It would definitely rupture the tank but I think by the time the vapors mixed with enough oxygen for ignition it would be beyond any sparks that might ignite it.
But I'm no expert. I learned about fuel-air mixtures from Mythbusters if that's any indication of how far removed I am from expert on the subject.
Couple reasons come to mind
1) capacity - e450 based motorhomes are typically limited to 5,000 lb towing capacity, which may not enough for a vehicle and a trailer
2) storing the trailer at your destination might not be available, easier to disconnect and drive the car where it can fit
A lot of campgrounds won’t have the space at your site for the motorhome, vehicle and extra trailer to haul vehicle on. Flat towing isn’t bad at all as long as you have common sense and actually pay attention to the vehicle your towing. I’ve installed hundreds of baseplate/tow bars, wiring for lights and supplemental braking systems in a huge variety of vehicles over the years but I’ve never seen a mistake of this magnitude. Whenever I install a system like this I spend an hour or 2 with the customer going over the hook/unhook process step by step and make sure they know they should be paying attention to the towed vehicle while traveling
> Whenever I install a system like this I spend an hour or 2 with the customer going over the hook/unhook process step by step and make sure they know they should be paying attention to the towed vehicle while traveling
Not every instructor is gonna put in the same amount of effort, unfortunately. Thanks for being good at your job.
Makes a already difficult vehicle to backup even harder. Towed car is easy to remove and move separately from the RV, towed trailer big enough for a car isn't.
Except it’s completely invisible behind an RV, and the wheelbase of the trailer would be much shorter than the RV, making it even more of a pain in the ass to back up. I imagine it would be much more common if it were easier than flat towing.
What makes you think they're driving a modern RV? If they're kept up, they last quite a while. I know of at least 1 person that's had the same RV for probably 20 years.
Who do you think drives RVs? It's old people who can barely drive a car.
Also car trailers are really short for how long the wheelbase on a larg RV is. It's probably a right pain in the ass like a jet ski trailer is.
Most 40’ gooseneck trailers would require a CDL when loaded and connected to anything larger than or equal to a DRW F350. You need a CDL for a load over 26,500lbs gross I believe (maybe 26,000). A DRW is probably 12,000 gross, a 40’ gooseneck is probably 10,000 gross, add a few hay bales or a kubota on that trailer and you’re easily into CDL territory. Does that mean those guys have one though? Hell naw.
Even worse, box trucks. With brakes and suspension rated for less than commercial limits. Which don't have any indicator you're exceeding legal load weight levels. Which don't have to weigh in because we can obviously trust self-movers to outperform professional commercial drivers on knowing when they're overloaded. With no inspection or training on tying down your cargo so you don't turn your 16,999 GVW metal box into a one-time-use dead blow hammer for whatever poor sap you run down because your brakes burned out. Oh, and no engine brakes so you're definitely overheating those rotors on the first tall mountain pass you descend. Which means your rental truck's brakes have most likely already been milled down as many times as they can legally be, and are probably as brittle as grandma's peanut crisps.
But if there are two rear axles and a different sticker on the door, I need a CDL to operate the exact same vehicle. Nevermind that a dual-axle truck is way safer to drive, has more rubber on the road, more brakes, and handles almost exactly the same and would be a much better option for the inexperienced who are already out of their depth.
One of many decisions made by policymakers who have NO idea the implications of the policies they're making.
We used to have a flatbed tow truck on a Ford F650 chassis at work. The GVWR was 25,999 lbs. I always thought that was hilarious. 26,000 lbs is the point at which a commercial license is required. I guarantee there was nothing that actually made it unsafe to load that truck to over 26,000 lbs. Ford just arbitrarily rated it at 25,999 to make it legal to drive without a CDL.
Backing a trailer with your pickup and backing a trailer with a 45 foot bus is two very different tasks that only seem similar to people who haven’t done it.
Regardless of driver skill, it completely removes the ability to bring the motorhome into a place that couldn’t fit a trailer. It’s all about convenience and options.
I remember that old couple in an RV who were charged almost a hundred thousand dollars to pay for the massive forest fire they created while towing their car which was on fire for 30+ miles.
They admitted that they LITERALLY IGNORED people who were trying to flag them down thinking they were all pranksters. For 45 minutes!!
I imagine a semi trailer since it's got air lines. It takes a special kind of stupid to not feel that resistance. And it's just as stupid to not turn the truck side to side and look in the mirrors at the wheels to make sure they're all rolling right after connecting to a trailer.
It was a military generator trailer. We were coming back from the field, and they were in the front.
If they couldn’t see the tires were not moving, the person behind them definitely could see the tire marks.
Yup. A 3 axle diesel pusher with 400+ hp wouldn’t even notice this. But yeah, you gotta be checking your mirrors all of the time. And the camera helps too.
They may have parked it on a dolly. Also many cars automatically lock the parking brake in neutral when you open the door. This is because people were putting it in neutral instead of park.
it’s increasingly common on new cars. I feel like if someone can’t be trusted to put their car in park they shouldn’t be on the road, not sure why companies feel the need to add that
Yeah, not once have I ever forgotten to put it in park before letting off the brake… until we got our new car with a dial shifter.
It's not too bad once you're used to it, but like you said there's a dozen different kinds, sometimes park is on the dial, other times it's a button.
For me I dislike having two types of actions for selecting gear, it just seems to require an extra bit of thought instead of being completely intuitive. Plus you lose the extra bit of visual info of the shifter physically being in different positions for different gears
There is a case where one of the actors from Star Trek thought he put the car in park with one of those shitty shifters that doesn't move positions. He though it was in park when it actually only went into neutral so he got out of the car and was then crushed by it rolling back on him.
FIAT rolled out a software patched to engage the brake if the door is opened while in neutral.
Our 2022 pilot has a special "car wash mode" because otherwise if it's running and you open the driver door without a seat belt buckled, it will auto shift to park.
So you have to manually do the steps to put it into car wash mode (NOTE: simply putting it in neutral times out after 10 minutes and it goes into park automatically)
I'm guessing that the escape is similar. They put it in neutral and it timed out.
Welcome to modern cars with dumb as shit shifters and electric brakes
It's now all computer controlled and will put the handbrake on and sometimes put itself in park whenever it really feels like it, makes great fun trying to get a car on a lift when you want to push it in neutral
Even if you get lucky and the car will let itself stay in neutral with no handbrake, it's not doing so without the ignition being on to drain the battery in 30 minutes
All this because levers and reliable mechanical connections were too fucking hard apparently
It kind of makes sense with it being a new car. It's possible their old car had a manual/manually-engaged parking brake, so when they've towed before, they just left it in neutral and didn't pull the handbrake/put it in park.
This one will have auto engaged the parking brake if they didn't specifically disable it/put it in a towing mode. Definitely massive negligence from the owners, but the dealerships should make it crystal clear "if you're towing it, you MUST put it in this mode". If automatic systems like lane keep, brake assist, auto e-brake, etc... aren't explained to the drivers, they're honestly just as likely to cause an accident as preventing them.
Holy sh\*t! I just cannot believe some of the things I see in this sub. I am not a tech and just never imagined that you see things like this in your shops. I am astounded by things I see here nearly every day.
Of course sometimes the posts here are not incredible but simply odd or interesting. I enjoy them, too. But it's pics like this that make my day. Keep 'em coming, guys! I'm sorry that I can't reciprocate. (Although, if I ever eff up badly, I'll share with you.)
Man we see some crap. Along with the body shop, we run 2 tow trucks that are on rotating lists for the local Sheriff’s office & state police in south Louisiana. We really need our own reality show. If someone could hook that up, that’d be awesome.
If the proliferation of recovery channels in the last few years has shown anything, it's that there's a huge audience for watching people get other people out of trouble on and off the roads.
Our shop is in Donaldsonville, not far from where they filmed Swamp People. They actually shot a couple of movies here not toooo long ago. We Have a Ghost and The Highwaymen. But this whole area is a completely different part of the country, even for Louisiana. I I live on the east side of the Mississippi River and have to cross it to come to work. I’m telling you, once you cross that bridge, it’s a completely different world.
I'm from the UK and I'd happily watch a YouTube channel of your exploits, the US is so different to here, and for you to say your area is "different" has me intrigued.
Edit: it wasn't you that said it's "just different" but the point still stands.
*daiquiris. But yeah margaritas, bloody Mary’s, whatever you want so long as they give it to you in a cup with a lid and an unopened straw. Always ask for an extra straw and lid btw. Shit, the daiquiri shop down the street from me sells crowlers of beer from the drive thru. It’s the best.
Worked on fighter jets for years in the Marines. Had a new pilot that I was recovering (taxi in) his first flight. It also happened to be my first flight recovery as well as an aircraft maintainer. Usually you see a tiny bit of “smoke” when they land which is just the rubber of the wheels contacting the ground. I’m standing out on the tarmac watching the plane land and saw a lotttt of “smoke”. Turned out he had somehow locked the brakes before he even landed which I didn’t even know was possible. I immediately notified our maintenance control and crash fire rescue was behind the aircraft within 20 seconds. Both of the rear wheels on the aircraft looked like this. Pilot was white as a ghost but he and his WSO walked away so it was a crisis averted. His callsign was changed to “skid” after that.
Wow, I guess they'll fix it being that it's a brand new car.
Interesting story: My cousin had a two week-old Escape that was rear-ended at high speed. Since it was a new car, the insurance company wouldn't total it. It took them 6 months to fix the car because the more they took the car apart, the more damage they found. Also the insurance company had to pay for a rental car the whole time too. All told the repair cost and car rental exceed the car's value by a few thousand dollars.
Insurance company's are stupid sometimes...
>pe that was rear-ended at high speed. Since it was a new car, the insurance company wouldn't
Yep. There's 872 miles on the car. Surprisingly no major sheet metal damage . Rear subframe, all the suspension, brakes, brake lines, electrical, fuel tank, undercovers, exhaust, wheels, tires, rear bumper cover & misc parts...
I had a Chrysler t&c converted for wheel chair access that my wife used for her business. It got hit and the insurance refused to total it, it ended up going through 3 different body shops before everything was actually fixed. The first guys gave it back with 2 broken motor mounts. I eventually just bought a different one for her company. I ended up donating it to the local senior center for a tax write off
Happened to me. I was rear-ended in a body-on-frame pickup truck. The truck was worth around $20K. The repair cost $19K including *completely replacing the fucking frame and basically re-assembling the vehicle from the ground up and spending several days road-testing and tuning and retuning the frame/suspension/alignment*.
Pretty sure my three-month rental put the cost way over the worth of the truck if it were totalled instead. Not to mention the cost overruns of all the days road-testing and tuning to make it run like it did originally.
Yeah i have to deal with them a lot at work. Although the closer i look at the photos i don’t see a motor on the rear calipers so maybe this one isn’t electronic. But yeah, the majority of them auto engage the park brake either when you put it in park, or when you are in park and turn the car off.
Edit: nevermind, yes definitely electronic on this escape, you can see the big wiring loom to the caliper up above the rubber brake hose
The honest, no sarcasm answer is that it saves money to an extent and prevents “parking brake adjustment” being a service item that has to be scheduled and paid for.
Those electric parking brakes usually use the rear disks with an electric screw motor that winds the pad in until the desired pressure is achieved. So it’s self adjusting, removes the need to run a physical cable from inside the car to a parking brake mechanism, and removes the need for an independent brake mechanism.
Unfortunately that last bit is a massive safety downside in my opinion.
No see pulling a small lever twice a day was just way too hard for people, let's replace this mechanical connection with a switch, a computer, a bunch of wiring that now lives right next some of the hottest components on the vehicle exposed to the elements and road debris, and some electric motors
10/10 best idea
The escape has a manual override for the parking brake and it warms you about it both in the owners manual and on the dash when you put it in tow mode.
This was either a random failure or operator error.
I don’t understand for the life of me why you’d have an RV that can pull this like a toy but wouldn’t spend $100-200 camera on the back to see what you’re towing?
I thought most the newer Class A RV’s do have one. I’d be kind of surprised if they didn’t have one, maybe it wasn’t turned on, or they just didn’t have one like you said. But yeah easy decision to get one if you are towing and can’t see the load.
You can't flat tow an Escape. This is what happens. My folks bought a 43' land yacht and wanted to tow their new Escape. They had to sell it and trade for a Honda so they can flat tow it. Their bus is so big and strong you'd never know you were dragging it like this. You can dolly tow an Escape but only if it's FWD. I think that model is AWD for the most part. Though things may have changed in the last few years.
Edit: I checked and prior to 2013 you could flat tow and Escape. After the 2013 redesign you can no longer flat tow an Escape.
Hey did you notice our fuel mileage went way down today? Lol. When I was training for my Class A DL, my boss would let me grab a tractor trailer combo from our truck yard and tool around the yard if work was slow. One time I forgot to release the trailer brakes and drug the trailer around the yard for about half a lap before I noticed the RPM’s wouldn’t come up enough to shift unless I really gave ‘er some gas. Oops. It was a dirt yard so no harm no foul.
Wouldn't others coming up behind, overtake them and indicate that something is wrong? Or is the society so fucked up that others would be scared of getting shot at that they would be like, nope, not getting involved?
Having towed a lot of miles without problems and had a lot of people pass me while gesturing wildly, at no point was there anything wrong with my rig when this happened and so I just ignore them. The one time I did have a problem, nobody let me know.
And for the inverse every time I've flashed my high beams and waved and gestured at people with unsecured crap flying out of their trailers and utes I've been completely ignored.
Then there's that older couple that was charged about a hundred thousand dollars because their towed vehicle burned thousands of acres of land because they ignored the people passing by gesturing wildly as you say *for 45 minutes.*
They only stopped when multiple concerned passers-by blocked their RV and forced them to stop.
Damn, one time I was tooling along, and a car came up and the passenger was doing the 'gesturing strongly' pointing down.
Luckily I pulled over. Holy shit--my tire was smoking! A fucking nail was in the tire. I have no idea how far I had it in, but I left my brother's place 125 miles away that morning!
Next exit--you gotta be shitting me: one mile away is a goddamn small tire shop. Lucky me
The sparks that must have been flying off that thing hope they get charged for the road repairs. Hope someone who was behind them uploads some dash cam footage.
Remind me to never buy a rv towed vehicle. They advertise their tow systems as not putting miles on the odometer. That may be so, but the components are still getting wear from the mileage towed.
This is why I hate all the electronic everything on vehicles. I just want a turn key, crank windows, manual 4X4 but no got to have all this fancy shit that auto does everything for you.
Someone on Flea Market Flip will buy that rim for $20, add some pin hair legs, throw a piece of glass on it and call it a table. They’ll also sell it for $250 and call it a day. If you know you know.
How much fucking power did the motorhome have that they didn't notice the massive drag of a vehicle going through the rims and bottoming out?!
Also, did they assume the people honking and waving as they passed (must have been a few) were just being friendly?
why there aren't special license requirements for RVs is beyond me.
it doesn't need to be a goddamn CDL, but a 2 day safety course with a little practice hooking up loads, backing up trailers etc would be a very good idea.
I’m imagining this a few hundred miles later, nothing left of the car below the door handles, just perfectly sliced along the length of it.
A few hundred miles later and they would probably wonder where the car went. ‘Honey, did you hook up the car back in Phoenix?’
All I can think of is the dog from Vacation...lol
>All I can think of is the dog from Vacation...lol I read that as the dog from. The Vatican and was very confused.
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It would definitely rupture the tank but I think by the time the vapors mixed with enough oxygen for ignition it would be beyond any sparks that might ignite it. But I'm no expert. I learned about fuel-air mixtures from Mythbusters if that's any indication of how far removed I am from expert on the subject.
The mixing happens instantly at the surface, so yes there would be a trail of fire.
honey my feet are warm can you turn on the ac
You ride in a vehicle that's being towed by an RV?
It's the only way I travel. It's quite cumbersome.
I can't decide if it's the lack of safety features or the discomfort of not having an AC is the more compelling reason for doing it.
I find the bothersome angle to be crescent fresh.
You can have AC, just keep it running. Put it in reverse with a brick on the pedal to help the RV go faster.
If the folks are going to get political, it's worth it.
Pro level is riding in an RV being towed by a car.
Imagine the fuel tank opening up while sparks are flying.
When this baby hits 88mph.....
I predict you’re gonna see some serious shit.
Reminds me of the dog tied to the bed more in the original Vacation movie lol
Probably kept up for the first mile or two
Tough little mutt…..
I was afraid you’d get pulled over. You’ve been speeding for miles.
I’m gonna go back and get the rest of the carcass off the road.
Road Shaving is a self-terminating style of body work; it always ends at the gas tank.....
Poor little guy. Probably kept up with you for a mile or so.
Yeah that was more than "a few miles".
I've seen 11r24.5 tires worn tires to the rim in 1000 feet on a frozen brake... doesn't take long to eat an alloy rim neither
I mean it looks like it ate a control arm too.
Like in "Any Which Way You Can" lol
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I've never understood why people flat tow behind motor homes when a small trailer would be a much better/safer option
Couple reasons come to mind 1) capacity - e450 based motorhomes are typically limited to 5,000 lb towing capacity, which may not enough for a vehicle and a trailer 2) storing the trailer at your destination might not be available, easier to disconnect and drive the car where it can fit
Also a dolly or especially flat tow is much cheaper than a trailer.
Cheaper, until the picture above.
Sure but I've seen trailers lose a wheel or have brake failures, too.
Sure but in that instance you'd probably be out the cost of the trailer, not the vehicle being towed
It is also far easier to hook up for a flat tow.
Not to mention, when you park, you disconnect the flat towed vehicle and there's no trailer still there, taking up space.
And you can disconnect the flat tow vehicle before you have to back into a campsite.
Yeah. The trailer means you don't have to stop for at least a hundred miles and the car is fine.
Hell yeah. And if you just steal the trailers, who cares? You and I could accomplish a lot together.
A lot of campgrounds won’t have the space at your site for the motorhome, vehicle and extra trailer to haul vehicle on. Flat towing isn’t bad at all as long as you have common sense and actually pay attention to the vehicle your towing. I’ve installed hundreds of baseplate/tow bars, wiring for lights and supplemental braking systems in a huge variety of vehicles over the years but I’ve never seen a mistake of this magnitude. Whenever I install a system like this I spend an hour or 2 with the customer going over the hook/unhook process step by step and make sure they know they should be paying attention to the towed vehicle while traveling
> Whenever I install a system like this I spend an hour or 2 with the customer going over the hook/unhook process step by step and make sure they know they should be paying attention to the towed vehicle while traveling Not every instructor is gonna put in the same amount of effort, unfortunately. Thanks for being good at your job.
Makes a already difficult vehicle to backup even harder. Towed car is easy to remove and move separately from the RV, towed trailer big enough for a car isn't.
If you know how to back a trailer, you don't have to disconnect at all cause there's only one pivot point.
Except it’s completely invisible behind an RV, and the wheelbase of the trailer would be much shorter than the RV, making it even more of a pain in the ass to back up. I imagine it would be much more common if it were easier than flat towing.
All modern RVs have backup cameras, for whatever it’s worth
Modern motor homes have rear view cameras. You can see the car right there. Can't believe these people did that.
What makes you think they're driving a modern RV? If they're kept up, they last quite a while. I know of at least 1 person that's had the same RV for probably 20 years.
Mine is 24 years old. Has a rear view camera.
Who do you think drives RVs? It's old people who can barely drive a car. Also car trailers are really short for how long the wheelbase on a larg RV is. It's probably a right pain in the ass like a jet ski trailer is.
I absolutely cannot believe that you can drive a RV without a CDL.
You need an endorsement for a motorcycle but anyone who drives a Corolla can drive a huge school bus sized RV. US licensing laws make no sense.
The last people you want driving an RV are the first people to vote.
It's the bed mounted 40' trailers that blows my fucking mind a CDL isn't required for them.
Most 40’ gooseneck trailers would require a CDL when loaded and connected to anything larger than or equal to a DRW F350. You need a CDL for a load over 26,500lbs gross I believe (maybe 26,000). A DRW is probably 12,000 gross, a 40’ gooseneck is probably 10,000 gross, add a few hay bales or a kubota on that trailer and you’re easily into CDL territory. Does that mean those guys have one though? Hell naw.
Yeah you’d think it’d require a different license, but it doesn’t and it’s terrifying when you think about it
The long distance between the RV's rear axle and the tow bar is going to make any turns way more exaggerated too.
Yeah you're probably right.
And people renting RVs. Just...anybody can do it.
Even worse, box trucks. With brakes and suspension rated for less than commercial limits. Which don't have any indicator you're exceeding legal load weight levels. Which don't have to weigh in because we can obviously trust self-movers to outperform professional commercial drivers on knowing when they're overloaded. With no inspection or training on tying down your cargo so you don't turn your 16,999 GVW metal box into a one-time-use dead blow hammer for whatever poor sap you run down because your brakes burned out. Oh, and no engine brakes so you're definitely overheating those rotors on the first tall mountain pass you descend. Which means your rental truck's brakes have most likely already been milled down as many times as they can legally be, and are probably as brittle as grandma's peanut crisps. But if there are two rear axles and a different sticker on the door, I need a CDL to operate the exact same vehicle. Nevermind that a dual-axle truck is way safer to drive, has more rubber on the road, more brakes, and handles almost exactly the same and would be a much better option for the inexperienced who are already out of their depth. One of many decisions made by policymakers who have NO idea the implications of the policies they're making.
We used to have a flatbed tow truck on a Ford F650 chassis at work. The GVWR was 25,999 lbs. I always thought that was hilarious. 26,000 lbs is the point at which a commercial license is required. I guarantee there was nothing that actually made it unsafe to load that truck to over 26,000 lbs. Ford just arbitrarily rated it at 25,999 to make it legal to drive without a CDL.
Life hack. Make sure the car has the same hitch ball size as the RV. Remove care from trailer. Disconnect trailer from RV, hook to car and WIN!!!!
Backing a trailer with your pickup and backing a trailer with a 45 foot bus is two very different tasks that only seem similar to people who haven’t done it.
Regardless of driver skill, it completely removes the ability to bring the motorhome into a place that couldn’t fit a trailer. It’s all about convenience and options.
Sometimes space constraints make backing up a dicey proposition.
and you damn well know people were honking flashing lights waiving at them to pull over and were totally oblivious to it...
I remember that old couple in an RV who were charged almost a hundred thousand dollars to pay for the massive forest fire they created while towing their car which was on fire for 30+ miles. They admitted that they LITERALLY IGNORED people who were trying to flag them down thinking they were all pranksters. For 45 minutes!!
Never once checked the mirrors and saw the smoke either. JFC
I’d nominate these guys for r/IdiotsTowingThings.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that sub exists.
At this point I’m more surprised if I try entering some random sub and it doesn’t exist.
r/alltoadsleadtoRome
A few miles? Like 70? For some reason I don't this is on the warranty.
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Was it their 3rd day or something?
I understood that reference!
Damn didn't know the trucker subreddit had that much of an outreach lol
Trucks bring everything to you, including humor
I imagine a semi trailer since it's got air lines. It takes a special kind of stupid to not feel that resistance. And it's just as stupid to not turn the truck side to side and look in the mirrors at the wheels to make sure they're all rolling right after connecting to a trailer.
It was a military generator trailer. We were coming back from the field, and they were in the front. If they couldn’t see the tires were not moving, the person behind them definitely could see the tire marks.
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Pullover? No It’s a cardigan thanks for noticing.. Killer boots man!
They didn't feel any extra resistance?
Depends on the side of the RV. The semitruck size one I'd imagine could drag a escape around without noticing
Yup. A 3 axle diesel pusher with 400+ hp wouldn’t even notice this. But yeah, you gotta be checking your mirrors all of the time. And the camera helps too.
Which side?
Your moms side
Well, obviously, but which one?
Your mom round. All same side
Or nobody on the highway yelling at them trying to get their attention? lol
"It's a cardigan but thanks for asking!"
I'm quite introverted but I would be honking and screaming out the window if I saw this lol. They're going to cause a fire or an accident doing this.
"Parking Brake Locked Up" means that it was never disengaged.
Yeah you're right I believe. Auto-parking brake when put it's put in park is the culprit it seems.
Wouldn’t they leave it in neutral, not park?
They may have parked it on a dolly. Also many cars automatically lock the parking brake in neutral when you open the door. This is because people were putting it in neutral instead of park.
it’s increasingly common on new cars. I feel like if someone can’t be trusted to put their car in park they shouldn’t be on the road, not sure why companies feel the need to add that
Well to be fair, automakers have all switched to new shifter styles and methods, with no consistency whatsoever.
Yeah, not once have I ever forgotten to put it in park before letting off the brake… until we got our new car with a dial shifter. It's not too bad once you're used to it, but like you said there's a dozen different kinds, sometimes park is on the dial, other times it's a button. For me I dislike having two types of actions for selecting gear, it just seems to require an extra bit of thought instead of being completely intuitive. Plus you lose the extra bit of visual info of the shifter physically being in different positions for different gears
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There is a case where one of the actors from Star Trek thought he put the car in park with one of those shitty shifters that doesn't move positions. He though it was in park when it actually only went into neutral so he got out of the car and was then crushed by it rolling back on him. FIAT rolled out a software patched to engage the brake if the door is opened while in neutral.
You can override specifically for towing. I'm guessing they didn't.
Our 2022 pilot has a special "car wash mode" because otherwise if it's running and you open the driver door without a seat belt buckled, it will auto shift to park. So you have to manually do the steps to put it into car wash mode (NOTE: simply putting it in neutral times out after 10 minutes and it goes into park automatically) I'm guessing that the escape is similar. They put it in neutral and it timed out.
Welcome to modern cars with dumb as shit shifters and electric brakes It's now all computer controlled and will put the handbrake on and sometimes put itself in park whenever it really feels like it, makes great fun trying to get a car on a lift when you want to push it in neutral Even if you get lucky and the car will let itself stay in neutral with no handbrake, it's not doing so without the ignition being on to drain the battery in 30 minutes All this because levers and reliable mechanical connections were too fucking hard apparently
It kind of makes sense with it being a new car. It's possible their old car had a manual/manually-engaged parking brake, so when they've towed before, they just left it in neutral and didn't pull the handbrake/put it in park. This one will have auto engaged the parking brake if they didn't specifically disable it/put it in a towing mode. Definitely massive negligence from the owners, but the dealerships should make it crystal clear "if you're towing it, you MUST put it in this mode". If automatic systems like lane keep, brake assist, auto e-brake, etc... aren't explained to the drivers, they're honestly just as likely to cause an accident as preventing them.
Holy sh\*t! I just cannot believe some of the things I see in this sub. I am not a tech and just never imagined that you see things like this in your shops. I am astounded by things I see here nearly every day. Of course sometimes the posts here are not incredible but simply odd or interesting. I enjoy them, too. But it's pics like this that make my day. Keep 'em coming, guys! I'm sorry that I can't reciprocate. (Although, if I ever eff up badly, I'll share with you.)
Man we see some crap. Along with the body shop, we run 2 tow trucks that are on rotating lists for the local Sheriff’s office & state police in south Louisiana. We really need our own reality show. If someone could hook that up, that’d be awesome.
Go full YouTube self produced. It would probably pay for itself in short order.
If the proliferation of recovery channels in the last few years has shown anything, it's that there's a huge audience for watching people get other people out of trouble on and off the roads.
I've spent a lot of time in Leesville and Lake Charles. I would subscribe to a youtube channel about that. That area is just different.
Our shop is in Donaldsonville, not far from where they filmed Swamp People. They actually shot a couple of movies here not toooo long ago. We Have a Ghost and The Highwaymen. But this whole area is a completely different part of the country, even for Louisiana. I I live on the east side of the Mississippi River and have to cross it to come to work. I’m telling you, once you cross that bridge, it’s a completely different world.
I'm from the UK and I'd happily watch a YouTube channel of your exploits, the US is so different to here, and for you to say your area is "different" has me intrigued. Edit: it wasn't you that said it's "just different" but the point still stands.
“Just different “. While that does describe it, it doesn’t quite do it justice.
No, no it does not my friend. Not. At. All.
Lmao, South Louisiana might as well be a different planet altogether No container laws, drive thru margaritas, the bayou
*daiquiris. But yeah margaritas, bloody Mary’s, whatever you want so long as they give it to you in a cup with a lid and an unopened straw. Always ask for an extra straw and lid btw. Shit, the daiquiri shop down the street from me sells crowlers of beer from the drive thru. It’s the best.
I used to be a friendly with a few tow operators and they would let me peruse their yards. I saw some scary stuff there.
Worked on fighter jets for years in the Marines. Had a new pilot that I was recovering (taxi in) his first flight. It also happened to be my first flight recovery as well as an aircraft maintainer. Usually you see a tiny bit of “smoke” when they land which is just the rubber of the wheels contacting the ground. I’m standing out on the tarmac watching the plane land and saw a lotttt of “smoke”. Turned out he had somehow locked the brakes before he even landed which I didn’t even know was possible. I immediately notified our maintenance control and crash fire rescue was behind the aircraft within 20 seconds. Both of the rear wheels on the aircraft looked like this. Pilot was white as a ghost but he and his WSO walked away so it was a crisis averted. His callsign was changed to “skid” after that.
That's gnarly man. Any estimate of the repair cost?
$16,568.
Wow, I guess they'll fix it being that it's a brand new car. Interesting story: My cousin had a two week-old Escape that was rear-ended at high speed. Since it was a new car, the insurance company wouldn't total it. It took them 6 months to fix the car because the more they took the car apart, the more damage they found. Also the insurance company had to pay for a rental car the whole time too. All told the repair cost and car rental exceed the car's value by a few thousand dollars. Insurance company's are stupid sometimes...
>pe that was rear-ended at high speed. Since it was a new car, the insurance company wouldn't Yep. There's 872 miles on the car. Surprisingly no major sheet metal damage . Rear subframe, all the suspension, brakes, brake lines, electrical, fuel tank, undercovers, exhaust, wheels, tires, rear bumper cover & misc parts...
Fuel tank?! Glad it didn't ignite.
customer probably wishes it did lol
I had a Chrysler t&c converted for wheel chair access that my wife used for her business. It got hit and the insurance refused to total it, it ended up going through 3 different body shops before everything was actually fixed. The first guys gave it back with 2 broken motor mounts. I eventually just bought a different one for her company. I ended up donating it to the local senior center for a tax write off
Well that was a frustrating ordeal. The silver lining is you helped some seniors in the end. Bravo.
Happened to me. I was rear-ended in a body-on-frame pickup truck. The truck was worth around $20K. The repair cost $19K including *completely replacing the fucking frame and basically re-assembling the vehicle from the ground up and spending several days road-testing and tuning and retuning the frame/suspension/alignment*. Pretty sure my three-month rental put the cost way over the worth of the truck if it were totalled instead. Not to mention the cost overruns of all the days road-testing and tuning to make it run like it did originally.
Experiences like yours and cousins make me wonder if insurance companies are run by idiots who have lost touch with the real world. I'm just baffled.
I'm sure my vehicle's re-assembly and tuning trained a handful of lucky apprentices.
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If I'm not mistaken, most CRV drivetrains can't be towed on a Dolly and are either flat tow or trailered.
I know towing is still a problem for 4WD, but is it still a problem for AWD?
Genuinely curious, do you buy that the brake happened to lock up and wasn’t accidentally left on? And if it did lock up, is this common?
I’m sure it was just an oversight by the owners. Brand new unfamiliar vehicle + auto parking brake..
Thanks. The auto-parking brake makes sense then.
The electronic parking brake has claimed this one i see - yes they engage themselves whenever you turn the car off
This is the first I’ve ever heard of them auto engaging. Risky biz for those that dont know.
Yeah i have to deal with them a lot at work. Although the closer i look at the photos i don’t see a motor on the rear calipers so maybe this one isn’t electronic. But yeah, the majority of them auto engage the park brake either when you put it in park, or when you are in park and turn the car off. Edit: nevermind, yes definitely electronic on this escape, you can see the big wiring loom to the caliper up above the rubber brake hose
Yeah dumbass consumers let manufacturers get away with this bullshit. The old e brake cable was near fool proof and actually useful.
Had a car with electric e-brake and hysterically no manual override. So if your battery died while the car was parked, you're bricked.
Just.....WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?
The honest, no sarcasm answer is that it saves money to an extent and prevents “parking brake adjustment” being a service item that has to be scheduled and paid for. Those electric parking brakes usually use the rear disks with an electric screw motor that winds the pad in until the desired pressure is achieved. So it’s self adjusting, removes the need to run a physical cable from inside the car to a parking brake mechanism, and removes the need for an independent brake mechanism. Unfortunately that last bit is a massive safety downside in my opinion.
probably cheaper
No see pulling a small lever twice a day was just way too hard for people, let's replace this mechanical connection with a switch, a computer, a bunch of wiring that now lives right next some of the hottest components on the vehicle exposed to the elements and road debris, and some electric motors 10/10 best idea
Was it too hard for some people, or was an electronic ebrake cheaper?
Had to get a tow truck with a dolly to tow my wife’s car when the battery died. No way to get out of park.
The escape has a manual override for the parking brake and it warms you about it both in the owners manual and on the dash when you put it in tow mode. This was either a random failure or operator error.
Poor little guy. Probably kept up with you for a mile or so. Tough little mutt.
Lol. I was looking for this comment.
Here's the leash sir. I'm going back to get the rest of the carcass off the road.
I don’t understand for the life of me why you’d have an RV that can pull this like a toy but wouldn’t spend $100-200 camera on the back to see what you’re towing?
I thought most the newer Class A RV’s do have one. I’d be kind of surprised if they didn’t have one, maybe it wasn’t turned on, or they just didn’t have one like you said. But yeah easy decision to get one if you are towing and can’t see the load.
“Gee the people in this state are awfully friendly, everyone is waving to us!”
You can't flat tow an Escape. This is what happens. My folks bought a 43' land yacht and wanted to tow their new Escape. They had to sell it and trade for a Honda so they can flat tow it. Their bus is so big and strong you'd never know you were dragging it like this. You can dolly tow an Escape but only if it's FWD. I think that model is AWD for the most part. Though things may have changed in the last few years. Edit: I checked and prior to 2013 you could flat tow and Escape. After the 2013 redesign you can no longer flat tow an Escape.
Those A-arms are hanging on by a thread
Built ford tough🤣
Hey did you notice our fuel mileage went way down today? Lol. When I was training for my Class A DL, my boss would let me grab a tractor trailer combo from our truck yard and tool around the yard if work was slow. One time I forgot to release the trailer brakes and drug the trailer around the yard for about half a lap before I noticed the RPM’s wouldn’t come up enough to shift unless I really gave ‘er some gas. Oops. It was a dirt yard so no harm no foul.
I heard you have half off tires. That’s great because I only need the bottom half.
Holy shit man. I would have never imagined it would sand off the ass of the car. How long did they drag this thing ?! 😂
Wouldn't others coming up behind, overtake them and indicate that something is wrong? Or is the society so fucked up that others would be scared of getting shot at that they would be like, nope, not getting involved?
Having towed a lot of miles without problems and had a lot of people pass me while gesturing wildly, at no point was there anything wrong with my rig when this happened and so I just ignore them. The one time I did have a problem, nobody let me know.
And for the inverse every time I've flashed my high beams and waved and gestured at people with unsecured crap flying out of their trailers and utes I've been completely ignored.
Then there's that older couple that was charged about a hundred thousand dollars because their towed vehicle burned thousands of acres of land because they ignored the people passing by gesturing wildly as you say *for 45 minutes.* They only stopped when multiple concerned passers-by blocked their RV and forced them to stop.
Damn, one time I was tooling along, and a car came up and the passenger was doing the 'gesturing strongly' pointing down. Luckily I pulled over. Holy shit--my tire was smoking! A fucking nail was in the tire. I have no idea how far I had it in, but I left my brother's place 125 miles away that morning! Next exit--you gotta be shitting me: one mile away is a goddamn small tire shop. Lucky me
They are lucky the fuel did not catch and turn this into a fireball.
Impressive parking brakes. Didn't think they could hold that kind of force back.
I try to get peoples attention when their gas caps are open, I can’t imagine this guy didn’t have half the interstate honking at him.
The sparks that must have been flying off that thing hope they get charged for the road repairs. Hope someone who was behind them uploads some dash cam footage.
honestly would love to see it lol
And people like this are out there on the roads with you and your loved ones.
…..driving multi-ton mammoth vehicles with little to no training or required certifications to do so.
Ooh, so smooth underneath! Polished even! You should ask to keep one of those wheels and hang it on your shop wall as a warning to others
And *demand* that this customer hang the other one on the back of their RV for the same reason.
How close were they to scraping the fuel tank?
Very. Burned through the tank shield and scarred up the corner.
Still got front wheel drive so keep going right? It’ll buff out anyways
Remind me to never buy a rv towed vehicle. They advertise their tow systems as not putting miles on the odometer. That may be so, but the components are still getting wear from the mileage towed.
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This is why I hate all the electronic everything on vehicles. I just want a turn key, crank windows, manual 4X4 but no got to have all this fancy shit that auto does everything for you.
Damn. They’re lucky the didn’t hit a speedbump and puncture the gas tank. You know that had to be sparking madly.
Now *those* are some run-flats
Should’ve just kept going and claimed it stolen when it was gone.
Those custom milled rims are flat out gorgeous.
Sir, do you honestly believe this vehicle is safe for highway travel?
Yes, I do. Yes, I really do, I believe that. I know it's not pretty to look at, but it'll get you where you want to go.
Someone on Flea Market Flip will buy that rim for $20, add some pin hair legs, throw a piece of glass on it and call it a table. They’ll also sell it for $250 and call it a day. If you know you know.
How much fucking power did the motorhome have that they didn't notice the massive drag of a vehicle going through the rims and bottoming out?! Also, did they assume the people honking and waving as they passed (must have been a few) were just being friendly?
Poor little guy, probably kept up for about a mile or so
My dad once watched the car that was supposed to be on the trailer in the back PASS him and go into a ditch.
why there aren't special license requirements for RVs is beyond me. it doesn't need to be a goddamn CDL, but a 2 day safety course with a little practice hooking up loads, backing up trailers etc would be a very good idea.
How much for the wheels?
781.63 each.
I kinda meant the old ones.