My automatic has a handbrake and a park brake. Manual cars just have a handbrake that can slip.
vtecintegra,
Aug 7, 9:56pm
No, your automatic car has a park position in the transmission.
It is not a brake as such and you can achieve roughly the same thing by leaving a manual in gear.
gman35,
Aug 7, 10:04pm
Apparently the owner was backing out of a driveway belonging to one of the owners of a chain of Brothels ? So even his car ended up going down on him.
upnorth,
Aug 7, 10:06pm
Normally the switch is used to dip the headlights.
trade4us2,
Aug 7, 10:08pm
My automatic cannot be shifted out of the Park position without having the ignition key. Kids in a manual car can let the handbrake off. There were two kids in that car.
berg,
Aug 8, 12:40am
So, are you trying to say manual cars are all bad due to one incident? As a tow truck operator with some 18 years experance I can tell a heap of stories relating to automatics if you want
vtecintegra,
Aug 8, 12:41am
And what makes you think the keys weren't in the ignition?
trade4us2,
Aug 8, 1:04am
They are bad due to lots of such incidents.
lookoutas,
Aug 8, 1:07am
The cars aren't the problem.
tamarillo,
Aug 8, 1:16am
Where does one find its a six speed manual? In an e39 that's extremely unlikely. Option on 540 but not many around. Do you know this actual car?
Much more likely auto and he left it in neutral with key in which is dumb thing to do.
tamarillo,
Aug 8, 1:16am
Bulshit
vtecintegra,
Aug 8, 1:18am
It is/was a manual
tamarillo,
Aug 8, 1:20am
Ok, how do you know?
richardmayes,
Aug 8, 1:33am
I love the way topics like this bring out the "everyone else is an incompetent, irresponsible idiot; but I have got it all figured out" crowd.
People have their reasons for their seemingly random actions.
My automatic Ford Falcon stationwagon has a column shift and a foot pedal parking brake. It also has an ignition lock that DOES let you remove the key when it is in Neutral, you don't have to put it in Park.
When I park it in our driveway, I leave it in Park and with the brake on, AND chock a wheel with a piece of firewood, because Mr 3 and Miss 2 love getting into the car and playing "drive the car" any chance they get. and I would hate for one of them to accidentally set the car rolling and crush the other one.
When I park the car in town, I leave it in Neutral with the brake on, because sometimes retards bump your parked car with their car, and I don't want the park lock in the transmission getting broken, if the impact is hard enough to roll my car forward or backwards on its wheels.
trade4us2,
Aug 8, 1:40am
Some of the photos show the rego number of the car.
trade4us2,
Aug 8, 1:45am
A few years ago I heard a big crash outside and a lot of screaming. A ute had rolled a few hundred metres down the hill and crashed through my neighbours fence. I rescued a couple of small children from the ute. The owner of the ute came running down the road shortly after. Of course it was a manual and one of the kids had let the handbrake off.
berg,
Aug 8, 2:56am
Lady jumps in her automatic car, looks over her shoulder, drops it from park to reverse (actually neutral to drive as she had not left it in park) and with a heavy foot deposits herself, her car and her two kids through the front wall of the bank. Ooooooo, maybe automatics are the problem. Wow, some people are special aren't they?
trade4us2,
Aug 8, 3:19am
My automatic won't allow the gear lever to be left anywhere except for park when the key is removed.
melonhead1,
Aug 8, 3:23am
The road code was written by someone who thinks that the engine changes direction to make a car reverse. The facing uphill put it in 1st gear or facing down hill put it in reverse gear bit of the road code.
berg,
Aug 8, 3:25am
Nothing is idiot proof. I'll stick with my 6 speed manual thanks
2sheddies,
Aug 8, 3:52am
None of these incidents mentioned can be blamed on the vehicles in question being manual transmission. It's human error. or plain stupidity in some cases. The owner of the ute which ran away should have been more responsible about letting kids fiddle about in there. To say vehicles with manual transmission are inherently dangerous is utter bullpucky.
It's up to the joker or jokeress who owns it to exercise common sense and responsibility. sadly traits which are becoming less and less common nowadays.
gunhand,
Aug 8, 4:07am
Agree with you there, why people allow kids to "play" in cars is beyond me. There not a playground. None of my kids have ever been allowed to fiddle with everything and anything in the car. They are not deprived in any way as a result either. Many years back before I had kids I often wondered about odd damage and marks in cars interiors. It was a how the hell did that get broken kinda thing. Then one day I went car shopping with a mate and his kids. Well blow me down as soon as they got in a car (car yard car, not theirs) they grabbed and pulled and poked every bloody thing, even groping the hood lining. Well that explained that pretty quick, undisciplined kids. Which seems the modern way of doing it these days, NO, isn't in a parents vocab any more.
2sheddies,
Aug 8, 7:17am
I know exactly what you mean. Have seen many a family car or people mover with filthy smudgy windows, food smeared from one end to the other, bits ripped off etc. Kids will insist on playing with everything, and as you say, they dont learn not to because the 'parents' can't seem to say no or otherwise control them. Bad enough in their own vehicle, but in someone else's. not good enough.
Mind you, some supposed adults are just as bad. I had 2 vehicles years back, just old cheap hacks, but one had a big gouge out of the dash, exposing the foam padding in front of where the passenger sits. It appeared someone had been picking at it constantly with their fingernail while travelling along. Another had a great crack in the dash and busted air vents where they must have had their feet on the dashboard, or been practising the drums or something odd. Not to mention food, drink, crumbs, rubbish etc strewn everywhere. I guess we know where the kids learn it from.
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