Brilliant design.

Dr.Jass

Dr.Jass

Pastor of Muppets
A friend of mine related a tale to me that made me do this: [smilie=e:

He went fishing a couple weeks back, doing the boat-hauling with his mid-'90s F150. He and his father had a great day, until the time came to pull the boat out of the water. He backed the trailer in, loaded the boat, and went to pull out of the water... no go. The truck was stuck in park.

They fought with this thing for quite some time, partially flooding the interior and unable to get the thing in gear (or neutral). Of course, there are others wanting to use the boat ramp, but he's blocking it and immobile. Finally, his Dad dragged the whole deal kickin' and screamin' out of the way: F150 exteneded cab 4x4, 17" aluminum bass boat (live wells, 80HP outboard, multiple batteries, etc), and trailer out of the way with his own truck. Impressive feat with the F150 stuck in park.

What was the problem? A 25-cent fuse. What caused it? The boat-trailer wiring shorted out, which popped the brake-lamp fuse. On that truck (and I'm sure many others), the park/brake-pedal interlock is operated on the same circuit as the brake lamps... so when the short popped the fuse, the truck went nowhere. It may be OK on some vehicles, I guess, but on vehicles designed to pull trailers you'd think they'd take into account things like boats, water, and the fact that trailers often have patch-job wiring.

I'm not bashing the Ford, really, since I'm sure many, if not most, American vehicles with that ridiculous, superfluous interlock system are designed the same way... I guess I'm more lamenting the fact that we live in a litigious society where vehicular laws are defined by insurance companies, and so we require mechanical replacements for common sense.

Sorry... was I ranting again?
 
What I wanna know is...what kinda truck pulled it out?


Interesting story and a good bit of info to know should I ever run across such a problem.
 
First rule of the ramp I have is unplug the trailer wiring before backing in to the water. No power , no shorts caused by water. [smilie=e:
 
If it happens again, here's the trick. FoMoCo put a safety switch in that says if you lose your brake lights, you can't pull it out of "park". Therefore you can't drive, and can't get into an accident because you won't be on the road.
To go around this, shut the key all the way OFF. Turn on to only the first position BEFORE you get any dash lights. If you go to the "On" position, you've went too far. Put the truck, minivan, etc into "neutral" and start the vehicle. The shifter will go into any gear you want, but will lock gain as soon as you go into "Park".
I ran a AAA wrecker for 5 years and learned this trick so I wouldn't have to drag people's cars or tow them. Once I showed them the trick, they drove to the dealer themselves for a $65 fuse......
Maybe it will help somebody in the future...
 
Abodyaddict said:
If it happens again, here's the trick. FoMoCo put a safety switch in that says if you lose your brake lights, you can't pull it out of "park". Therefore you can't drive, and can't get into an accident because you won't be on the road.
To go around this, shut the key all the way OFF. Turn on to only the first position BEFORE you get any dash lights. If you go to the "On" position, you've went too far. Put the truck, minivan, etc into "neutral" and start the vehicle. The shifter will go into any gear you want, but will lock gain as soon as you go into "Park".
I ran a AAA wrecker for 5 years and learned this trick so I wouldn't have to drag people's cars or tow them. Once I showed them the trick, they drove to the dealer themselves for a $65 fuse......
Maybe it will help somebody in the future...
Click to expand...


[smilie=e: Thanks!!, I just printed this out just in case. I have a 03 supercrew with this annoying feature, POS sticks aboot once every couple of weeks when supposedly function correctly. Seriously, thanks for the tip.
 
Wow, that's some strange stuff, but water+electric currents=major bad stuff happening...


Kinda reminds me of when this one guy almost stalled a '01 Buick Lesabre dropping a fishin boat into the water down in Delaware, once he got the boat in...he couldn't get the car moving off the ramp. I still wonder why he even used a FWD car to tow somethin that was probably darn near close the limit that that turkey can tow.
 
When you stop to consider that some people are more or less brain dead when it comes to proper use and maintenance of a motor vehicle these *safety* devices sorta make sense. We are so stooooopid that we need to be protected from ourselves I guess. [smilie=e:
 
No. You're absolutely wrong. Everyone should have to have a driving test when they acquire or renew their license. If you get in the test vehicle and put the automatic transmission in gear without putting your foot on the brake, you fail. No issue, no argument. If you don't put your foot on the brake when you shift from park to reverse or drive, you're too stupid to drive a car and shouldn't be allowed legally to do so. Period.
 
I would even go a step further and require everyone with two legs to learn how to drive a stick. [smilie=e:
 
Dr.Jass said:
No. You're absolutely wrong. Everyone should have to have a driving test when they acquire or renew their license.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Re-testing for stupidity would save countless lives and miillions of dollars in insurance claims.
 
I agree.
Some long term drivers are just so mind-boggling stupid, they have been making the same mistakes for years.

At least once a year we get a call to come and boost someone's car 'cause "it won't start". We take it out of gear, put it in Park or Neutral and fire it up.

People like this should not have care and control of a motor vehicle.

I'm all for re-testing every couple of years. Some high performance or defensive driving courses would be a good idea as well.
 
Due to back child support issues I didnt have one for a while, and when I got caught back up and was able to renew it I had to take the driving test. You have to start at the begining and roll up the windows and ID all controls before you even start the motor. The instructor is also a school bus driver and the day after I was tested she ran a stop sign with her bus and almost creamed me on main street. Its a good thing I had taken a defensive driving course when I was in the army so I knew how to avoid collisions when stupid people do stupid things I guess, nobody is perfect after all. [smilie=e:
 
What I don't get (even after asking a DMV rep) is why we have the test in 56 languages when all the freakin road signs are only in ENGLISH! I think the test should only be offered in whatever language is printed on the signs (I.E. If I went to Mexico, I couldn't get a license until I read spanish)
But, what do I know, I'm just a driver for a living...
 
Dr.Jass said:
No. You're absolutely wrong. Everyone should have to have a driving test when they acquire or renew their license. If you get in the test vehicle and put the automatic transmission in gear without putting your foot on the brake, you fail. No issue, no argument. If you don't put your foot on the brake when you shift from park to reverse or drive, you're too stupid to drive a car and shouldn't be allowed legally to do so. Period.
Click to expand...
Agreed! lets make that worldwide!
 
68R/T said:
I would even go a step further and require everyone with two legs to learn how to drive a stick. [smilie=e:[/quote]
my 11 year old daughter wanted to learn to drive so i made her learn on my 99 neon r/t. within an hour she was driving nicely and even taking off on an uphill grade without bogging/lurching or killing the engine. college parking lot on the weekend serves as a nice training course and it is empty. ill take jass' statement one step further and say that if you cannot drive a stick you should not be able to get a license. certain situations are exempt naturally as in the case of a handicapped person, etc.
Click to expand...
 
same thing happened to me,lost the license due to family support,when came time to get it back they wouldn't give me my CDL back,downgraded to a general car only,,,I have over 3 million OTR miles,about 2 M verifiable,with no accidents in 29 years,no major violations,some laws are a joke,,,some make sense,,,
 
BB71Challenger said:
68R/T said:
I would even go a step further and require everyone with two legs to learn how to drive a stick. [smilie=e:[/quote]
my 11 year old daughter wanted to learn to drive so i made her learn on my 99 neon r/t. within an hour she was driving nicely and even taking off on an uphill grade without bogging/lurching or killing the engine. college parking lot on the weekend serves as a nice training course and it is empty. ill take jass' statement one step further and say that if you cannot drive a stick you should not be able to get a license. certain situations are exempt naturally as in the case of a handicapped person, etc.
Click to expand...
Overhere...If you got your license with an automatic,
you not allowed to drive a stick car.
Click to expand...
 
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