truemagellen

I'm sorry but this woman is an idiot



This story ran on nwitimes.com on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:05 AM CST

Driverless car crashes into home
BY KEN KOSKY
kkosky@nwitimes.com


Christine Djordjevic stepped outside Monday morning to discover her car -- which she said is "possessed" -- had driven itself across the street and crashed into the neighbor's home.

Djordjevic said she must have accidentally hit some buttons on her key chain and activated the car's remote starter. And since the car had been parked in reverse gear, it backed up and didn't stop until it crashed into her neighbor's home.

The accident, which occurred about 8:20 a.m. Monday on Governor Road, in South Haven, caused several thousand dollars to Djordjevic's car and neighbor Gregory Hajduk's house.

Djordjevic said police were skeptical of her story until they witnessed her remote starter activate, sending her car driving down the road. They chased it down and prevented it from hitting anything, she said.

Police reports confirm the vehicle "was checked and it was learned that the vehicle will start and drive when the remote start is activated."

Djordjevic, who got the 1995 Mercury Tracer Trio in January, said the remote starter already was installed. She said the device previously caused her car to jump over a curb at Wal-Mart while she was outside the car and her 11-year-old son was inside yelling, "Mom, where are we going?"

To prevent any further problems, Djordjevic said she is taking the remote starter activator off her key chain.

"I don't even know how the stupid thing works," she said.

"It usually does it by accident ... It should have never had a remote starter put on it."

Many remote starters are advertised as not for use on stick shift cars like Djordjevic's car. Larry McIntosh, manager of K&T Auto Creation in Hobart, said he doesn't put remote starters on stick shift cars because there is no guarantee the driver will leave the car in neutral.

McIntosh said a remote starter professionally installed in an automatic transmission vehicle will only start the car and let the heater warm the interior, and will not drive until the driver depresses the brake pedal and puts it in gear.

Hajduk, whose home sustained damage to the garage door and the surrounding structure, said people are generally surprised when he tells them how his home became damaged. When he told his boss a remote starter caused a driverless car to strike his home, his boss replied, "No way."

Djordjevic said people never have believed her when she tells them her car's unique abilities, but she points out that her first name is Christine, which also is the name of a possessed car in the 1983 horror flick "Christine."

Both Djordjevic and Hajduk said they're glad this story ended with nobody getting hurt.

devoid

The car's not possessed.....she's just an idiot! Doh!

Luftwaffle

My friend's father is the super at a building in Buffalo. One of the tennants had a remote starter on his WRX to warm up the car during those cold winters. Unfortunately, the car was in gear one time and he put a hole through his faux brick wall. The car was only mildly scratched as my friend tells me, but he was pretty cold for a bit in his room. :p

brothervoodoo

This story sounds strangely familiar...

mikeb

I cant even comprehend how dumb I would feel

Demon Speeding

Anyone know if it is possible to install a remote starter without an alarm and just use the factory alarm? I've gone to places and they say that because the car won't lock remotely while the key is in the ignition...you must install a remote starter/alarm combo. Just don't want to screw up any warrantys and stuff....thanks for your help.

snap-on

Hmm..same here.

LOL

GotBass

There was a blurb in Car and Driver a few months ago about a Lamborghini Countach at an auction. The auctioneer demonstrated that the car starts right up, and drove across that lawn into another car being auctioned.