Drowning BMW

[Willja67]

Some of you may have heard of some flooding that occurred in Pensacola Florida recently. While I do not wish to make light of anyones suffering there was one funny incident reported by my parents friends who live there.

A BMW dealership got an urgent message from the vehicle owned by a neighbor of my parents friends; "I'm drowning!" it said.

The BMW was reported dead at the scene (totaled) and towed away.

Again I don't mean to make light of anyone's suffering but that really cracked me up. I didn't know German engineers had a sense of humor.

btw I didn't make this up.

[Uyraell]

Whilst I also do not wish to make light of anyone's suffering, I do find this anecdote to be grimly amusing.
Yet, I also see the point behind the way the German engineers programmed the vehicle's signalling/communication system.
Viz: A person (or persons) within the vehicle incapacitated in such a way as to be unable to communicate with the outside world. Some one passed-out, heart attack, other medical emergency, trapped by the seatbelt etc.
The vehicle; by being able to communicate with the outside world where the person(s) within it can not, contributes to preserving the life/lives of its' driver and passengers by alerting and guiding rescuers to it's location and advising it's current status/peril.

In the effort to preserve life, such messages can be at times crucial. The forethought therein shown by the Engineers/Programmers though, is little short of astounding to a person of my generation.

Kind and Respectful Regards, Uyraell.

[Cybergrinder]

I agreee, Germans wouldn't have thought of the humourous side (apologies to any Germans on the forum) Seriously, pity they don't have one for when the driver is drunk...(just prevent the car form starting) We have a huge problem in South Africa of drunk drivers.

Just thinking (to keep with national stereotypes) what cars designed by other nations would transmit?

I'll get the ball rolling with British cars; (was born there ) "What's this? an oil leak? never mind, I'm sure I'll start in the morning"

[legion]

Originally Posted by Cybergrinder

I agreee, Germans wouldn't have thought of the humourous side (apologies to any Germans on the forum) Seriously, pity they don't have one for when the driver is drunk...(just prevent the car form starting) We have a huge problem in South Africa of drunk drivers.

Just thinking (to keep with national stereotypes) what cars designed by other nations would transmit?

I'll get the ball rolling with British cars; (was born there ) "What's this? an oil leak? never mind, I'm sure I'll start in the morning"

Actually, the Dutch do have a device (breath analyzer) for notorious drunk drivers. Only problem is, it costs 4000Euro to have it built in, plus any ticket you have to pay because you were already driving drunk (repeatedly)!

[abbycat]

He he... I used to own a 1986 Ford pickup truck. It had well over 200,000 miles on it and never left me stranded anywhere, but as many 80's Fords were, it was prone to rust. I swear new rust spots would appear overnight. I imagine it would send the message "Help! I found another rust spot!"

[Uyraell]

British automobiles: usually the Electrical "system" {be it 6 or 12 - Volt} (more accurately known as chaos) originated with "Lucas" Co., which meant it failed miserably, hence the Moniker, "G.Philip Lucas: the Prince of Darkness."

..... not that NZ-built vehicles were much different, throughout most of the 60's, 70's, and early 80's when the assembly plants were closed and sold-off to be converted.

Kind and Respectful Regards, Uyraell.

[Don Boose]

Since I drive a 12-year-old Subaru Forester, I have no experience with these recent devices, but before the Subaru I owned a little four-cylinder GMC pick up truck with a standard transmission that had a little window on the dash that would light up with the word "Shift" whenever the rpms hit a certain level.

I had a conversation with the little truck every day on the way home from work whenever I hit a slight down slope on Cavalry Road just before the long uphill grade.

The truck would say, "Shift."

I would say, "No. You know that if I do, I'll have to downshift as soon as we hit the hill."

"Shift."

"No! You can't make it up that hill in fourth gear."

"Shift."

"How many times have we been on this hill? There is no point in shifting."

"Shift."

So I would give in and shift into fourth, and a few seconds later, I would have to downshift back into third.

"I told you! You can't make it up this hill in fourth."

The truck remained silent and never admitted that it had been wrong.

I reckon we had that conversation more than a thousand times in the ten years I owned that truck.

Don

[Cybergrinder]

Don, let me guess, the truck didn't have a stereo?

[Thomas Meek]

Re: Message #7:

We need a "like" button! lol

[murphyaa]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

Since I drive a 12-year-old Subaru Forester, I have no experience with these recent devices, but before the Subaru I owned a little four-cylinder GMC pick up truck with a standard transmission that had a little window on the dash that would light up with the word "Shift" whenever the rpms hit a certain level.

I had a conversation with the little truck every day on the way home from work whenever I hit a slight down slope on Cavalry Road just before the long uphill grade.

The truck would say, "Shift."

I would say, "No. You know that if I do, I'll have to downshift as soon as we hit the hill."

"Shift."

"No! You can't make it up that hill in fourth gear."

"Shift."

"How many times have we been on this hill? There is no point in shifting."

"Shift."

So I would give in and shift into fourth, and a few seconds later, I would have to downshift back into third.

"I told you! You can't make it up this hill in fourth."

The truck remained silent and never admitted that it had been wrong.

I reckon we had that conversation more than a thousand times in the ten years I owned that truck.

Don

When I was still driving the truck, I got a Kenworth loaner truck while my truck was in the shop, and it had a little light that lit up when you were in the proper shift range. I would have a similiar conversation with it whenever we were going up a hill. "Not gonna shift. You don't have enough rpm's to make it up the hill. Nope, not gonna shift. Nuh uh. Nope. FINE! *shift*"... at which point it would lug down, and I'd have to down shift 2 or 3 gears to get the rpm's back to get it up the hill.