Locked out of Car?

[expat]

Went to a local park today with our Dog. On returning to the parking lot, there was a Lady and (I guess) her 8ish year old daughter standing by the next car over.

She seemed a bit agitated, I asked her if there was a problem, and she said she had "dropped her car keys in the river and gotten them wet, now they would not open the door, so she had called a Tow truck and was waiting for it to arrive"

I asked if she had tried the key in the lock (pointing to the Key hole)

There was a pause of about 3 seconds, then I could see what must have been the 'light coming on'

She opened the car, got in and took off, seemingly in a bit of a Huff, without saying a word.

On many levels, How Sad!

 

[morepwr]

Sad. But not a surprise.

 

[ram_man]

People are so spoiled and lazy that they have forgotten how to effectively use their noodles and are quickly becoming stupid. Sad indeed.

 

[expat]

Yes and we all Goof at some time or other. My thoughts are she could have handled herself better, especially in front of her daughter.

Driving off without saying anything just lacks Class!

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
People are so spoiled and lazy that they have forgotten how to effectively use their noodles and are quickly becoming stupid. Sad indeed.


Not only that they have NO couth, the least she could have done is give a brief "Thanks". Sheesh!

She will be one of the zombies of the future.

 

[bdcardinal]

I had a customer with a new C-Max furiously waving his foot under the rear bumper to open the hatch. He was maybe in his 60s, I'm 29, after a few minutes of him re-creating the hokey pokey I asked "Isn't there a button or something you can push to open this to speed this along?" He looked at me with sheer bewilderment and said "but if you wave your foot under this, the hatch opens." I said "looks like that isn't working, maybe you should go to service and get it looked at." He acted like I just told him to shove it or something.

 

[redhat]

Like Ma has always said, a little kindness goes a long way.

Lady should have down right thanked you for your consideration.

 

[Chris142]

She sounds like the guy that locked his keys in his car and was using a coat hanger to get it open. He got one side unlocked and was working on the other

 

[crinkles]

The car once locked me out because it had an auto lock function. If you unlock with the remote, and open any of the three passenger doors, but no other, it auto locks after 30 sec.

So i was in the parking lot of the motel, Sunday morning, 6AM, getting ready for a long drive across the country. opened the passenger door, sorted some packing, left the key on the seat, thinking I'd walk around and get the key from the drivers seat. Walked around, about halfway the dam thing locked me out.

Woke up the whole motel when the road service came to break into the car. People were not happy!

 

[eljefino]

A couple years back when the toyotas were accellerating themselves a lady was on TV literally in tears, wondering why they couldn't fix their gas pedal that day-- the first day of the recall. "Why are they doing this to me?" Like it was a physical assault on her.

No concept of patience, triage, or self-problem solving. These are the zombies who flip out when their cell phones or facebook die because they're separated from their borg and only know who to call to fix something, not how to do so themselves.

 

[Rick in PA]

and the tow truck driver???
(it would have been nice if he got a call "waving him off")

 

[earlyre]

couple weeks back @ the gas station we had a lady flipping out on us, b/c there was obviously something wrong with our pump. it had charged her for $30 worth of fuel, but the trip computer on her dash said she still only had 30mi to empty.
several rational non-panicky people (including students @ the local auto/diesel college) tried to explain that it was likely the sending unit in her tank had gone out.
"but why would it work one minute, and not the next?"
Auto student: "they go out all the time ma'am"
"are YOU gonna come get me when i run out of gas, and am stranded on the side of the road?"

we ended up taking her to another pump, and pumping her a "complimentary" gallon, just to show that the problem is likely on her end,(Computer still showed 30 mi to E) and to calm her down some.

(mainly she was panicked b/c she had just purchased
groceries,and had her kids in the car.)

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
couple weeks back @ the gas station we had a lady flipping out on us, b/c there was obviously something wrong with our pump. it had charged her for $30 worth of fuel, but the trip computer on her dash said she still only had 30mi to empty.
several rational non-panicky people (including students @ the local auto/diesel college) tried to explain that it was likely the sending unit in her tank had gone out.
"but why would it work one minute, and not the next?"
Auto student: "they go out all the time ma'am"
"are YOU gonna come get me when i run out of gas, and am stranded on the side of the road?"

we ended up taking her to another pump, and pumping her a "complimentary" gallon, just to show that the problem is likely on her end,(Computer still showed 30 mi to E) and to calm her down some.

(mainly she was panicked b/c she had just purchased
groceries,and had her kids in the car.)


^ Plus of course she lets her car get down to fumes before pumping fuel, because she's always running late, because facebook is more important.

Back to OP, even the "fob only" cars have a little skeleton key hidden in the fob, which fits in a keyhole hidden behind a little flip-off trim piece in the door handle.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: morepwr
Sad. But not a surprise.


Exactly!

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: expat
Went to a local park today with our Dog. On returning to the parking lot, there was a Lady and (I guess) her 8ish year old daughter standing by the next car over.

She seemed a bit agitated, I asked her if there was a problem, and she said she had "dropped her car keys in the river and gotten them wet, now they would not open the door, so she had called a Tow truck and was waiting for it to arrive"

I asked if she had tried the key in the lock (pointing to the Key hole)

There was a pause of about 3 seconds, then I could see what must have been the 'light coming on'

She opened the car, got in and took off, seemingly in a bit of a Huff, without saying a word.

On many levels, How Sad!


What would she have done if she had dropped her cell and keys in the river?

 

[dishdude]

This is why I just mind my own business.

 

[Vikas]

However, I am still little bit surprised that the ignition itself accepted the so called "wet" key

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
and the tow truck driver???
(it would have been nice if he got a call "waving him off")


I was thinking the same thing. In fact, that's probably why she drove off so fast - she didn't want to pay the bill.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
However, I am still little bit surprised that the ignition itself accepted the so called "wet" key


My grandmother lost one of the keys to her Taurus in 2001. It has PATS system (transponder key). We found it in the spring of 2003. It survived two years outside - lots of rain and snow.

 

[Eosyn]

Got a call at work one morning and a young 1st shifter was calling to notify us she was gonna be late because her key won't turn in the ignition (she sounded agitated, too) and that she was gonna have to wake up her boyfriend to drive her to work. I asked her, is the steering wheel locked too? Yes, came the reply (panick in her voice at this time). I just said, calm down, take a breath and follow my instructions. I then instructed her to turn the key in the ignition at the same time as you turn the steering wheel with her other hand.

Then I heard the dings and bells go off as her vehicle started. She then sounded relieved and I just said, see you in a few