oh great... that's MY car

[MAH4546]

Settle down. The brakes were working. The emergency brake merely needed adjustment.

There has been way too much piling on in this thread. In reality, there was no need for any scolding. The OP has recognized the importance of the issue and has taken it to the mechanic. I suspect that it is a simple problem with the linkage cable.

I will add that in a prior post, I asked why the OP waited so long to take it in. That was actually a dumb question since the answer is obvious. It seemed like it was transmission related. Transmission-related problems get expensive quick. Sometimes, you have to let big dollar things go for a little bit. The reality of the situation is that the problem likely is not going to be hugely expensive, but the OP didn't know that, so she took the normal corse of action and attempted to put off the bad news. We've all done it. Usually, teh problems either doesn't turn out to be as bad as we'd feared or putting it off makes it even more costly.

Human nature is a funny thing.

I don't need to "settle down."

The vehicle experienced this rolling before. When a parked vehicle starts randomly rolling, it goes to the shop immediately. Can't afford to fix it? Tough, either find a way or don't drive the car.

What if my kids happened to be in that parking lot and in the way of a rolling full-size SUV?

What the OP did was negligent. If somebody had been hurt, she would have been liable for negligence and faced a major lawsuit.

A car's owner has the responsibility of making sure her car is safe for the road and others on it. "I can't afford to fix it right now" is never an excuse.

 

[surfergirl602]

Do you have an emergency break??

 

[sbell111]

... I am sure that if you were the person's car that got hit or if you or your family got hit by a neglected run away car you'd be feeling differently!

Actually, no.

A year or so ago, I drove my Grand Cherokee to work and parked in my normal spot on the street outside my building. A few hours later, I returned to my vehicle to find a ZJ making sweet love to my rear bumper. Strangely, there was an old woman sitting in the back seat. She was oblivious to the fact that their car rolled into mine.

I called a cop to get an accident report to submit to my insurance company. While he was filling out the form, the daughter wandered up. She hopped in her Jeep and backed it up. She put it in park, set the brake, and hopped out. A few seconds later, it rolled back down to rest against my WJ.

Obviously, I was a little miffed at the second strike, but this sort of thing is what insurance is for.

Also, it should be noted that I seriously doubt that the vehicle would roll so quickly in a flat parking lot to be a true danger to anyone's health.

 

[sbell111]

What if my kids happened to be in that parking lot and in the way of a rolling full-size SUV?

In the way of an SUV rolling at 1/4 of one mile per hour? I suspect that your kids would step away. If they are older kids, they might reach out and stop the rolling vehicle. That's what I would have done.

Here's why everyone should settle down and stop piling on:

There is no clear and present danger to any of you. No one requires you to adjust their behavior. The car is already in the shop.

 

[ryanshana]

Also, it should be noted that I seriously doubt that the vehicle would roll so quickly in a flat parking lot to be a true danger to anyone's health.

I get it about the car....you are right that insurance does take car of that.

But yea I'm sure a child, like let's say an 6 or 8 year old, would have an EXCELLENT chance against an Expedition. Come on.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Actually, no.

A year or so ago, I drove my Grand Cherokee to work and parked in my normal spot on the street outside my building. A few hours later, I returned to my vehicle to find a ZJ making sweet love to my rear bumper. Strangely, there was an old woman sitting in the back seat. She was oblivious to the fact that their car rolled into mine.

I called a cop to get an accident report to submit to my insurance company. While he was filling out the form, the daughter wandered up. She hopped in her Jeep and backed it up. She put it in park, set the brake, and hopped out. A few seconds later, it rolled back down to rest against my WJ.

Obviously, I was a little miffed at the second strike, but this sort of thing is what insurance is for.

Also, it should be noted that I seriously doubt that the vehicle would roll so quickly in a flat parking lot to be a true danger to anyone's health.

Yes, accidents happen & that is what insurance is for. BUT when the driver of a car KNOWS there is a problem and doesn't do anything about getting it fixed, then ensuing damage is really not an accident then, is it?

 

[fussymonkey]

A child wouldn't even be the worst of my worries- they're quick (or so young they should be holding a parent's hand in a parking lot). My concern would be the 84 year old grandma that takes a half hour to walk from her call to the Walmart doors, know what I mean? A lady with a walker, or a shuffling older gentleman couldn't hop out of the way.

Accidents happen, that's why they're called accidents. But when a person knows thier vehicle is unsafe and that it rolls, and takes it out again anyway, that's not an accident, that's negligence.

Saying so isn't being worked up, its calling a spade a spade.

 

[MAH4546]

In the way of an SUV rolling at 1/4 of one mile per hour? I suspect that your kids would step away. If they are older kids, they might reach out and stop the rolling vehicle. That's what I would have done.

Here's why everyone should settle down and stop piling on:

There is no clear and present danger to any of you. No one requires you to adjust their behavior. The car is already in the shop.

You have a lot to learn.

One of the most common types of vehiciluar deaths is related to slow-moving vehicles in driveways.

Also, unless the OP lives in a some sort of land where physics do not apply, as the SUV keeps rolling it gains something called "momentum," and will progessively start rolling faster and faster, well past .25 mph.

Regardless, even an SUV going at 3 MPH can kill an unaware child, who does not notice the SUV. The actual impact might do nothing more than a bruise, but speed doesn't change the weight of a vehicle. When a child is hit by a slow-moving vehicle, the injuries come from the weight of as much as 2-3 tons extolled on the child's body, not from the car bumping into him.

And the insurance excuse? Ha! I can imagine it now:

Person 1: "So I hear your child was hit by a runaway SUV!"
Person 2: "Yeah, but its okay, the owner of the SUV had insurance!"

 

[lil mermaid]

Yes, accidents happen & that is what insurance is for. BUT when the driver of a car KNOWS there is a problem and doesn't do anything about getting it fixed, then ensuing damage is really not an accident then, is it?

I agree with this 100%. OP, you'll have to let us know what happens when you tell your insurance company you knew your car wouldn't stay in park AND your emergency brake didn't work.

 

[almacdonald]

It's called "Duty of Care". Every driver has a duty of care to ensure that their vehicle is safe and is not a threat to the saftey of others around them. Failure to do so is negligent as a previous poster stated. I doubt you'd find any judge that would rule other wise if a case like this went to court. For the record, if a person were to get caught between an uncontrolled SUV, and any other immobile object, no matter how fast the SUV was rolling, it would crush them, the impact isn't the concern in this case.

 

[PinkRhombus]

In the way of an SUV rolling at 1/4 of one mile per hour? I suspect that your kids would step away. If they are older kids, they might reach out and stop the rolling vehicle. That's what I would have done.

Here's why everyone should settle down and stop piling on:

There is no clear and present danger to any of you. No one requires you to adjust their behavior. The car is already in the shop.

It may START rolling at 1/4 of a mile, but I'm sure it picked up speed. Parking lots may appear to be flat, but they are graded slightly to assist in getting the rain water off. What if someone was leaning into their trunk putting in groceries and it pinned them between the bumpers?

It was NOT okay to leave it like that, and for whatever reason, the OP thought it okay to do so. And probably would have continued longer if no damage had occured to another vehicle.

IT IS NOT OKAY, even with your opinion she left it because of cost. The cost of injuries or the life of your child DOESN'T have a price.

 

[robinb]

I think that we can all be relieved that no one got hurt by the rolling SUV . My guess is that the OP didn't even consider that skipping a car repair might effect someone else. I know that I have been guilty of putting off fixing a parking break for a couple of weeks when I drove an automatic transmission. I also bet she also didn't consider that it would roll in a parking lot which is generally thought to be FLAT. Of course, if she read the thread about runaway shopping carts then she would know better .

She knows differently now and I don't see any reason to pile on her anymore. Everyone has really good points and it was a tragic accident waiting to happen. She got off lucky . I think that this thread can be thought of as a kind of PSA that sometimes we need to look beyond our own needs to take into account the safety of others.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Wow...I shouldn't be surprised at the flack I get on occassion from the DIS.. but, guess it wouldn't be a community board without the different personalities huh?

ANyways, just to put it all in perspective, if you read correctly.. I just found out TWO days prior that it didn't go into park correctly. The next day, I was at the store when it rolled. THAT was the day I found out the parking brake didn't work (other brakes are FINE). WIth an automatic and flat roads, I've never had to use the parking brake before. So, I arranged to have it taken to the mechanics the following morning.
IT went, it's fixed. Of course, my first thought, when it happened, was "oh my god, what if it hit someone?"... C'mon, I'm a mom of 4, you think I didn't worry about that kind of thing? I didn't realize what was going on with the car to that degree...I just thought it was a loose shifter based on my description to the mechanic...
But, it's good to know that some of my fellow DISers have never made a bad judgement call and are master mechanics with excessive knowledge on all things that may go wrong.

Back to our regularly scheduled DISing