Parked car running on a cold winter morning during an ice storm before work. Looks right, doesn’t it? Not in this case.
This week we had an ice storm here in Jersey. The weather reports were calling for bad ice, like an inch or so. So, the7 night before the storm I flipped my windshield wipers up. This isn’t something I usually do. See I don’t have defrost, so I was hoping that by flipping the wipers up I’d have an easier time getting out to work in the morning (provided the roads weren’t super bad). Anyway.
Tuesday 4:30 am I went outside to go to work. It was sleeting but the roads looked manageable. I opened the driver’s door and put the key in and started the truck. I don’t have heat or defrost but I suppose it’s good to let the engine warm. Holding the door open a little, I back the truck up 3 feet so that I can go around the front of it to put the other wiper down. Still running, I put it in park and get out. I hear the drivers door close behind me. I move to the other side of the front of the truck and put the other wiper blade down. I return to the driver’s side to discover the door is locked, keys inside. Uh oh. I try the other three doors and the back door, all of them are locked.
Out comes the cell phone. I feel badly that I am about to wake my parents at this hour but since my Dad has the extra key I have no choice. It turns out they’re good sports. I walk to their house and Dad brings my key down to the door and heads back into the house to return to his warm bed. I walk back to my house. The remote doesn’t open any doors. I tried several times. I even tried holding it to my chin, something someone had just told me the day before completed a circuit when there was a problem. Nada. I try the key in the driver’s lock. Nope. The passenger door lock. Nope. The back door. Nope. I am now freezing, as I’ve gotten wet from the sleet. And I’m going to be late for work.
As if to add insult to injury, I call my parents again. Mom wakes Dad up again. He comes down and can’t get the doors open either. Finally he gets the key to open the back door, where I climb through and make my way to the front. I finally get on my way to work, for which I am twenty minutes late.
Here’s what we figure happened. When I backed the car up so I could get to the other side, the door was open. My truck has locks that engage automatically when the car moves. I didn’t notice because I was holding the door and I didn’t hear it because the wind was whipping. When the door closed it was already locked. And it’s a reasonable guess that the remote on my Dad’s key needs a new battery, being as it’s 12 years old.
Check those remote batteries folks!
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But the battery isn’t always the problem. I was Christmas shopping one year with my mom, the day after Thanksgiving. We left my in the Walmart parking lot and took her car. I had taken just my keyless entry so I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my keys. When we got back to the van the keyless entry wouldn’t work. There was a Radio Shack nearby so we went and bought a new battery. Nope, still didn’t work. We think it had something to do with the frequency, maybe too many other cars around, I don’t know. We ended up calling my husband since he had the only spare key. Not fun!
Good point, I’m sure there are times when other things happen.
What a Dad!