How To Get Into (or Out Of) A Corvette with a Dead Battery (C6, C7 or C8 Corvettes)

Since 2005, a dead battery can keep you locked out of or stuck inside a Corvette. Here’s what you need to learn!

The C5 generation Corvette was the last to come with mechanical door locks. Starting with the C6 in 2005 GM built all Corvettes with electronic door locks. Most of the time these are extremely convenient, and you can easily open the doors, trunk, and frunk of your Corvette. However, if you have a dead battery these electronic door locks become extremely inconvenient. In fact, it could even prove deadly. A few years ago, a man and his dog in Texas were tragically killed when they were trapped inside his 2007 Corvette with a dead battery. He was not aware of the backup procedures that he could use to escape the car. That is what we will be covering today.

We are going to show you how to get into and out of a C6, C7 or C8 Corvette. We will include getting access to the trunk or frunk. For the most part, the generations have very similar procedures. But they vary slightly so we will give a dedicated overview of each generation for you. Nothing here is very difficult at all. No tools or special skills are needed. You just need to have the knowledge. And to further aid you in the process we have linked a couple of YouTube videos below for you. There is one for each generation.

C6 – Opening Trunk and Door from Outside

If you are outside of your C6 Corvette and the battery has died the key fob will not work.

To gain access to the trunk you will need to –

• Remove physical key from your fob by pressing on the key release button
• Locate keyhole just above rear license plate on rear bumper
• Insert key into the keyhole and turn to open the trunk
• Locate door release cable on drivers’ side inside the trunk
• Pull on the release cable and your drivers’ side door will open

C6 – Opening Door from Inside

In this scenario, you are already inside your Corvette. However, the door is shut and there is not enough juice to operate the electronic door opener. Or the part simply failed.

To get out –

• Locate the emergency door handle on the floor near the door sill by the front of the seat
• There is one of these handles on each side of the car
• Pull the handle up and it will pop the door open for you

C6 Video

C7 – Opening Trunk and Door from Outside

If you have a C7 generation Corvette, the steps are nearly identical to the C6. However, we like to be thorough here at Corvette Forum so we will provide a guide just for you C7 folks.

If you C7 has a dead battery and you need to open the trunk or doors from the outside you need to –

• Remove physical key from your fob by pressing on the key release button
• Locate keyhole just above rear license plate on rear bumper
• Insert key into the keyhole and turn to open the trunk
• Locate door release cable on drivers’ side inside the trunk
• Pull on the release cable and your drivers’ side door will open

C7 – Opening Door from Inside

Again, this is very similar to the C6 procedure, and it is very simple.

To get out –

• Locate the emergency door handle on the floor near the door sill by the front of the seat
• There is one of these handles on each side of the car
• Pull the handle up and it will pop the door open for you

C7 Video

C8 – Opening Trunk and Door from Outside

Now with the C8, the procedures are a bit different compared to the C6 and C7 generations. Once again we will begin with the scenario where you are outside of your car and the fob to open the door or frunk will not work because of a dead battery.

To gain access you need to –

• Remove physical key from your fob by pressing on the key release button
• Locate keyhole in the air scoop on the drivers’ side
• Insert key into the keyhole and turn to open the door
• To open rear trunk, locate the keyhole behind rear license plate
• Insert key into the keyhole and turn to open the rear trunk
• To open front trunk (frunk) locate cable loop
• The cable loop is about 3 inches to the left of where the steering column meets the firewall
• Pull the cable loop to open the frunk

C8 – Opening Door from Inside

This procedure is largely the same as it is on the C6 and C7 cars.

But once again, to get out of the car you need to –

• Locate the emergency door handle on the floor near the door sill by the front of the seat
• There is one of these handles on each side of the car
• Pull the handle up and it will pop the door open for you

That is all there is to it. You should now be able to easily get into and out of any C6, C7, or C8 Corvette even if it has a dead battery.

C8 Video

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