That's not how lockpicking works. When you pick a lock, you try to push all of the drums in the lock until it opens, without being able to see the drums. You are basically relying on feeling, not on sight. If a lock was specifically designed in a way that there are drums that actually trigger an internal mechanism instead, then lockpicks would totally trigger it by accident (and such locks exist by the way!). Because how would a Rogue know what drums to push?
Aye.
Or the proper key might have a protrusion on it, so when it's inserted in the lock it presses against a button that prevents the trap from springing. So, when someone uses a skeleton key or lockpicks to open it, they're not bypassing the trap.
Now, this also goes back to what you said earlier in the thread about how the character going about disarming the trap or opening up the chest should affect the result. If the trap works like I just said, it should be readily disabled by jamming the bypass-button down, perhaps with a drop of Sovereign Glue. This would not result in removing the needle like the trap's original description says, though.
And all this leads me to offer up this advice to @
Wyvern: When I'm putting in a trap of any sort, I decide on how it works, using the rules only as inspiration or a baseline, changing the details as needed to fit how I picture it working. Then I adjudicate the results of the player's actions. And they don't get to just say "I attempt to disarm the trap;" they have to tell me something like "I'll press the button and apply a drop of Sovereign Glue to hold it in place," or "I'll yank the needle out with my tiny pliers."
But before that happens, I have a successful Investigation check - if the players actually bother trying to figure out how the trap works - tell them all the info I have invented about the trap so they can make an informed attempt at disarming it.
A trap, to me, should be handled rather like a puzzle. I make them rather easy to notice, to the point where I'm often telling the players it's there without any sort of Perception check, because I'd rather focus the game on how they get around it, aiming for scenes like the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or the bits in the Last Crusade just before Indy reaches the Grail.
Also, the trap in question would have to be far more painful for me to bother using, because I also aim for "we're just gonna leave the chest alone for now" to be a choice the players seriously consider alongside "Just have the barbarian open it and soak up the damage."