How to open the hood when you can’t open the car

3 minute read

Battery died on the CC after not driving it during quarantine. The car was also locked so I couldn’t get to the hood latch to get to the battery. Unfortunately the backup key inside the key fob was missing. The key ring loop that attaches to it and had broken on the original. I replaced it a while ago with a new dummy key with a functional key ring loop. the original was nowhere to be found.

I pulled the emblem off to see if there was a hole in the latch where I could pop a lever or something but the whole latch mechanism is hidden behind a plastic peice.

I jacked up the driver side a bit so I could pry back the mud guard. You’ll need a driver with a torx bit to pull some of the screws.

If you pull it back and look towards the front of the car you will see a cable with plastic ribs on it. This is the hood release cable. It’s a little hard to see in the picture.

I used the pliers to grip it very hard. Then give it a few hard pulls outwards. The plastic ribs will probably crumble off exposing the steel braided cable part. Do it the right way and your hood will pop open.