A cautionary tale: 72-Year-Old & His Dog Die In Hot Car After Power Locks Malfunction

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A very handy thing to remember when you are in almost any vehicle is that most headrests can be released and pulled from the seatback. One or both of the long metal rods can be used for a concentrated point of impact on a car window to break it. Then use the headrest to clear away the shards of glass around the window. Aim for the center of the window if you are going to use an object to batter it.

If a car has integrated headrests on the seats, obviously another object would need to be found to do the job. Perhaps an umbrella, screwdriver, small hammer, or even the corner of your laptop or large camera.

There is also a compact emergency tool that can both cut through seatbelt webbing with a razor and shatter a window with a spring-loaded steel point. It is a good precaution to have near enough to the driver's seat to grab in case of your vehicle sinking in water or a crash disables your seat belt release, etc. Think of places like the driver's door pocket.

If the person trapped in a car does not have a disability that prevents it and not item for impact is available, a person can often turn sideways and lean back, put their heels against the window and then give a sharp kick to break it. If kicking, aim for the front section of window, toward the hinges.

Hmmm.. Now I'm thinking I may have written most of a post for my blog.
 
This is ludicrous. As far as I know all one needs do is open the door. Periodically my electronic locks fail. They are inoperative right now. I unlock it with the key and open it with the inside handle. SOMETHING is not right in this story.
 
ive been in cars where pulling the handle doesnt unlock or open the locked door. One was a minivan my sister owned, it was pyscho like christine, the autolocks ould randomly engage, youd unlock with a button but when you went to pull handle it instantly relocked and failed to open. even using the key from outside,sometimes it would be like a cat and mouse game getting it open. I hate autolocks...tho windows are nice...
 
Don't some cars have a safety feature that keeps children from being able to open doors from the inside? Could that have kept the man from being able to open the door?
 
Marie said:
Don't some cars have a safety feature that keeps children from being able to open doors from the inside? Could that have kept the man from being able to open the door?
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That's usually only available on the rear doors of a vehicle not the front drivers door.

My Montana was the electronic door from hell vehicle. The power door locks were inconsistent...wouldn't lock all the doors all the time, wouldn't release all the doors when it felt like it.

The key worked for unlocking when the fob didn't and I was used to releasing the door locks from the tab on the door. The worst part was that the doors locked automatically when the car was put in gear. If you stopped to let someone out of the passenger seat you had to convince the car that the door was supposed to open... :rolleyes:

It may very well be that the man suffered a stroke or other medical emergency rendering him unable to open the doors or to lay on the horn.
 
I started thinking about all that would have to go wrong for this story to happen the way the article says. So I came back to see what others thought of it. Almost There makes a good point about the man using his horn to get help -- although he may have thought he could find a way out but passed out before he realized it was about to happen. Why didn't bystanders who were calling the fire department use a rock or something sharp to break a window? Maybe it is a fake article to publicize Waffle House? (Though it does not put their employees in a good light, does it?) :huh:

Anyway, there are other situations such as a car crash or your car hydroplaning into a lake where you DO need to know how to get out if windows and doors do not function. So knowing ways to break out your window is still a good idea.
 
He was in a 2007 Corvette, and the battery cable had come loose. No horn or power unlock... The manual handle is on the floor, not on the door where you would expect to find it.
 
GotSmart said:
He was in a 2007 Corvette, and the battery cable had come loose.  No horn or power unlock...  The manual handle is on the floor, not on the door where you would expect to find it.
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Weird!  I would consider this a safety hazard. :-/
 
The first responders were understandably upset.  I think there will be a lawsuit over this.
 
I also find something fishy about this story. Every chevy brand I have ever owned the driver door opened with the inside door handle, the same one he used to get out the first time.
 
Just an FYI, my Chevy HHR will not open the door with the lock down pulling the handle!

ON my ford 2007 E-150 any door will open with the lock down.
 
I find this story odd. I'm sure there is more to it than was initially posted. If the battery cable was loose to the point of being disconnected... how did he unlock the doors in the first place? How long did he have the vehicle? Where was he parked that no one got into their vehicles next to him? And what was his blood alcohol level? And before you think that last question was mean... I spent 8 months in that area (started out in Rockport-Fulton and ended up in Corpus Christi). Everyone seems to be a bit "tight" all the time. It's weird.
 
What is missing in this story is....... the electric locks....... ALL cars I am familiar with have the doors perfectly able to open mechanically from inside without having to use the electric lock. It's a necessary safety feature, otherwise a lot of people would be locking themselves in. So, was he unfamiliar with the floor location of the door handle? Was he having a health emergency and could not open the door himself? Was he already incapacitated or unconscious?
There are too many unanswered questions here. We don't have the full story.
 
The door handle isn't mechanical; it is electronic. Everything on a Corvette is electronic. When he lost electricity, he lost all ability to use the door handle, the windows, etc. He probably lost Onstar, too. A manual door release is built in the floorboard near the seat for this very reason, but for whatever reason he was ignorant of that fact.

Without having been specifically shown, I could see myself befalling the same fate even though I've read about and now know about it. It's one thing to read and think I know, but when it comes time to be hands-on with my knowledge, things often don't turn out quite the way I had figured.

Electrics suddenly fail all the time. In this case his battery cable was loose and didn't provide a connection. Perhaps when he sat in the car, he jiggled it just enough to move it the rest of the way to break the connection. I've had cables break from neglect and from damage from sticks and stuff. I've also lost connection at the terminal from corrosion. It happens. Today my work truck suddenly wouldn't start. Turns out the secondary solenoid had a heavily corroded wire that decided at that time to snap.

His failure happened to him in a Corvette on a hot day and he didn't know how to open the door manually- he only knew how to open it electronically.
 
Thus the manufacturer is at fault for a known and serious safety issue. His family will them by the short & curlies in court.
My old Navy Seniorchief told me electronics WILL fail at the worst possible time!" This was the man who literally wrote the book used for training techs on a certain radar. He KNEW electronics. He did not trust them. Neither do I after ten years in the service working electronics, and 24 years in IT.
I am appalled by the easy acceptance of electronic throttle and brakes in cars. Accidents waiting to happen, often with catastrophic results. And even in the airline industry, "Fly By Wire" has crashed jets and killed people.
 
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