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Man’s Truck Steals Itself
You know, back in the 90s, you could actually pull the keys out of your ignition without putting your car in park (I think most newer cars have corrected this flaw). For dumbasses like myself, the results aren’t always pretty. I had car that once rolled out of his parking space and halfway down a street before softly (thank God) running into another car. And yet, another time, I had gone to pick up my girlfriend. I knocked on her door, and when she opened it, she said, “Is that your car rolling down the street.”
Indeed it was.
But nothing beats this story in that department:
A California man who called police after his truck disappeared from a convenience store said security video revealed the vehicle had effectively stolen itself.
Michael Otero said he left the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked when he exited the red pickup truck to enter a 7-Eleven store Sunday in Laguna Beach, so he feared the worst when he came out of the store to find no trace of his vehicle, the Orange County (Calif.) Register reported.
Otero said police arrived and screened surveillance camera footage to find a most improbable explanation for the mystery. The video shows the manual transmission truck — which Otero said had been put into first gear with the parking brake on — rolling in reverse from its parking space and heading toward the street until it curved and slid into an empty parking spot in an adjacent lot.
“I’m just cracking up,” Otero said. “I just thank God it didn’t hurt anyone.”
TaDa!
Comments
I need to see this video!
Posted by three elle, esq | February 13, 2009 1:02 PM
Dude is a liar. You can't put a manual transmission into gear while it's running and parked without killing it.
Hell, if you don't pay attention the damn thing will stall while you cruise up to a red light... it had to be in neutral, parking break or no or it would have jumped when he took his foot off the clutch.
The video was on the news, its only a little funny.
Posted by Spike | February 13, 2009 1:26 PM
Spike:
It doesn't say in the story that the vehicle was left running. He must have turned the engine off and then left the manual transmission in gear. I do that all the time.
But I didn't see the video, so maybe you saw in there that the engine was running.
Posted by ObiterDicta | February 14, 2009 2:59 PM
Hey Spike...If you drive a manual and park it in neutral with only the parking break on, your asking for trouble. You want your car in gear when parked. That way if the parking break fails, the engine will prevent the car from moving. Think of what happens when you downshift even when the car is running...it slows due to the resistance of the engine idling. If anything, the dude didn't have it in gear and didn't put the parking break down all the way. I see that all the time where I work.
Posted by diablo | February 17, 2009 6:40 PM