Man and dog die after being trapped in Corvette

[lxskllr]

Either you have limited exposure to the elderly or just don't give a crap to process basic information. At his age I intend to still be strong and agile, but also realize that sometimes life and health gets in the way.

A gun or crowbar makes more sense in that situation anyway, something to replace the explosive action of a once vigorous body... a knife would likely have done little.

I have plenty of interaction with old people, and I'm most of the way there myself. Glass is easy to break from the inside because that's the weak side. It's made to resist breakage from the exterior. While it might be a bit much to expect a 70 year old to break glass with his fist(I've done that), it would be trivially easy to break it with a closed knife, or any piece of metal you can get your hands on.

 

[IAteYourMother]

I'm actually relieved that he died from the heat. When I read it I imagined him being stuck in his own garage or something and dying of dehydration/starvation in a small car filled with his own shit and piss.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Agreed! 50% of the reason I carry a pocket knife is to bust the side or back windows and/or cut seat belts in case of an emergency.

The overwhelming majority of pocketknives will have no beneficial effect in breaking a car window. People underestimate how tough safety glass is. You really need a tungsten or tempered glass breaker - otherwise you will just pound away and tire yourself out. I own about 25 pocketknives and only one of them (a LionSteel SR1A) has a glass breaker.

 

[BUTCH1]

He was old for heaven's sake, and probably didn't want to screw up the car any more than it was, and a broken window he would have had to pay to fix, too. Heat exhaustion can hit pretty fast, and probably caused him to suddenly pass out, then he had a stroke, and that was it. It probably didn't take more than 15 minutes to happen, which isn't that long at all.

This is the thing though, everyone loves their super-sophisticated cars, toys, you name it, we lap it up. If you buy one though it's YOUR responsibility to READ the ENTIRE owner's manual BEFORE you use it. If I had a car with push-button door release I would make it a point to know how to find out how the manual release works, car batteries die, things happen unexpectedly so you read the manual to be prepared if/when they do.

 

[Ns1]

This is the thing though, everyone loves their super-sophisticated cars, toys, you name it, we lap it up. If you buy one though it's YOUR responsibility to READ the ENTIRE owner's manual BEFORE you use it. If I had a car with push-button door release I would make it a point to know how to find out how the manual release works, car batteries die, things happen unexpectedly so you read the manual to be prepared if/when they do.

I would never expect to read a car manual to learn how to open the fucking door. Who the fuck complicates shit like this needlessly? (evidently, GM & Audi)

 

[RampantAndroid]

I would never expect to read a car manual to learn how to open the fucking door. Who the fuck complicates shit like this needlessly? (evidently, GM)

This. Manuals are chock full of stuff you DON'T need to know. And opening a door is expected to be just that. Opening a bloody door. I get wanting security, but on my A4, it's pretty disturbing to realize that I HAVE in fact deadlocked her inside without knowing it.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I would never expect to read a car manual to learn how to open the fucking door. Who the fuck complicates shit like this needlessly? (evidently, GM)

Exactly. It's fine if I need to check the manual to figure out something unusual, like how many quarts of oil the car takes, but there is no way I should need to read a manual in order to get out of my own car. Is someone who rents a Corvette also supposed to read the entire owner's manual before starting the car? (And, by the way, a C6 Vette is not what I would consider a "super-sophisticated car.")

 

[BUTCH1]

This. Manuals are chock full of stuff you DON'T need to know. And opening a door is expected to be just that. Opening a bloody door. I get wanting security, but on my A4, it's pretty disturbing to realize that I HAVE in fact deadlocked her inside without knowing it.

But you already KNOW it's an electronically-operated door, yes you do need to READ THE MANUAL to be sure you know how to get out if something goes wrong.

 

[Printer Bandit]

did he try to wave at passerbys?

you know, in order to save his life?

 

[RampantAndroid]

But you already KNOW it's an electronically-operated door, yes you do need to READ THE MANUAL to be sure you know how to get out if something goes wrong.

Yes. My 300 page manual. For the record, the warnings about the door are NOT in the quick start guide....you know, the one that people MIGHT ACTUALLY READ. The full sized manual is a reference for what oil to put in, fill levels, how to change filters and such. It is not something I am going to sit down and read through - the vast majority of it is extraneous stuff I don't need to know now, and will look up when I need to.

And you know, maybe when there's a feature in the car that warrants having BIG BOLD TEXT telling you to not do something, maybe - just fucking maybe - they should print out a critical warnings sheet.

And even if we get past the reading part of the feature in my car, it plain ISN'T SAFE. I get they want security...but it isn't OK. Now that I know about it, what if a friend drives my car? Do I need to stop them and say "Before you drive, read and sign this sheet acknowledging that you understand the stupid things that Audi decided to do."?

 

[Paratus]

The release levers on the floor in line of sight from the open button, the dual door releases in the hatch accessible by physical key speak of engineers trying to cover every eventuality.

The lack of door handles in the first place speak of marketing. At least to me.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yes. My 300 page manual. For the record, the warnings about the door are NOT in the quick start guide....you know, the one that people MIGHT ACTUALLY READ. The full sized manual is a reference for what oil to put in, fill levels, how to change filters and such. It is not something I am going to sit down and read through - the vast majority of it is extraneous stuff I don't need to know now, and will look up when I need to.

And you know, maybe when there's a feature in the car that warrants having BIG BOLD TEXT telling you to not do something, maybe - just fucking maybe - they should print out a critical warnings sheet.

And even if we get past the reading part of the feature in my car, it plain ISN'T SAFE. I get they want security...but it isn't OK. Now that I know about it, what if a friend drives my car? Do I need to stop them and say "Before you drive, read and sign this sheet acknowledging that you understand the stupid things that Audi decided to do."?

I think your missing the point, I was referring to the door arrangement in particular, ITWM I would want to make sure I could get out in a hurry if something went electrically wrong or if you say drove into a creek and shorted out all that high-tech crap, basic info this driver didn't bother to learn and tragically it cost him (and hid dog) their lives.

 

[balloonshark]

The overwhelming majority of pocketknives will have no beneficial effect in breaking a car window. People underestimate how tough safety glass is. You really need a tungsten or tempered glass breaker - otherwise you will just pound away and tire yourself out. I own about 25 pocketknives and only one of them (a LionSteel SR1A) has a glass breaker.

I was just watching youtube vids and a center punch seems to do a nice job of breaking glass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dv0UU66CbU

 

[VirtualLarry]

If the "manual switch" operates a powered solenoid...

I wonder how many things are truly manually operated on cars these days?

Maybe the hood latch?

That makes me think... I think that is how my vehicle works. The door locks are no longer manual, the "unlock" switch, uses the solenoid to pop up the locks. And I don't think that you can even grab them to manually pull them up. I may be wrong there, I hope that I'm wrong. I'll check, the next time I'm in my vehicle.

 

[SlickSnake]

I have lots of sympathy for the guy. 3 years ago I was on a long shopping trip when all the electronics in my car died*. No AC, no fan, no windows. Had to drive about 30 minutes home in 90 degree July heat. Can't remember the last time I sweated that intensely.

* The clutch for the AC compressor was burned out or something and blew the fuse for the dash and interior electronics.

I have lots of sympathy too. I nearly got crushed in moving traffic in an intersection at dusk while turning left in a 77 Malibu Classic that was only like 5 years old. It literally completely lost power and seized up in a dead stop in the middle of the street, while 50 mile per hour oncoming traffic was headed straight for me with nowhere to run. So just closed my eyes and heard the squeals of tires and horns. One car had skidded sideways and stopped about a foot from my passenger side door and left a skid mark like 80 or 100 feet long behind him.

After I repaired it, yet again, I decided to trade that car in because I simply couldn't trust or depend on it at that point. So I made a deal on a lot about a week later and dumped it, and then the car wouldn't start right after the dealer bought it. I didn't have to stick around at that point, but I felt a bit guilty and did. They first thought it was a battery, but I told them it had a new one. Then they had a mechanic come over, and he messed around and said he thought the alternator went out. I swore at that point I would never buy a GM product again.

 

[JulesMaximus]

At the sake of getting burned at the internet stake for this... the dog is inconsequential.

I don't really care much about either one.

 

[SlickSnake]

Because first responders routinely open locked cars by using the obviously located externally-accessible lock bypass switches? :awe:

So you can't foresee a situation where you might have to open the door in a crash scene and can't reach the door handle? You can't always use certain tools for extractions if you are going to crush or kill someone on the other side. Why rip off a door which would waste valuable, life saving time if you can just find a handle and open it?

 

[Humpy]

FWIW, my car is worse. I've got a B8.5 Audi A4. When locked from the outside, the inside handles deadlock. They don't function at all, and the ONLY way out is a lifehammer or similar. So if I run in to a store leaving my fiance in the car, and out of habit lock the door as I run in...she's stuck. (I mean, you can drop the back seat, make it into the trunk assuming it's empty and pull the release there...)

I get wanting security, but wtf? Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

You might need this feature after a few years of marriage.

 

[SlickSnake]

the dog most likely wasn't in the car to begin with. The dog went inside with the old man.

Hmm, that's something else to think about. Maybe he left the phone inside at his table because he was coming back in. Which is why he was discovered in the first place, when the waitress tried to bring him back his phone. So he either went out to the car to take the dog out of the car or to put the dog in the car, and turned the air on and the car immediately died. And it's already like 150 plus degrees in it. And then he couldn't even find the part in the manual where it says how to open the door, that should probably be on the very first page, if it isn't.

 

[Ns1]

And then he couldn't even find the part in the manual where it says how to open the door, that should probably be on the very first page, if it isn't.

https://www.chevrolet.com/content/d...ip/Manuals_and_Videos/02_pdf/2k14corvette.pdf


page 39 in standard font

:awe:

 

[Hugo Drax]

- It's not terribly intuitive how you manually unlock the door of a newer Corvette.
- The guy was 72, so probably couldn't break the window.
- The "cable that slipped off" may have completely disabled the starter.
- He must not have had a cell phone.

The only thing I really can't wrap my head around is how nobody noticed him. I'm sure he was beating on the windows asking for help. It's not like he was in the middle of nowhere.

People spend their lives walking around with their necks down txting, ignoring the rest of the world.

 

[Ferzerp]

1. The floor handles open the door regardless of lock status.

2. The entire roof comes off with 3 latches readily accessible from inside the car.


The guy was unwell, and happened to die in his car. This news story is stupid. You might forget the floor handle, but you surely aren't going to forget that the roof comes off your car.... If you do, you're past the age that you should be going places unassisted.

 

[Hugo Drax]

did he try to wave at passerbys?

you know, in order to save his life?

I doubt they would see.

 

[SlickSnake]

https://www.chevrolet.com/content/d...ip/Manuals_and_Videos/02_pdf/2k14corvette.pdf


page 39 in standard font

:awe:

TY, I'm suffering a bit of heatstroke atm, and I was too lazy to search for it, and it's not on page one where it belongs, as I suspected. Thanks for that.

(sunburned)

 

[SlickSnake]

1. The floor handles open the door regardless of lock status.

2. The entire roof comes off with 3 latches readily accessible from inside the car.


The guy was unwell, and happened to die in his car. This news story is stupid. You might forget the floor handle, but you surely aren't going to forget that the roof comes off your car.... If you do, you're past the age that you should be going places unassisted.

They call it heatstroke for a reason. Older (and younger) people can die of it way faster than probably yourself, if you are in fit condition, that is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_stroke