The dumbest Smart Car
You may have heard about the new sport in Holland: Smart Car tipping. Youths are having a great time tossing the diminutive eco-vehicles into Amsterdam's canals. Is it green-backlash, plain old jackassery, or could there be another reason? I was tempted to do some tipping myself over a recent weekend.
One of the most annoying things that happens on the ferries these days is some folks' car alarms go off on the car deck. If it keeps happening, ferry personnel will ask the car owner over the loudspeaker to get their butt down on the car deck to disarm the alarm. Some car alarms have an ear-splitting sound, as annoying as the screams of a toddler in mid-meltdown, or like having a smoke alarm strapped to your ear. It seems to happen to fussy cars that are too sensitive to the motions of the boat.
On a recent ride from Bainbridge Island, we weren't even out of Eagle Harbor on calm seas when a bright yellow Smart Car began screaming for attention. It would sound its siren, then stop. Then start again. Then stop. The car was so light (Smart Cars only weigh about 1,800 pounds empty) that every little vibration, every change in course seemed to set it off. Those of us seeking the shade and quiet of the car deck on a hot, touristy day were treated to a dozen or so ear-splitting alarm cycles until the owner was called to shut up his wheels. Even then, it went off a time or two. The owner had to stay with the car and turn it off every time it was set off. The owners were lucky no Dutch teens were on board.
As I wondered how many miles per gallon it would get as it sank to the bottom of Puget Sound, I remembered how easily it could be done. Years ago on a busy San Juan Islands summer ferry run, I saw the deck crew pick up a VW Bug and turn it sideways on the end of the car deck to fit it on a crowded boat. Locals ought to prepare their cars to be ferry-ready, or risk having vigilante passengers help them walk the plank.
Comments:
Posted Mon, Aug 10, 1:39 p.m. inappropriate
Thanks Knute, another reason to not like the (ironically named)
"smart car". The smart car gets less miles per gallon than a Prius
even though it weighs about 40% less. It is cheaper and it must
be easy to park but, like a lot of things, the buyer allure is
a mystery.
Posted Mon, Aug 10, 3:42 p.m. inappropriate
Umm, Knute, is this the first time you've heard a car alarm go off on the ferry? I guess you don't get out much.
I've witnessed nearly a dozen such incidents, but oddly, none of them were Smart Cars. Do you suppose I should blog about them?
Posted Mon, Aug 10, 8:49 p.m. inappropriate
Yes, I've heard alarms go off many times, as I alluded to in the blog item, but never so relentlessly and with so little provocation. I mean, it started going off within seconds of leaving the dock, and it would not stop. The mildest vibration got it going. The fact that it's so small and light tempted me and others to take vigilante action.
Posted Wed, Aug 12, 1:02 p.m. inappropriate
Activating a car alarm on a ferry should be a ticketable offense! If someone is so steeped in paranoia that he thinks his car is going to get stolen off a moving boat he has no business going out in public anyway. I wouldn't own a car with one of those damned things, even if I lived in Seattle.
Posted Thu, Aug 13, 1:25 p.m. inappropriate
Car alarms are a menace, ferry or no ferry. They're routinely ignored. As for the "Smart Car," take a look at this rollover cage in the crash test video - http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/safety-recalls/carcrashtest/crashtestvideo.htm
Technically passes, but not very reassuring.
Posted Fri, Aug 14, 10:21 a.m. inappropriate
So, the fact that the car was so small and light tempted Knute to take vigilante action.
Y'know, you don't often see a statement that tells you so much about a person made so publicly and voluntarily.
Posted Fri, Aug 28, 9:36 a.m. inappropriate
A *yellow* Smart Car? I've seen this guy driving in my neighborhood, and he smokes! Cigarettes! In a Smart Car! No wonder he turns on his car alarm on the ferry. I bet he uses disposable plastic bags and throws recyclables in the trash. We must do something about this hooliganism.