Friday, September 24, 2004
Internet beats Car Repair Places
An unusual incident happened today, which highlights failures on the part of several interests. I visited my wife today at the hospital after she had surgery earlier this week. I left at about 2130 and got into my 1996 Toyota Corolla to drive home. However, I could not drive home. I started the car OK, but then I could not move the floor gear shifter out of Park. I called AAA to get help. They told me that they would have to tow it back home for me, and that it would take 60-90 minutes. Further, she kept asking me for area codes. Huhh?? The area code for Richmond is 804. They should know that. But then she said she was from Elkton, Maryland. That I don't appreciate. I expect to hear from someone in my local area. Further, the waiting time seemed really long to me late at night.
I tried to get back into the hospital to see Anne to talk with her about the incident. However, the doors were closed; it was past visiting hours. It was before 2200. They told me visiting hours were until 2200. They did not tell the truth. So I called the place with my cell phone and asked to speak to her but they would not put me thorugh. I told thiem of my situation and they said that they would send security over. I told them, OK, send them over. Maybe they can do what AAA couldn't or wouldn't do. They were over in 5 minutes. The security agent started my car readily. I asked him how he did it. He said you have to put the key in. Huhh?? I did that. But now the car is started. I drove it straight home without turning it off. I stopped briefly to cancel the AAA call.
When I got home, I turned off the car and tried to start it again. It started, but again I could not get it out of Park. This must be some intermittent problem, then. So I went in my house and got on the computer and Googled expressions such as "can't get * out of park". There were not too many hits, but I was able to find that most of these mention turning the steering wheel to unlock it, or of depressing the brake before starting it, and some mention that in cases like this the brake lights don't work either - a fuse is to blame.
So I went outside and tried all of these things. The brake lights worked normally. That wasn't it. I turned the steering wheel and that didn't do it. So I tried hitting the brake first, and then starting it. Bingo. That worked. Apparently the Corolla is set up so that you can't shift it out of Park unless you are depressing the brake. Absolutely no one and absolutely no manual told me this, and apparently I am in the habit of hitting the brake first, and this time, for some reason, I didn't.
There were quite a few problems all along this thing. When I bought the car from Carmax, they provided no manual. The manual may have said something about it. I tried to price one and found that it costs $27. Huhh? For something that originally came free with the car? Further, there is apparently no manual on the Internet. The hospital was not being very helpful but they did get me in touch with someone who temporarily solved my problem. The biggest blame is on the AAA and I am not sure I am renewing with them any more. The last few times I tried to get help with them it took over 60 minutes; the time previous to this they never came. Further, I don't want to do business with anyone who gives me people in faraway places when I have a local emergency.
Further, this incident brings about the power of the Internet. True, there was absolutely nothing about this problem on the Toyota site, and trouble-shooting sites are few and far between. But there were enough discussion forums around that discussed the problem to give me the solution I needed. This shows just how powerful the Internet is. It prevented a major annual-leave-eating time-consuming and costly trip to the car repair place. The Internet is worth many times more than all the car repair places in the world.
I tried to get back into the hospital to see Anne to talk with her about the incident. However, the doors were closed; it was past visiting hours. It was before 2200. They told me visiting hours were until 2200. They did not tell the truth. So I called the place with my cell phone and asked to speak to her but they would not put me thorugh. I told thiem of my situation and they said that they would send security over. I told them, OK, send them over. Maybe they can do what AAA couldn't or wouldn't do. They were over in 5 minutes. The security agent started my car readily. I asked him how he did it. He said you have to put the key in. Huhh?? I did that. But now the car is started. I drove it straight home without turning it off. I stopped briefly to cancel the AAA call.
When I got home, I turned off the car and tried to start it again. It started, but again I could not get it out of Park. This must be some intermittent problem, then. So I went in my house and got on the computer and Googled expressions such as "can't get * out of park". There were not too many hits, but I was able to find that most of these mention turning the steering wheel to unlock it, or of depressing the brake before starting it, and some mention that in cases like this the brake lights don't work either - a fuse is to blame.
So I went outside and tried all of these things. The brake lights worked normally. That wasn't it. I turned the steering wheel and that didn't do it. So I tried hitting the brake first, and then starting it. Bingo. That worked. Apparently the Corolla is set up so that you can't shift it out of Park unless you are depressing the brake. Absolutely no one and absolutely no manual told me this, and apparently I am in the habit of hitting the brake first, and this time, for some reason, I didn't.
There were quite a few problems all along this thing. When I bought the car from Carmax, they provided no manual. The manual may have said something about it. I tried to price one and found that it costs $27. Huhh? For something that originally came free with the car? Further, there is apparently no manual on the Internet. The hospital was not being very helpful but they did get me in touch with someone who temporarily solved my problem. The biggest blame is on the AAA and I am not sure I am renewing with them any more. The last few times I tried to get help with them it took over 60 minutes; the time previous to this they never came. Further, I don't want to do business with anyone who gives me people in faraway places when I have a local emergency.
Further, this incident brings about the power of the Internet. True, there was absolutely nothing about this problem on the Toyota site, and trouble-shooting sites are few and far between. But there were enough discussion forums around that discussed the problem to give me the solution I needed. This shows just how powerful the Internet is. It prevented a major annual-leave-eating time-consuming and costly trip to the car repair place. The Internet is worth many times more than all the car repair places in the world.
