History Main / HassleFreeHotwire

** Kyle Reese easily hotwires a car in the first film as well. Presumably he learned these skills in his post-apocalyptic ScavengerWorld.

* In the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' [[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Star Lord'' ([[NamesTheSame no, not]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy that one]]), 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.

[[folder:Newspaper Comic Strip]]

[[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, so... yeah.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Planet 51}}'', Chuck is able to hotwire an ''alien'' car with pretty much zero hassle. Later on Lem is able to do the same despite only having watched Chuck perform the hotwire once (though his case is ''slightly'' more realistic given that he's likely to be more familiar with hovercars than Chuck).
* In ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'', Stitch hotwires not only Cobra Bubbles' car, but Jumba's ''spaceship''.

* [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfFoxTayle Fox Tayle]] attempts this once or twice when the FBI is chasing him.

* Alice hotwires some very expensive cars when she and Bella are in Italy in ''[[Literature/{{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.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Nearly every episode of ''Series/TwentyFour''.

* ''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.

[[folder: Newspaper Comic Strip]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in one episode, Bart gives Grandpa advice on how to hotwire a car.
* [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren]] does it, only to realize that [[OhCrap a policeman is in the car and looking at him]].

[[folder: Real Life]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'', [[GadgeteerGenius Molly]] can [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100629.html hotwire alien spaceships.]]

* Played straight and somewhat plausibly in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' when Giles hotwires his clunky old Citroen in "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 the ''Literature/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' novel ''Star Lord'' ([[NamesTheSame no, not]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy that one]]), 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.

** Kyle Reese easily hotwires a car in the first film as well.

** 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 it's strength the whole process literally takes it 5 seconds, about as fast as most people take to start a car with a key.
** Kyle Reese hotwires a car in the first film as well.

[[folder: Videogames ]]

* 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 the start the ignition. This is demonstrated on Top Gear [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNdygguAMQA here]].

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

* 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. * 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.