that Mark hotwires in a few seconds.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/AndromedaKlein''. Some of Andi's friends hotwire their parent's car with a screwdriver in the ignition, but they can't get it out of reverse gear. So they drive backwards on the highway all the way to a friend's house.

* ''Series/PrisonBreak'':
** In the episode "Flight", Sucre sings the song quoted above when attempting to hotwire a car. It doesn't work, however: turns out the car is missing its engine.
** Throughout series two and four the characters have little difficulty commandeering and obtaining vehicles undetected.
* Played straight and somewhat plausibly in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' when Giles hotwires his clunky old Citroen in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]". Not only is it an older car, it's implied that Giles, being a FormerTeenRebel, has a ''lot'' of experience hotwiring cars. He even says that it's "Like riding a bloody bicycle"[[note]] an old saying meaning it's something that, once learned, you never forget[[/note]].
* In one episode of ''Series/ICarly'', Spencer accuses Carly's new boyfriend of doing this after taking his motorcycle for a joyride before being told he left the keys in the ignition.

* ''Series/TheGrandTour'': May tries to invoke the trope by assuring Hammond he can hotwire a truck so he and the others can escape a SimulatedUrbanCombatArea. Instead, he electrocutes himself. Adding insult to injury, Hammond invokes KeyUnderTheDoormat on their next attempt, and successfully finds the keys in the truck's sun visor.
* ''Series/TopGear'': Richard Hammond fell victim to this in one challenge where the hosts all bought similarly-aged, second-hand BMW convertibles so they decide to test which one is in best condition. One test is how secure the vehicle still is. Hammond is smug as his car has been fitted with a secondary lock ''and'' an immobilisation system. His car ends up being the only one successfully "stolen" as the lock barrels have been worn down to nothing, so you could start it with any flat object.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In the first episode of Season 4, a mysteriously EscapedFromHell Dean hotwires a car he finds at an old filling station. Justified as the car is a few decades old, and Dean has been shown to know how to not only repair but completely rebuild classic cars.

* In ''Videogame/AloneInTheDark2008'', Edward can get in to any car around Central Park, pull a few wires out and there's a little minigame for you to get the right pair together. Can be slightly difficult when you've got a few enemies bearing down on you though.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Ren does it, only to realize that [[OhCrap a policeman is in the car and looking at him]].

* Some vehicles can be started by exploiting an engineering flaw. One such case is the Vauxhall Nova, which is done by removing the emergency light button, re-inserting it upside-down, and pressing it to start the ignition. This is demonstrated on Top Gear [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNdygguAMQA here]].
** Top gear also showed that if your key barrel is sufficiently worn a blank key may actually work to start it. Richard Hammond was very upset when it took less than 5 seconds for the "thief" to start his BMW and drive off.

In the current situation, now is time for action from a character, and that character needs wheels. A vehicle is nowhere in sight, so what does the character do? He hotwires the car in under five seconds and gets on his way.

That's where this trope comes from. When needed, everybody can hotwire a vehicle at any time. All they need to do is yank the protective covering off of the wires, rip out two of the wires and connect them together. This not only starts the car but it also defeats the steering column's locking mechanisms.

This may well be on the way to being a DiscreditedTrope, as more and more cars either require the key fob to be present before they'll start, or incorporate a necessary processor into the key itself.