Accessing the Car Trunk on Shabbos

Removing Items from a Car on Shabbos

 

A frequently asked shailah is: if one has left an item in the car before Shabbos, is it permissible to take it out on Shabbos? According to halachah, if the car is parked within the eruv (where one is permitted to carry on Shabbos), no lights go on when one opens the car doors or the trunk, and nothing electronic is activated, then they may use their car keys to open the doors and trunk and take out the needed items—but only those items that are needed on Shabbos. Of course, using the remote control to unlock the doors or trunk, or the buttons that unlock the doors and trunk electronically from the car’s interior, are not permitted; but the door key may be used to open the door mechanically, even if the door key also contains a remote, or an ignition key. Closing the door or trunk presents a halachic problem though, since the purpose of closing them is not for Shabbos; one may close them—and the manual button on the door may be depressed to lock the door—only if the purpose is to safeguard non-muktzah items left inside (but not to safeguard the car). Alternatively, if the open car door or trunk would get in the way of others they may be closed, since it is considered letzorech mekomo (the place is needed on Shabbos). Finally, if the car keys are in one key bunch with the key used to turn on the ignition or the remote key, the bunch of keys is considered muktzah (unless they are being used for an activity permitted on Shabbos, as above). Therefore, one may carry the keys back into the house only as continuation of the act of taking them out to the car by making sure not to put them down or drop them at any point.  #338

https://halacha2go.com?number=338

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.