Who's at fault here? Dealer launches Mustang into pond

[Bru]

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/25/forum-fodder-dealer-accidentally-remote-starts-customers-musta/

Ready to play armchair Johnny Cochran? Here's a story about a horse that got lead to water and then dove in. A Mustang Forum member, luckydawg003 (LD), took his manual-tranny 2007 Mustang GT in for warranty repair to Brandon Ford in Tampa, Florida. When he went to pick it up, the service manager departed to retrieve his car, then came back ten minutes later to say he had some bad news. According to LD, someone left the car in gear without the parking brake on, and when the service manager pressed the remote start button twice to start the car, it leaped to life and drove out of the dealer's lot, through a chain link fence and into a pond, getting completely submerged.

Other twists to the tale: LD had an aftermarket remote starter that bypassed the clutch and would start the car even if it weren't in neutral. A forum poster going by the handle Tylus linked to the posts wherein LD asks for advice on how to achieve the particular bypass he was after. Some folks think it's the dealership's fault, saying the 'Stang was in their possession and the service manager didn't need to use an aftermarket remote starter to retrieve the car. Some feel it's LD's fault, having left an jerry-rigged system in someone else's car. And some say there's enough blame for everyone. Question is, what is LD left to do about his scuba-diving Mustang? Pictures of the car post-dive in the gallery below.

Click to read more...

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Dealership is at fault ultimately IMO. It's not illegal to have a remote start on a manual car.

 

[AlmightyBirdman]

another one bites the dust. damn you water!!!

 

[Bru]

And why the hell do you need a remote start in Florida?

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Not to mention a dealership employee left the car in gear and a dealership employee used the remote start to start the car.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

And why the hell do you need a remote start in Florida?

A/C brah!

 

[Bru]

What a pussy

 

[OneBadGTR]

I'd say owner, theres a reason you dont bypass that switch. Plus, it doesnt seem like he told them about it. This is exactly why when I drop my GTR off for service I change the tune to only let the car go up to 5mph..... They always call and think the cars broken but I tell them there is no reason for them to go more than 5mph from the service bay to a parking spot. lol

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I'd be willing to bet the owner told them about it. But telling the service tech and the manager retrieving the car is probably the issue. My guess I the manager either didn't know it was manual or had no clue you HAVE to bypass the clutch switch to have a remote start in a manual car

 

[Primalzer]

I'd say they both are at fault. First the dude shouldn't have put a remote start on a manual car and bypassed the clutch switch, its there for a reason. Secondly if he were to bring it in for service, he shouldn't have given them the fob for the remote start, there was no need to do that. Then of course it is the dealers fault as well because the service manager shouldn't even have been using the remote start in the first place whether or not he was told about it.

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

Dealership is at fault. Someone at the dealership left it in gear and without the parking brake on. From the time the keys were out of the owner's hands until they returned to his hands, anything that happened to the car is on the dealer.

 

[blakbearddelite]

That's really tough. I'm going to have to say the owner of the car is liable. The dealership had no idea what he had done to his car. The owner should have notified them of the mod. I also think that it is a terrible safety feature to bypass.

EDIT: Well if there was 'split fault', I'd go with that as well. Both parties did their share to make this happen.

 

[Bru]

I'd like to find the original thread on whatever forum this was posted on.

 

[Bru]

Well that wasn't hard

http://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...drove-my-car-into-a-pond-fmylife-updated.html

 

[AlmightyBirdman]

Dealership is at fault. Someone at the dealership left it in gear and without the parking brake on. From the time the keys were out of the owner's hands until they returned to his hands, anything that happened to the car is on the dealer.

Exactly

 

[Bru]

Well it's going through my insurance. Since Ford denies any involvement in remote starting my car. Tomorrow I have to pay $550 to get my car released and towed back to my house. I have to pay for the tow out of their pond. Then when home I will strip anything I can sell or make money off of. Then after the weekend, my insurance will tow it to a junk yard somewhere. I'm looking at new cars, but it's hard when you get so little money back from your car being TOTALED.

Any idea for another equal sports car that's not a FORD.

Daaaaaaang

 

[Eagle]

Dealership is at fault. Someone at the dealership left it in gear and without the parking brake on. From the time the keys were out of the owner's hands until they returned to his hands, anything that happened to the car is on the dealer.

 

[Bru]

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Haha damn really?? I don't get how that's possible.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

to that cupholder

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Who leaves a manual car in gear without the parking brake on? Also why is a dealership employee using the remote start? I'd expect an employee to do nothing over driving the car from a spot to the bay and back; no need to touch anything else.

 

[Bru]

OP said this in his thread asking how to bypass the switch or something

So any other ways to hook my r/s wire to the clutch wire..like maybe use a relay or something. I don't want some idiot mechanic to try and start my car with the clutch bypassed and have my car move on him. So any ideas, right now I just have the two clutch wires touching each other.

 

[greasy]

I am going to say that it is the owner's fault.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

OP said this in his thread asking how to bypass the switch or something

well I guess he wasn't worried enough to come up with a solution.

 

[jason05gt]

Who leaves a manual car in gear without the parking brake on? Also why is a dealership employee using the remote start? I'd expect an employee to do nothing over driving the car from a spot to the bay and back; no need to touch anything else.

I know a lot of people that leave the car in gear.

This is the owners fault for being an idiot and putting a remote starter on a manual car.