DOH....., I can never have anything nice. Options

[bloodMoney]

So as two of you know, I was startled awake by the wifey yesterday cause she missed her bus for work. She told me that it was snowing outside and that I needed to get up and start and clean off Abby so that I could drive her to the train station for work. Without even thinking, I hit the button to start the car and several seconds later, I hear it.

BOOM.

Yes she was in gear when I started her and she took off down the block. She got about 50 feet before pushing a Jeep Liberty halfway down the block. Eventually, Abby got under the rear end of the jeep and pushed it out of the way and stopped about 300 feet away from my house, at the end of the block. Now I'm in the process of picking up parts to piece together my once perfect Abby..... *facepalm*











The moral of the story? Always keep good parking brakes on the car and try not to leave it in gear......

~Chris

This post has been edited by bloodMoney: Dec 23, 2009 - 7:29 PM

[BloodyStupidDave...]

Without even thinking, I hit the button to start the car and several seconds later, I hear it.

BOOM.

Yes she was in gear when I started her and she took off down the block. She got about 50 feet before pushing a Jeep Liberty halfway down the block. Eventually, Abby got under the rear end of the jeep and pushed it out of the way and stopped about 300 feet away from my house, at the end of the block.

Remote start?

The moral of the story? Always keep good parking brakes on the car and try not to leave it in gear......

Nope, moral of the story is don't fit mods to your car unless you know what you are doing. It is perfectly possible to safely fit push start or remote start to both manual and automatic cars, but you have to use the right kit with the appropriate safety devices.

In the case of remote start, the feature must only work when the car is in neutral, which for a manual shift means correctly fitting gear select sensors to each gear including reverse.

Like others have said, you are damn lucky not to be sitting in a jail cell this evening, having accidentally killed somebody with your car and mod. And two days before Christmas, too. Phew!

I know the above sounds harsh and I am thankful that you, your family and neighbours are all safe and unhurt. You were brave to post your story and I really hope it serves as a wake-up call to others that have either fitted a similar mod or are thinking of doing so.

This post has been edited by BloodyStupidDavey: Dec 23, 2009 - 1:36 PM

[schmooot]

In the case of remote start, the feature must only work when the car is in neutral, which for a manual shift means correctly fitting gear select sensors to each gear including reverse.

Actually this is how manual transmission remote starts work: with the car running and the doors closed you put on the ebrake and put the car in neutral and then you push the remote button and the module takes over running of the car, at this point you turn the key off and take it out and exit the vehicle and close the door. Now the vehicle will still be running (under remote) Now you push teh button and it turns off and as far as the module is concerned it knows the vehicle is in neutral and can then be started via remote. As soon as the door is opened, the module resets to prevent someone getting in and putting it in gear. Now pressing the button will do nothing because the module can't be certain that the car is still in neutral.

So the only requirement for a remote start on a manual is for it to be installed correctly, which includes tying it to the proper door trigger wires and the ebrake wire.......and it must be one specifically for a MT vehicle of course

Unless you are referring to a brand new unit that needs to be installed that way....I haven't yet heard of measures that extreme though


In the case of the thread starter it seems whoever installed the remote start used one designated for an automatic, and yes he's lucky the car is the only thing that got hurt

This post has been edited by schmooot: Dec 24, 2009 - 6:39 PM