Man dies in Corvette due to failed power door locks

[BE911SC]

Old guy, eats at the Waffle House, might have been in poor health already, panicked and had a coronary.

[doug_porsche]

I should not admit this, but I had this very problem with my wife's C6 this weekend.

Battery had enough energy to let me in the car, but not out.

I knew there was a manual release, but I was in a dark garage with tinted windows and could not see it. Felt around, found the release, but GM made the tactile feel of where to pull very bad.

Finally, after thinking about how dangerous/stupid this is, decided that I knew how to work the targa top and got out that way.

This poor man and his dog are in my thoughts.

[masraum]

$18 for 2 from Amazon.

Seat belt cutter + Car window breaker
Compact, lightweight & powerful
Easily accessible, no installation required
Tested and certified by TÜV






Nice and short with a working test.


This guy gets in a car, then gets flipped upside down to test it.


Short and sweet.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by masraum

$18 for 2 from Amazon.

I bought half a dozen last week from amazon so there is one in the console of each car. Cheap insurance I recon. And Murphy's Law says if you have one you won't need it - even better.

[daepp]

Had a local So Cal cop tell me the cars parked at the trailhead i was at are frequently broken into with a hit to a side window from a sparkplug inside a sock!

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by daepp

Had a local So Cal cop tell me the cars parked at the trailhead i was at are frequently broken into with a hit to a side window from a sparkplug inside a sock!

Never heard of it being inside a sock, but all the firefighters I know say they carry some chunks of sparkplug in the truck with them. Refer to them as Ninja Rocks...

[JDC PDX]

There are manual door releases on the floor and the car had a targa top. Could have easily escaped. Sometimes, your time is just up.

[Bill Douglas]

There was an old fella in NZ who spent the weekend locked inside his car. You would have thought he would have got bored and read the owners manual, and maybe stumbled across the section where it says how to operate the door lock override

[sugarwood]

Why buy a fancy tool when you can just keep one of these in the glovebox?

[T77911S]

the lady down the road from me was stuck in a vette for an hour or 2 due to a low battery and the locks would not open.

i saw her after and said it looked like she was having a corvette party at her house the other day. she reluctantly said she was locked in the car and all those vette people were trying to get her out. in the end i think they got her out the rear hatch.

maybe they have since added emergency locks

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Very sad. Side windows aren't that easy to break. I've seen guys swing a halligan bar at a window and have it bounce right off.
99% of drivers out there would never have a thought of keeping something in the car to break a window out, so its hard to fault the guy for that..

Thought of? I'm a slob, I have crap on the floor at any given time that would break a side glass without much effort.

[1990C4S]

The newest door latches are CAN bus....with a super-capacitor to prevent this type of occurrence. In theory.

It's getting worse. Four more devices on each car, just for the doors.

[widebody911]

[cashflyer]

If he had been carrying a handgun, he could have shot the windows out.

Just one more reason to carry a gun. It may save your life!

[vash]

what a sucky way to go!!

RIP man and dog.



now:

couldnt he wave at another patron?
i would also love to know if the owner's manual was in the car. my sweaty ass would have been scanning that thing feverishly..(no not really, cuz i find joy in reading the OM cover to cover on all my cars)

[rusnak]

Uh Vash, it would take you longer to choose which knife, arrow, or multitool to use to bust out than to actually get out of the car.

[vash]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Uh Vash, it would take you longer to choose which knife, arrow, or multitool to use to bust out than to actually get out of the car.

true!! i'd fire a flare gun out the open targa top..just because.

maybe the old guy had arthritis or something..

it sucks that he died like this.

[craigster59]

I keep one of these in my car at all times, S&W Border Guard. You can use the butt end to blow out a window and it has a belt cutter if things get hairy. I also like the blade since we can go into some filming locations that are a bit sketchy.

A rescue tool that is also a weapon in a pinch.

Amazon.com: Smith & Wesson Border Guard 2 Rescue Knife SWBG2TS, Black: Home Improvement

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by vash

true!! i'd fire a flare gun out the open targa top..just because.

maybe the old guy had arthritis or something..

it sucks that he died like this.

Hell, your saphire crystal watch would pulverize the side glass like a claymore mine.

[john70t]

Be easy on the guy's memory, please.
-Countless young very strong sailors have also been trapped, panicked, then died as a result.
-And not everyone has the mechanical and physical capacity to drill and attach a breakout tool to the frame of their new expensive sports car.

There is probably a lot more to this story....
-GM has the connected ONStar system in all their vehicles which operate door systems remotely. They can be hacked.
-Cops do not always show up.
-Many people probably walked by.
-Heat exhaustion takes 15-30 minutes. This was not instantaneous.