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-   -   Embarrassing, cringe-worthy car moments! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/280528-embarrassing-cringe-worthy-car-moments-4.html)

Super interesting and fun thread!

Beat this - One fine evening I left office (Bagmane, Mahadevapura, Bangalore) for my home and I was still on the inner road of the tech park which was FULL of 4/2 wheelers. At a junction (again, inner road) I found a company cab off track and attempted to mini-honk, and lol the horn pad refused to retain its resting position.
This was on my Honda Accord.

Within a few seconds the security guards rushed to me sensing I am panic honking. Entire traffic halted and several people came out of their vehicle within mere 15-20 seconds. During this while, I attempted taking the keys out, subtly pressing/pulling the horn pad, nothing worked. I moved out of the car and straightaway headed to the front bumper, almost lie down on the road, reached out to the (dual) horn connector and pulled one connector out from each of the horns! This took another 20-25 secs so I was the center point of this drama for almost a minute! I later on realized that I could have opened the bonnet and pulled out the 15 Amps horns fuse too. So far this has been the most embarrassing moment on road.

I am with my family, entering a a mall on the weekend. There is a lot of rush to find a parking with bumper to bumper traffic. While moving to next floor, I stop at the entry of the ramp for the car in front of me to clear out.

As soon as he is 80% across the ramp, I gun it and then suddenly this person stops before exiting the ramp fully. Not sure what's wrong, so I slow down and stop as well. In a few seconds he clears out the ramp and I accelerate as well - but the car rolls back. So I panic brake. Accelerated again but the car refused to move forward and rolls back one more time. Unfortunately another car was just behind me on the ramp and starts honking (worried about my car front-ending his bumper I guess).

I engage the hand-brake and signal him to move backwards. Mind went blank for few seconds and that is when it struck me. I am driving my father's manual car so just dis-engaging the left-most pedals (clutch and brake) and accelerating will not work unlike my automatic car. Ultimately came back to senses, and revved out of it using the hand brake technique.

Was embarrassing especially because I might scared the guy in the car just behind me.

Very interesting thread. Every time I think I've become an expert driver, something embarassing happens. 😁 Let me share some of my embarassing car moments.
Incident 1: Year 2017, It was my cousins wedding. Ours is a christian family, so all my close relatives had gathered at the brides home for prayer before leaving for the church. We were going in our Renault Kwid with 5 people onboard, I had 2 years of experience driving the car at that point. On the way to church there is a point where the village road enters the highway. The highway is on a higher elevation, we had to stop at a steep incline, check for a gap and cross to the other side into the highway. The cars before me crossed to the other side effortlessly. When it was my turn, I immediately stalled the car. I looked at my family like I've seen this server times and tried again, but this time the car rolled backwards. There were many cars behind me, they started honking and backing up out of fear. Trying hard for couple more minutes I was finally able to get to the other side after turning AC off and using the handbrake.

Incident 2: We were staying over at our friends house for a night while I was in college. It was midnight, and my friends wanted to go outside to buy cigarettes. He had a Celerio but except for three of us, everyone in the house were drunk. They asked me if I can drive. I thought "Celerio is not that bigger than my Kwid, so what could go wrong?". After jumping in I realised it was an AMT, I had never driven an automatic car before. My friend assured me it is no different from a manual and I just have to rest my left leg and drive it like a normal car. We started out slow till we reached the main road and everything was going great. I noticed the brakes were very sharp and much stronger than the brakes in my Kwid. Once the vehicle turned into the main road and it was time to shift to second gear, out of muscle memory, I took my foot off the accelerator and slammed the clutch pedal- except it was the brake pedal. 😁 My friend who was sitting at the back seat was thrown to the front seat. We took some time to recollect what happened, then had a good laugh and continued going at 10-15 kmph all the way back to his home.

Had to hire a self driven car for our family trip and the car that we got was a type 3 swift diesel manual. The process of handing over was smooth and we headed straight to a restaurant for breakfast. After having breakfast we came back and I tried to start the vehicle.

Despite the car being a new one and also in neutral gear it didn't start. Nothing helped even after multiple attempts of twist and turns of key fob. Made a call to the person who delivered the vehicle and said the car wouldn't start and I have no idea what the problem is. He then asked me to try giving a start by pressing the clutch pedal and voila the engine came alive and I hung up the call with an embarrassed thank you! lol:

Only after this incident came to know that cars these days require the clutch to be pressed before giving a crank! :Frustrati

Well, I've been driving for close to 25 years now and the same thing happened to me last weekend. The only difference is that it was my cousins brezza. He asked me to back it into my driveway at home. He wasnt confident enough to do so. He handed me the keys and went into the house. I got into his car with a swagger, put the keys in, flicked the gear into neutral, depressed the brake and turned on the ignition. Nothing. Did the whole cycle again, and still nothing. By this time I was sweating - and not because of the kerala heat. Tried this from scratch at least 5 more times and then walked into the house and told him something was wrong with the car. He walked out, and then asked me to try and start it again. Did the whole routine of gear, break and just before I tried cranking it, he asked why arent you depressing the clutch.

Thats when it hit me - for the last 5 years, I've been driving automatics almost exclusively and the fact that this car had a clutch was for a moment lost on me.

I dont think that cousin would be giving me his car to drive any time soon .... :D

I have two!

1) I used to drive a second gen i10. Once I went to my cousin's place, she had an Ignis. I had to run an errand so I took my cousin's Ignis keys and went to start the Ignis. But it would not start. I tried everything and after some minutes and came inside the house and told my cousin, you car is not starting. She smiled a little and then ask me did you press the clutch while starting? In my i10 I did not need to press the clutch and Ignis needs a clutch pressed while cranking. Needless to say I just went back with a sheepish face.

2. I had rented a Tata Hexa, and was touring a nearby hill station Lonavala, with my family. While driving to the destination we had to pass through two tunnels where I found the need to switch on the headlights. As per my current and earlier cars I searched for the button on the right side stalk, but it only had the upper dipper, I searched the left stalk still could not find. I let it go and reached my destination. After reaching I called the customer support at the rental agency and that is when I came to know that there is a round switch on the right side of the steering on the dashboard a switch for headlights!

Some years back, we had planned a road trip around Italy and south france. We had booked a car at Milan airport. We did the formalities, and got the keys. It was a large parking lot and I went to pick the car, to bring it to the lobby to load the luggage.
I took sometime, checked all the controls, and reversed it back.
It went back and when i tried to stop it , it stopped with a big jerk. I tried driving it ahead towards the lobby and everytime I touched the brake, it would stop suddenly with a jerk.
I got worried by this behavior and asked my brother to take a round inside the parking lot. He drove, and it worked fine. I tried it again, and it was jerky while braking.
That's when I realized, I was braking with the left foot. It had been a while since I had driven an automatic, and I was trying to brake with my left foot. Just had to remember to keep my left foot on the dead pedal and all was fine.

The second instance was again during my holidays. In UK, my brother asked me to move his 328i so that he can take the other car out. I got in the car, and tried to crank it, and it wont start. The car had battery issues earlier and had got the battery replaced recently, so I thought it might be a loose connection, but the gauges and ICE were working fine. I tried it a few more times, and still it wont start. By this time, my brother came out asking what the problem was. I told the car won't start, and he got in, and tried and the car just started.
I realised this time, the issue was just the opposite of what happened earlier. The car was a manual, and you need to keep the clutch depressed to start it. I was starting it only pressing the brake.

This happened back in 2014, when I bought my first new car an XUV 5OO.
I was in the dealership to take delivery of the vehicle with my family. I took the matter of Passenger compartment Light not switching off with the sales guy. He sent for a technician to rectify the issue. We took the delivery and went home like nothing happened.
Got to know later that the light was soft switching.

I have had this scenario played out multiple times in my mind that what should I do if this happens to me. Touchwood, has not happened yet and I hope it stays that way. I believe opening the engine bay would not be the best idea as the engine and surrounding areas will be hot?

It happened 25 years ago.

It was my first vehicle, an Omni. My new born son and wife was at the rear.
I found some strange sound, bit wobbly, so slow down immediately. I just found something very strange with the car, like a tyre burst. Stopped the vehicle fully.

What I found was one rear wheel missing.

I found it around 20 meters behind. That was more than embarrassing, right?

What happened was, the mechanic who worked on the suspension, the previous evening didn't check the bolts. I couldn’t blame go back to him, as I was already started travelling, found one bold completely gone. Tighten the other three well and started again. Found a shop, got one more bolt, and then moved for a long trip.

This happened may be 7 or 8 years ago.

I had a 2004 model Tata Indica V2 Diesel that had a company fitted rear spoiler and very beautiful too. I have had rat bite issues in this car and have replaced the complete wiring more than once.

So, one of those times, I had this rat bite issue and many wires were cut and all the dashboard lights was going haywire and stuffs not working and I took the car to the authorised service centre for a complete replacement of the wire. It was done and I got back my car and a couple of days later I was driving from Goa to Mangalore with a friend and on one of the turns I see something large detach from my car and fall on the roadside. I could see it in the ORVM and instead of stopping and checking, I just continued thinking perhaps some branch fell on the car and got swiped away.

Then at the next coffee break, about 100 Kms later, I saw that the rear spoiler was missing. The mechanics while replacing the wire to the rear spoiler brake light, had removed the spoiler, done the electrical job and failed to screw back the spoiler and had just left it snugly sitting on the car top and it held during slow city drives, however while negotiating a corner at moderate speed on highway , it just came off and flew away. I am not even sure if they had done the wire work as the wire would have held it back. Anyways the rear spoiler was gone.

I was embarassed, felt stupid for not stopping and checking, felt angry at the mechanics for not doing a good job (Inspite of tipping them handsomely everytime I visit the garage) and felt sad as the car now looked so plain in the rear. It was almost like it had lost it's character.

I did not bother to get a new spoiler as I had plans to sell the car and sold if after sometime.

Year 2000. My first car - Maruti 800.
During delivery, the showroom handed over a 5ltr petrol coupon that I could use to fill up at the nearby petrol pump.
In the excitement of the new car and nervousness of having to drive it in Bangalore traffic, I forgot about the petrol coupon. The car stalled after reaching some distance. My friend who had accompanied me, had to push he car to the side. He went walking to the nearest petrol pump, got petrol in a 5ltr can. :coldsweat

This happened in 2011. I remember because it was right after a close family member passed away. I parked my car, a less than a year old VW Polo MT in the garage, a few feet from the wall facing the wall. Just when I got out of the car and was about to lock it, the caretaker came and asked me to park it closer to the wall. In some absent minded manner, don't know what I was thinking, I got in the car and without checking whether it's in neutral or not, I cranked up the engine and in the blink of an eye, the car raced forward and hit the stack of bricks parked against the wall with a loud and I mean loud thud. Some of them actually fell over.

I was so dumbfounded, for a moment I went blank. Didn't know what to do next. I thought I'm gonna see a huge dent on the bonnet with bumper and radiator completely gone and coolant leaking out of it. I just backed it up slowly and stepped out of the car with a pounding heart in anticipation of what's going to be the visual ahead. But to my utter surprise, there was no sign of any damage, heck not even a hairline scratch on either the bonnet or the front bumper. Just some minor scratch on the registration plate. I still don't know how did that happen. Somewhat supernatural really, both for me not checking whether the car was in neutral or not before cranking up and then not getting any damage even after hitting a stack of bricks like that. It's more than 13 years now and it's still a mystery to me that'll never solve.

Here is another one. Don't remember the timeline (2015 or 2017) but the car was an almost new 5th gen rental Jeep Cherokee. I went for my weekly "deals check" at the local TJ maxx discount store after work. After checking the deals and making some small purchases, went to another store in the same complex, and later to the grocery store. When I came back to my car, I could see something wrong with it from far itself. All windows were completely fogged up. What happened was that the car had keyless entry with a start/stop button, and I forgot to switch off the engine after parking. It was running the whole time when I was inside shopping. The worst part was that the tank became almost empty, and had just enough gas to reach the nearest gas station:D.

:D I initially thought seeing this thread that, luckily, I hadn't made any boo boos. But upon thinking further, nope.

1. I had been driving for 3 years by then and was visiting my cousin in California. Knowing I like cars he asked me if I'd like to drive in an empty parking lot. I got in thinking ok, how hard could it be. But I learned that day how much muscle memory plays into driving. It was my first time, driving an automatic and driving a LHD car and a car which had no real gear lever (it had buttons for park and drive). The combination got my brain all twisted and even though I was aware that it was an automatic, my brain couldn't just process the concept that there was no clutch. I had to slow down and I was desperately looking for the clutch, afraid that the car was going to stall if I didn't do anything. Then I frantically search for the gear lever even though I had myself got it from park to drive by pressing the buttons and I was looking to my left to see if there were any controls there. Despite them telling just brake or accelerate depending on what I wanted to do, I just couldn't accept that nothing had to be done when I slowed down too much. Took me an entire day of replaying how to drive that car in my head to successfully drive it a few days later. It's been 8 years since and I have been driving an automatic for the past 6+ years and I still keep touching the gear lever now and then even though I don't have to do anything with it. No idea how I'm going to cope when these folks get rid of that lever.

2. I had another kerfuffle a couple years later, when I was asked to move a friend of friend's car to another spot and it was my first time driving a 6-speed Chevy. I couldn't for the life of my understand how to get that to reverse. I kept putting it in 1st gear even though I could see on the gear lever that I had to go far left and then up to go to reverse. Every time I tried, I kept getting closer to the car in front with inches left in between before I finally realized I had pull the gear lever up to make to go to reverse instead of 1st.