Warning: too wordy beyond verbose ....
Lucky you didn't get a citation/ticket! My wife did when I didn't turn her auto lights back on after working on her car, (a Ford). Glad you made it home safe as well!
I agree with jwight. Check tire pressures with a digital gauge first. (I must say when I first got mine it was new and very recently delivered to the dealer. The tire pressures were spot on per the placard.). Digital gauge is what I use, as a friend explained to me, the rubber seals inside those manual pencil gauges wear and give false readings.
Let us know....
Thank you for your kind words.
After the hour of, looking back, constant warnings, it was under reported.
Thank you for your caring I did make it home alive. My knees were buckling and legs shaking, prior to the seven hour trip. I don't scare easily but in front of everyone, I was scared. 69 years old, 8000 total miles on the Honda Fit for three years and the last trip to Syracuse of slightly over an hour, I got prayed up, had no gut feelings, but I didn't seriously think I would make it back home.
Two lease cars in perfect shape, plus a seven hour drive ahead of me, I have been blessed for all 69, not easy years.
I remember clearly everything when I approached the George Washington Bridge turnoff to NJ. Up until that time, there were pleasant memories of being a musician, then Village, then bang, dang concentration was a brutal wakening.
There is a lot more, until I learn the rules, I will be careful what I put down. This is wordy, verbose, partially to the undiagnosed childhood problems, so, forgive me. I will give all a disclaimer on each post. There are only two people that can decipher my emails. Already, there are more who can read them on this forum, than friends I have.
First, the Smart is a downright blast, mentioned last post. It is so much fun to drive, the answer to the first post on the electric and the three electrics in the drive, pics, (forgot name but thank you, I will go back and look it up) he posted, were all the negatives and the if. He used the terms, "or if you're looking for a car that is fun and blast to drive" ..... That was it. Sold !!!!!
Other than the front section not lining up, which to a picky person, was devastating to see, much more, later. I doubt if any car I can afford will even come close. I had a Kia which I also liked, despite the rust. I spent 2400$ to get it inspected. The next year, it non inspectable but the severity of the injuries to this car underneath, I shouldn't have been allowed to drive it to the junk yard. He felt horrible and should allowed it off the lot but he did, seeing a absolutely duty oriented person, I hope.
All these guys were my friends, so it broke his heart to give me the news, 2400$ was gone unpaid, a year ago. Kia had a recall that, had I got notification would have been fixed, no charge.
He showed me what was about to happen at any given moment, in my drive or on the highway. The front section was about to separate from the center section. The aft section was about to separate from the center section. It would have been a great YouTube vid but the aftermath would better fatal for me or sadly, be responsible and decimate a young family and live without a scratch. I chose, junk yard.
I leased a car that people had already died in multiple times, the disclosure not mentioned to me before walking in the showroom, actually getting someone to notice a person was there, to signing the lease. Criminal. Certainly, I would not have bought the Fit. It was diagnosed as needing six ? air bags but changed to one.
Why, no answer, but it was the same company who made all of them. When I called Honda lease corporate, I received an immediate untrue, we would go bankrupt, then a real surprise, please do not spread this around to anyone. What, coercing a customer to commit pre-perjury, a fundamental Baptist at that, greed beyond shock. Then, the secondary bags slicing a woman's carotid on the following Sunday, I felt betrayed.
That family was ingrained by dad and brother who perjured himself in front of the largest oval table of 5000$ suits I've ever seen.
That man had absolutely no built in feelings for preserving life. Just greed !
I know I can't absorb the complexities of the Smart in one night but I have been going out after 1:00 am to practice in big parking lots. It is a full on race car, at least, to me. The controls are the issue. I just can not look down, ever.
Back to the lights. I saw a lane closed, a guy running across lanes to open a closed toll lane for me. He was kind and said the obvious. The first question, "can you see anything?" Another, huh?
Then the kind direction to a well lit area, with a rail road gate blinking red and a personal warning to be careful while crossing all lanes to get to the shoulder on the other side, still with no lights.
I got out and was horrified to find just a row of led's in front lit, nearly frozen, no back lights whatsoever. The only light on the road was the intense dashboard light shining off my forehead onto the road.
I get it now! I found the light position and the rest of the trip was good but as I got closer to home, got a little tired. The cross wind was so intense, it may have caused the Fit to roll, "perfect storm."
Truckers were backing off speed even though it was a 70 mph posted speed limit, it might have caused the Fit to roll. Not the Smart.
On the way down, the anti roll electronics did not turn off automatically as they should have on the Fit and I had forgotten about it, long ago. If it was the Fit, on the way back, I'm sure I would have rolled it. No air bag deploy, metal flying at my neck, seatbelt failure.
In the manual it said, it is imperative, in crosswind situations, the stabilization system has to be off. It will do this automatically. It didn't, of that I'm sure, no dash warning light. On the way down. Another failure of immense proportions.
Had I not overcorrected the Smart each time crosswinds hit, the Smart would have drove though Smartly, even the blockbuster cross which was the last one. As a private pilot I never had a crosswind hit me like that. It would have rolled the Fit.
I love the Smart. I went to a car wash and we measured clearances. I noticed the entire front flap had vertical scratch marks too many to count. As to what this indicates with close to a zero mile car, I don't know what to think?
I bought a first and second year Mazda RX-7. Just too long to explain, look at this mess, I was about to drive off, when I noticed gold flake peeling from around the emblem on the left side. I just said, what's this and consulted a friend / lawyer. They gave me an immediate loaner. That was in Ithaca, NY.
It seems there was a high speed dealer lot accident they tried to hide, on the driver's side, no less. The incident was so serious, Mazda Corporate pulled a gold 1980 Mazda, from a freighter in the NY harbor where it was temporarily docked.
At the time these were so rare, extremely ugly gold, it was moments from being trucked to LA. Again, a real ugly gold which caused someone in front of a high end hotel, to puncture one tire but run a knife over every panel on the driver's side to make up for not puncturing the second, sidewall, of course.
The only reason I bought it, financed it, was my girlfriend, at the time, insisted on owning my particular 1979 Mazda-RX7, no maintenance, high mile car which I repeatedly told her.
I hope to get the Smart for two Coupe ED in June, if all works right and the body front mashup is seen as dangerous as the situation I left prior with the Kia, it may happen or not.
I still love this Smart almost more than any other car I owned. I believe in any instance, the safety cage, sans helmet would still protect me.
What could cause the intense vertical front flap scratches on a car with practically no miles. I am nearly positive that my sales rep knew nothing of it but it was parked so that it wasn't possible to get a right side view.
The only one view I could get was leaning over the back end. No hope, but if the front end falls off due to a prior car accident. ..... Does CarFax report accidents prior to being in the country or in country, not yet on the dealer lot or .....
There are more lawyers to get the money than people who want it. Advice on how to do the right thing.
The words by jwight let me sleep that night. I wasn't worried after that. This car dealership was founded on one principle, the customer must have a wonderful experience, be completely satisfied, which is in fact, is the only criteria used for losing You job besides the obvious.
Thank you guys and ladies. I knew I could not depend on my salesman to bottle feed me everyday. Quick loss of a friend, no one knows what this means to me despite the verbosity.
Thank you !
