Stupid Mistakes

Too many steps: shifting to B cancels the cruise control anyway.

 

It was just a waste of time and not using the car in the most efficient manner. Now I get up to speed quickly and stay light on the throttle to maintain the desired speed.

 

when i pulled my car into this carwash with a rail and a conveyor belt thing (and u set the car in neutral and it will move u thru the wash), the rail cracked my left front wheel's plastic rim because i pulled too close to the left.. be careful with those! especially when ur getting the car onto the rail.. thats when i messed up!

 

I've been driving Carmine for 3 weeks.

Today I went and did grocery shopping, and as I sometimes do, I tossed my handbag in the back with all the groceries. I keep the fob in the handbag.

Get in the car, press the brake, press power, and the "key" light comes on. Apparently, Carmine cannot detect the key from the hatchback part of the car.

Anyway, I decide I left my bag in the store and go tearing off to find it at the cashier (it wasn't there). It didn't dawn on me that I HAD to have it to unlock Carmine and get the back opened to load all the groceries. Took sometime to find the darn thing. Glad I didn't buy any ice cream today!

 

Left a can of spray paint out on the driveway, which my wife backed over on accident. It exploded painting the entire front left corner, side, windshild and side windows of the car.

 

ok... before i get started, i need to advise....

IT WAS NOT ME!~!

ok. one question... what is impact to tank mileage if vehicle is left on all night (about 15 hours?)

answer:... with 205 miles and MFD stating 53.2 mpg... leave it on all night, you will end up with 47.1 mpg in the morning...

as far as what stupid mistake was made....this past wednesday to be exact by someone OTHER THAN ME... i will leave you all to fill in the blanks

 

Left car on? Hmm, yup, did that just after we got it. Went to friends for BBQ, came out 3-4 hours later, lights are on, ICE is running, battery down to purple. Oops.
Was wondering what the new beeping sound was when I exited the car.
Now I know.
Would suggest walking away from car with power ON and key in pocket just to hear what it sounds like.

 

I routinely leave the Zhang Heng on for 4-6 hours during a car show to run the audio systme and undercar lights. The MPG indicator usually drops by 5 MPG, and the SOC of the traction battery goes to 2 bars.

 

I can warn of a mistake I made with my Acura Integra 20+ years ago. I opened the electric garage door with the hatch open. The linkage - a heavy metal bar that connects the worm drive to the garage door - collided with the hatch, making a big dent and scratch in my brand new car.

Fortunately, as soon as I brought my new Prius home I remembered this happening. In our current house the linkage is much longer than it needs to be, with the metal bar hanging way down past the 90 degree bend. I could see that it would definitely collide with the hatch if I repeated my mistake from 20 years ago, and I am sure the aluminum construction would dent severely. So I used a hack saw to cut down the bar's extension, and covered it with foam pipe insulation for good measure. I did the same on my wife's garage door just in case we traded bays, or in case she got a Prius someday (which she did shortly after that).

 

It wasn't my mistake, but my dealer gave us two fobs, one of which was for our car, one wasn't. First time I went to drive the car without my wife, I felt like a complete idiot, because it just wouldn't start. Had to ask my wife to show me how to start the car -- which she did. Started right up for her. Because she had her fob in her pocket. She left, and I was back to not being able to figure out how to start the car. Took me a while to figure out what was going on. Finally took the little physical keys out, lined them up, and saw they were cut for two different locks. The dealer eventually found our second fob.

Second mistake -- low front clearance. I bumped the front of the car in the driveway the first few times I drove it.

Third mistake -- not anticipating how sensitive the antilock brake system and traction control system can be. Braking while heading downhill while hitting a pothole will release the brakes for a fraction of a second. Trying to take off from a gravel-covered surface will kill the power for a second if it makes the wheels spin (at least, as of the '05 model, that was true). Slowing down while pulling onto a gravel should can also release the brakes for a fraction of a second. That momentary loss of brakes/loss of power can be very upsetting if you're not ready for it.

I see fewer complaints about that these days, so maybe the newer models have those quirks ironed out.

 

Backed out into sloped driveway at 6:30am, Sunday morn for car's first wash, car 4 days old. Set car in park, put parking brake on, powered off, got spooked thinking 'did I set parking brake enough, might it roll back'.

Took parking brake off without foot on brake pedal, car settled back onto the transmission in park. I think minor faux paux, but felt bad and a mistake I won't repeat.

From now on, I release parking brake after putting it in D or R gear, and certainly with foot on the brake.