bsewall

Car's battery is dead.

I think the fuse for the central locking pump is blown, so even if I can get power, I can't unlock the doors.

The mechanical locking mechanism on the two front doors seems to be broken or disconnected, so even with the main key the doors won't unlock.

The trunk does unlock, so I have access to that.

The rear folding seats are unlocked, but latched. It doesn't have the small pass-through for skis, but it does split in the middle and I can push to get in between them a bit.

What's the best way to manually get to the door handles on the inside so the doors unlock? Those are mechanically connected, so it should do the trick.

Is there a way to detach the upper rear deck from the trunk so I can unlatch the fold-down seats and crawl through to unlock the door? Or is the only course of action to try to get a clothes hangar or something through the split in the rear seats and loop around the door handle?

Thanks for the help!

4Driver4

Why not use a blow gun instead of the pump. Gently blow the buttons up.

twentysevenlitres

The key in the front door locks should be mechanically connected to the lock mechanism.
During a central locking pump failure, or flat battery, it is still possible to unlock the doors individually.
If you're absolutely sure you can't manually open either door (which I find to be an unlikely scenario), you might get away with some kind of wire rig via the boot, but it'll be very fiddly.
I'd also try to release the split-fold somehow.

With access to the boot, you could look at getting the pump repaired, then hotwiring it to manually unlock the car...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AUDI-A3-A...f769071&_uhb=1

Edit:
That's not a bad idea - the hose is simply pugged into the central locking pump, can be removed (carefully) with a screwdriver.

bsewall

Thanks for the advice.

Yes, I am 100% sure that neither front doors unlock manually (via the mechanical hook-up). I know they used to and I don't know what happened. Perhaps something inside the doors broke or disconnected. I've tried with two different keys (not including the valet key).

I think the central locking pump is fine, but I think the fuse is bad. Unfortunately the fuse is inside the car, so I have no way of changing it, until I get into the car.

A blow gun? That's a good idea! Although I don't have one, nor an air compressor. Any idea if it can be done manually with just a mouth?

Alternatively I could call AAA and have them come out to open the doors. They'd probably slimjim it, I assume, but what's the fun in that?