What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Car Guys - Dumb Dad Disaster here; Help predict our Misery (1 Viewer)

H Jass

H Jass

Footballguy
In the annals of terrible Dad decisions this has to rank up there with them. I can't believe our moment of parental idiocy and we are all sick to our stomach here.  But, our loss could be your gain if you can predict the catastrophic damage and subsequent repair amount.

Went for a family hike and as we got closer to the parking lot where our car was our oldest child, our 15 year-old was feeling cocky.  Him:  "Let me bring the car to you guys!"  Wife and I: "No"  Him: "Please, its just the parking lot and my friends parents let them start to drive in lots"  Us in a horrendous moment of idiocy and weakness:  "Fine, just let the auto drive to us and leave foot on brake"   I know what you are thinking: WHY DID YOU NOT GO GET IN THE CAR WITH HIM YOU MORON?!?!?!?   I can only answer, mmm-hmmm....  Now my oldest has always been the "car kid" since he was little.  Drove the kiddy jeep like a champ, drove go-karts like a boss on the track with me, had a mini-dirt bike the past year.  This is no excuse, but on reanalyzing this event over and over and over again, I think that's the moment of cloudy judgment coupled with wanting to momentarily be the "nice" dad.  Uggggghhhh.

Kid starts the car and begins to slowly make his way toward us.  The car is a 2019 Subaru Ascent which has some weight obviously.  Instead of the brake, he begins to speed up and steer a little away from us.  He hit the gas.  He starts to obviously panic and at maybe 25 to 30 mph he fully panics and....slams the car into park.  CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG the car stops.  Worst metal noise I've heard in a car.  I run over, get him out of the car as he starts sobbing and my other kids start screaming crying too.  I get in and the car will not drive anymore.  I roll it back via my foot and look:  about 5 ball bearings rolling around, small chunks of definitely sheared metal, and a few small patches of mud colored goop.  :doh: :wall: :cry:

We have it towed to dealer.  Its the holiday weekend so they won't look at it until Tuesday morning.  There ain't no hiding the damage so this will be our bill no doubt.  :puke:

1) Can you guess what exploded under our car?  The entire transmission?  Complete loss or partial?  Of course Subaru has a fancy transmission so that can only add to the joy if its FUBAR-ed

2) Nearest to the pin cost?

3) Please hit me in the head with a ratchet.  Still can't believe our moment of terrible judgment

ETA: I’m being slightly shticky, but obviously we are truly thankful he didn’t go ramping into the woods or flip the thing. Just further adds into the thought of wtf were we thinking in that moment.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think johnnycakes is pretty close, especially for his neck of the woods. I'll put in a guess based on Hugh perhaps living away from the coasts somewhere:

$4,500

 
As bad as it seems it is, it could have been a lot worse. Be thankful that he didn't crash into something or someone. 

Would something like this be covered by insurance? 

 
You need a new son.

My 14 year old daughter, backs the car through the parking lot when practice is over to load up or she'll drive it around to the other dugout...... ;)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I will add, as a much younger Popeye I recall backing up my Dads car and thinking, huh, why isn't this moving any faster.  So I gave it gas.  It was then I heard my sister screaming that I'm backing up Dads car into Moms quarter panel.  So . . . . yeah it happens.  

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was driving a mid-90s Nissan XE pick-up one time and had a serious brain fart -- I threw the automatic transmission into Reverse while driving. It was in stop-and-go traffic ... I might have gotten up to 20 mph when I did it.

All that happened was that the truck basically put itself in Neutral. My truck was slowing to a stop. I pressed the brake to fully stop, put the truck back in Drive, and continued on my way as if nothing had happened. I got 20 more years out of that transmission.

Obviously putting a vehicle in Reverse won't engage the parking pawl, but I'm still a little surprised that a modern vehicle's automatic transmission will "allow" the driver to truly put an automatic in Park while the vehicle is moving at speed. I'd have expected the computer to override the manual "instruction" here. But maybe being able to go into Park that way is something of a last-ditch safety feature for when the proper brakes fail.

 
I will say $7.800 to $8,000 if it needs to be replaced. 

It happens, man.

When I was 22 I had a 1982 Blazer (full size one). I remotely open the garage door and pull in the driveway. For some reason I jump out of the vehicle without putting it in park. As I go in the garage, I turn and here comes my vehicle driving itself into the garage. The problem: my baby—my candy apple red 69 Mustang is in the garage and I watch in horror as the Blazer collides with my car and really messed up ths trunk/bumper. Uggghhh talk about stupid.

 
Just unbelievably a dumb moment of parental incompetence. Your guys‘ guesses are about what I’m thinking too but I’m fairly part cost naïve. At least it wasn’t just me as my wife was there too. (Though I’m sure this story my evolve to just me over the years).

Doug B said:
Obviously putting a vehicle in Reverse won't engage the parking pawl, but I'm still a little surprised that a modern vehicle's automatic transmission will "allow" the driver to truly put an automatic in Park while the vehicle is moving at speed. I'd have expected the computer to override the manual "instruction" here. But maybe being able to go into Park that way is something of a last-ditch safety feature for when the proper brakes fail.
Click to expand...
Based on things I’ve read I’m kinda surprised it let him do it too...like I said this is a 2019.  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise though because if it didn’t let him maybe his next panic move is to swerve wildly into the woods. I’m sure Insurance would’ve been kind there. 😫

 
Last edited by a moderator:
popeye said:
I will add, as a much younger Popeye I recall backing up my Dads car and thinking, huh, why isn't this moving any faster.  So I gave it gas.  It was then I heard my sister screaming that I'm backing up Dads car into Moms quarter panel.  So . . . . yeah it happens.  
Click to expand...
I had a good friend growing up who let’s just say tended to get hurt in sports and do dumb things. He was washing his car or his girlfriend’s car and was backing up his car. Being him, he of course had the door open since he’s just backing up a few feet. Welp, the open car door just so happens to find it’s way into the side of her car of course pushing the door far enough in that after moving the car back we couldn’t close the door.

 
If you need a new one(and it sounds like you do), it will be over 5k just for the transmission and about 3 days worth of labor. You may be able to luck into a decent used tranny and save a couple k if you even feel like going that route.

 
Doug B said:
I know Hugh's Ascent new was north of $30 K ... but, man, your guesstimate is high enough to feel like money better spent on another vehicle.
Click to expand...
I wish I could claim knowledge of this—I just put the numbers into Kelly Blue Book repair and this was the number it spit out 

 
2019 Ascent transmissions on Ebay going from $1500 to $2200 with up to 1 year warranty.
You might get out of this for under $4000.

 
Hugh Jass said:
Based on things I’ve read I’m kinda surprised it let him do it too...like I said this is a 2019.  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise though because if it didn’t let him maybe his next panic move is to swerve wildly into the woods. I’m sure Insurance would’ve been kind there. 😫
Click to expand...
Maybe that has something to do with the first recall under that link?

 
JaxBill said:
Hugh Jass said:
Based on things I’ve read I’m kinda surprised it let him do it too...like I said this is a 2019.  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise though because if it didn’t let him maybe his next panic move is to swerve wildly into the woods. I’m sure Insurance would’ve been kind there. 😫
Click to expand...
Maybe that has something to do with the first recall under that link?
Click to expand...
Before shelling out big bucks, it might be worth trying to leverage the recalls into a free or discounted transmission. It might even be worth getting a lawyer involved.

 
Hugh Jass said:
In the annals of terrible Dad decisions this has to rank up there with them. I can't believe our moment of parental idiocy and we are all sick to our stomach here.  But, our loss could be your gain if you can predict the catastrophic damage and subsequent repair amount.

Went for a family hike and as we got closer to the parking lot where our car was our oldest child, our 15 year-old was feeling cocky.  Him:  "Let me bring the car to you guys!"  Wife and I: "No"  Him: "Please, its just the parking lot and my friends parents let them start to drive in lots"  Us in a horrendous moment of idiocy and weakness:  "Fine, just let the auto drive to us and leave foot on brake"   I know what you are thinking: WHY DID YOU NOT GO GET IN THE CAR WITH HIM YOU MORON?!?!?!?   I can only answer, mmm-hmmm....  Now my oldest has always been the "car kid" since he was little.  Drove the kiddy jeep like a champ, drove go-karts like a boss on the track with me, had a mini-dirt bike the past year.  This is no excuse, but on reanalyzing this event over and over and over again, I think that's the moment of cloudy judgment coupled with wanting to momentarily be the "nice" dad.  Uggggghhhh.

Kid starts the car and begins to slowly make his way toward us.  The car is a 2019 Subaru Ascent which has some weight obviously.  Instead of the brake, he begins to speed up and steer a little away from us.  He hit the gas.  He starts to obviously panic and at maybe 25 to 30 mph he fully panics and....slams the car into park.  CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG the car stops.  Worst metal noise I've heard in a car.  I run over, get him out of the car as he starts sobbing and my other kids start screaming crying too.  I get in and the car will not drive anymore.  I roll it back via my foot and look:  about 5 ball bearings rolling around, small chunks of definitely sheared metal, and a few small patches of mud colored goop.  :doh: :wall: :cry:

We have it towed to dealer.  Its the holiday weekend so they won't look at it until Tuesday morning.  There ain't no hiding the damage so this will be our bill no doubt.  :puke:

1) Can you guess what exploded under our car?  The entire transmission?  Complete loss or partial?  Of course Subaru has a fancy transmission so that can only add to the joy if its FUBAR-ed

2) Nearest to the pin cost?

3) Please hit me in the head with a ratchet.  Still can't believe our moment of terrible judgment

ETA: I’m being slightly shticky, but obviously we are truly thankful he didn’t go ramping into the woods or flip the thing. Just further adds into the thought of wtf were we thinking in that moment.
Click to expand...
It’s all ball bearings nowadays.

$5,7570.00

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
I don’t have a guess but for the love of a God get it fixed at a good local tranny shop ....not the dealership
Click to expand...
While i’d normally agree with this- I’d dig deeper and look into the ramifications of having major work done by a third party while the vehicle is still most likely under factory warranty.  You could be voiding several more years of factory warranty by going this route. 

 
I don't know the particulars of your situation, but I wouldn't beat myself up over this, @Hugh Jass.  Kids need to learn to operate a car, and there's no good reason why a 15 year old shouldn't be able to handle a parking lot unless you live in Manhattan or downtown Chicago or someplace like that.  

 
That said, if it were my son who did this, he would never hear the end of it.  Ever.  If I'm 90 years old and my son and his family are giving me a ride home from my beloved wife's funeral, I'll make a point to remind him to come to a complete stop before putting it in Park.  

 
Made me think of the pilot that let his kid fly the plane and crashed it and killed a bunch of innocent passengers. 
 

Coulda been worse I guess!

 
Did he have a learner permit?

It is possible insurance would pay for this if you wanted to go that route.  But if he has no permit, then you have to say you did it and make up a story like your hand slipped.

I was teaching someone to drive and she mistook the accelerator for the brake then panicked and we took out a utility pole and wound up in a ditch.  The airbags went off and when that happens it is hugely expensive to fix.  Insurance covered it.  Not much different than what your son did, no one needs to know he was alone in the car, unless your insurance agent is a FBG.

 
Thorpe said:
Did he have a learner permit?

It is possible insurance would pay for this if you wanted to go that route.  But if he has no permit, then you have to say you did it and make up a story like your hand slipped.

I was teaching someone to drive and she mistook the accelerator for the brake then panicked and we took out a utility pole and wound up in a ditch.  The airbags went off and when that happens it is hugely expensive to fix.  Insurance covered it.  Not much different than what your son did, no one needs to know he was alone in the car, unless your insurance agent is a FBG.
Click to expand...
There wasn’t a collision at all, I wouldn’t think Insurance would touch that regardless?

 
This shouldn’t be possible with a 2019 vehicle. Assuming it’s under warranty, you should get a new car out of this.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
Help for a heartsick dad
Replies
47
Views
1K
Jaysus
Jaysus
nirad3
A co-worker hit my car. AMA!
Replies
25
Views
970
nirad3
nirad3
ghostguy123
Car battery issue, help me diagnose this problem
2 3
Replies
149
Views
3K
Jobber
Jobber

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top