I have a parking pass for work which opens the gate at the parking structure I use. It is approximately the size of a credit card but a bit thicker. I used to keep it velcroed to the windshield but am leasing my current vehicle and didn’t want to put the adhesive velcro patches on the glass. I usually just set my pass up on the dash and then put it in my cup holder once I leave work but today I forgot… The result is as I was rounding a curve my pass slid across the dash and slipped down a gap in the middle of the dash where the glass and dash meet. I am not sure if its in the vent or some where underneath the dash. Any ideas to get it out without taking it to the garage to get the dash taken out?
try a long ruler. the thinner, the better. sometimes you can find a metal one that is very thin.
use this and run it along your dash to see if you can locate the car still stuck in the crevice. if so, use this ruler to pull it up and out. voila, you have become very lucky.
if you do not find it with this “soft/sliding” approach, you card has dropped down and fallen farther than you can reach. aside from drilling pilot holes to visually see where it could be, then filling them back up with epoxy later…you may need to pull the dashboard off
if you are handy, you can do it yourself. look up youtube.
You can try a shop vac to see if it can pull it out but in reality just get a new one if tht doesn’t work. We used the key cards for the doors and garage door and it was not unusual that someone would lose or break theirs and we’d just replace it. Its less than $10 to replace and cancel the old one. Happens all the time. Some people liked to use those colorful springy wrist bands to attach to their cards or the neck lanyards.
It probably went down the defoster vent.
The dash doesn’t need to removed. Just unbolted so that it can be pulled back without disconnecting anything so the defroster duct can be removed to retrieve the card.
Tester
Use a mirror to see if you can see the card. If it’s seen, you can snag it with a flexible grapple.
Combine the above ideas with turning on the defroster ventilation fan to max speed too. It might provide just be enough air speed upwards to push the card in the vent high enough that you can get it. Otherwise expect some disassembly will be required.