My wife has this weird habit of leaving the house keys in the passenger side cup holder, just after hopping in to the car.

One of these days, she accidently closed the cup holder with the keys inside and now the cup holder won't open at all...

I tried prying it gently with a thin screw driver, but that didn't help...seems like the cup holder lock won't release..

Does anyone know, how to unlock the cup holder, if not how to get access to it from behind?

 

Sounds like the keys may be wedged between the cup holder and the side wall of the opening. Can you move the cup holder at all?

 

If I depress it, it'll go in a bit and come back out a bit, but won't come all the way out...

I'll post a picture shortly...I can hear the keys inside when the cup holder swings, but it won't open...even not after prying with a screw driver..

You are right, it seems one of the keys from the bunch got wedged between the wall and the cup holder...is there any easy way to get to it from the back/under...

There is a small black plastic fitting just underneath the cup holder (suppliments the parking brake release handle on the driver side)

I tried prying on that too, but that won't come out either...

 

Try to jiggle the cup holder door some to allow the keys to get centered in the holder. It should open then.

 

I'd take a whole saw drill a hole in it to remove the keys , I'd hate to force it open and break some of the assembly on the dash side that holds it in place. Then just buy a replacement door/holder through the parts department.

 

But boy! never get in to this mess again...this could easily become a very big and expensive project, and it is very easy to fall for it, just put something tiny in the cup holder, and shut it close...then drive a little bit, and you could easily have it stuck...

This is what I did - I bought a very thin but firm electrical wire, stripped it bare, twisted it at one end and fished it in to the cup holder...after some attempts of twisting, turning & inserting, the wire's twisted end latched on to the key chain.

I shook the keychain a bit with the latched wire, and volla, the cup holder finally budged...but it would only open half way...

But now, I could get a peek inside as to how the keys were stuck...

There are two openings in the inner side of the cup holder, and one of the keys had got stuck by protruding out of that opening towards the engine bay..esentially latching the cup holder shut....that's why the cup holder wouldn't budge.

I managed to slip the key out of the opening through the partially opened cup holder, and the cup holder then opened fully..and that was the end of the ordeal.

But, this could have easily resulted in some serious damage to the dashboard's innner components, or fittings..

I am happy to be out of it finally!

Question, why do they have those openings on the inner side?

 

could you get at it by taking out the glove box?

 

Didn't try it, but I can tell you one thing, even if you can get to it from the glove box, it may not be possible to unlock it if its stuck...you might be able to unscrew it and take the whole cup holder assembly out...and then maybe try and fix it, but it is built closed even from the inside (except for the two tiny openings that I found, that open in to the holder)

 

Thats why they call it a cup holder and not a key holder.
Looks like its time to beat the wife.
Just kidding!

 

It is indeed a stupid thing to do....I have had my ML for almost 4.5 years now...have never thought of using that cup holder for anything other than putting cups in it....

I got married last year, and it took my wife only 2-3 months of familarity with the ML to come up with this weird habit of dumping keys in the cup holder..

Funny though, I searched on this forum, and most other folks who had problems with front cup holders, had their wife do something with it....if its the rear ones, its usually the kids...

 

The cup holder is held in by some plastic "****". If you hit it down (by mistake of course) while its out it just pops out. It pops back in like Tupperware. No need to get medieval. Try it on the drive's side to see what I mean.

 

The only way is to remove the cupholder from the dash assembly and remove the keys that way. it is held it with 4, 5.5mm screws from the back side. the way I do it is remove the glovebox. remove the right underdash panel. removed the right side cover. Then GENTLY pull part of the lower dash out to gain access to the 4 screw (1 at each corner) once the cupholder is out try and remove the keys. you may have to break the assembly to get the keys out. if so just replace it....the 2000 ML cupholder does not the the little **** holding it in like the 98-99 MLs It needs to be removed

 

You are right, it is extremely difficult to get anything out of the cup holder, if it locks the cup holder from inside...

I fished a wire in, and with some twisting and turning, managed to latch it on the key chain...then shook it a bit, and the cup holder budged....it opened half way, and then I could get to the keys that were stuck inside. with some careful pulling on the keys, they came out.

My cup holder is working back as normal...must say though, the entire assembly is built pretty tough...it took some abuse from me when I was taking the keys out, and I was not expecting the cup holder to work anymore after that much of abuse, but it surprisingly worked fine after the keys had to be literally pulled out of the holder...