Remote starter causes accident

I would be willing to cut this woman a break if it were the first time
this happened.

Since she KNEW it could happen from previous experience, she should be
held accountable.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...remote_car&e=5

Empty Car Starts Up, Crashes Into House

Fri Mar 18, 7:41 AM ET Strange News - AP



SOUTH HAVEN, Ind. - Police officers were skeptical when a woman whose
car had struck a neighbor's home told them the car took off on its own
after she must have accidentally hit some buttons on her key chain.



Christine Djordjevic said the officers became believers when they saw
her remote starter activate, sending her car driving down the road.
They chased it down and stopped it from hitting anything, she said.


Police reports confirmed the vehicle "was checked and it was learned
that the vehicle will start and drive when the remote start is
activated."


The crash on Monday caused several thousand dollars in damage to
Djordjevic's car and neighbor Gregory Hajduk's house in the community
about 10 miles southeast of Gary. Djordjevic said she must have left
her stick-shift car in reverse.


Djordjevic said the remote starter previously caused her car to jump
over a curb at a store while she was outside the car and her
11-year-old son was inside yelling, "Mom, where are we going?"


To prevent any further problems, Djordjevic said she was taking the
remote starter device off her key chain.


"I don't even know how the stupid thing works," she said.


___


Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com

Cartlon Shew wrote:

> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...remote_car&e=5

What kind of idiot has a remote starter installed in a vehicle with a
manual transmission? On second thought, it doesn't matter what type of
transmission it is ... the person is still an idiot for having one.

<"I don't even know how the stupid thing works," she said. >

That is the funniest line of the story. How stupid is this lady?
Hilarious.

The Office Jet wrote:
> <"I don't even know how the stupid thing works," she said. >
>
> That is the funniest line of the story. How stupid is this lady?
> Hilarious.

I'll bet she insisted it be installed too. Remote starters all come with
warnings stating they are not suitable for manual transmission vehicles.

"John Harlow" > wrote in message
...
> The Office Jet wrote:
>> <"I don't even know how the stupid thing works," she said. >
>>
>> That is the funniest line of the story. How stupid is this lady?
>> Hilarious.
>
> I'll bet she insisted it be installed too. Remote starters all come with
> warnings stating they are not suitable for manual transmission vehicles.
>

Wouldn't the clutch interlock keep the vehicle from starting? I guess the
installer can bypass that switch.

> "I don't even know how the stupid thing
> works," she said.

I'd call that false modesty from someone who, it would appear, has
figured out how it works. The only remaining question is whether
careful scrutiny of the words that make up the name, such as "remote"
and "starter," might have allowed this to be determined through
predictive modeling rather than iterative empirical study.

I must admit to not being too clear on why Joe or Jane Citizen would
want one. Such things have been around for a long time, but
traditionally were bought for bomb-checking purposes by people who had
either bad friends or good enemies. Lately they seem to be
mass-marketed as a convenience item, perhaps for warming up the car
before getting into it in the winter.

So what's wrong with that? Well, for one thing, every time you warm up
a car at idle long enough to get some good out of the heater, an OPEC
oil minister gets his money all damp and salty with free-flowing tears
of joy. For another thing... well, you've added another batch of
failure modes, one of which has some particularly lurid potential
consequences as in this case, to your morning routine.

The fact that the 11-year-old was in the remotely started car during
the first incident was especially nice. Guess it's a good thing Robo
Car went right and over the curb, not left and into traffic. Maybe
Child Protective Services should bring a pair of wire cutters and
relieve the vehicle of its excess of technology.

I am a bit surprised that using a remote starter would be a simple
pushbutton affair, though. Never having looked closely at one, I'd
always imagined that you'd have to, say, put your ignition key into it,
or enter a code on a keypad, or at least flip up a spring-loaded
protective cover.

Cheers,
--Joe

Remote starters are for lazy F#$#'s. The only thing worse is
self-opening doors.

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 02:12:14 -0500, "Magnulus"
> wrote:

> Remote starters are for lazy F#$#'s. The only thing worse is
>self-opening doors.
>
You've never lived wher eit gets *cold*, have you?
Or had groceries in both arms?
Of groceries and a child?

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:18:36 -0700, Big Bill > wrote:

>On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 02:12:14 -0500, "Magnulus"
> wrote:
>
>> Remote starters are for lazy F#$#'s. The only thing worse is
>>self-opening doors.
>>
>You've never lived wher eit gets *cold*, have you?

I have - did just fine without a remote starter.

>Or had groceries in both arms?

Is that remote starter going to open your door for you?

Sometimes you just have to put something down to open yuor door - it's
not a big deal.

>Of groceries and a child?

See above

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 12:00:37 -0700, L Sternn > wrote:

>On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:18:36 -0700, Big Bill > wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 02:12:14 -0500, "Magnulus"
> wrote:
>>
>>> Remote starters are for lazy F#$#'s. The only thing worse is
>>>self-opening doors.
>>>
>>You've never lived wher eit gets *cold*, have you?
>
>I have - did just fine without a remote starter.

Congratulations!
>
>>Or had groceries in both arms?
>
>Is that remote starter going to open your door for you?
>
>Sometimes you just have to put something down to open yuor door - it's
>not a big deal.

Does that mean it's not a convenience?
>
>>Of groceries and a child?
>
>See above

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"