General Motors Is Here To Save You From Yourself

by Mark "Bark M." Baruth

Published: December 28th, 2015

general motors is here to save you from yourself

Hat tip to my good friend Sam Strano, he of the approximately 400 SCCA Solo and ProSolo National Championships, who forwarded me a letter (click through the break). General Motors sent Sam, a 2007 Corvette Z06 owner, extremely specific instructions about what to do if he were ever to find himself stuck in his Corvette due to low battery voltage, complete with pictures and diagrams.

You might think that even Corvette owners would be able to figure out how to get out of their cars, especially the ones with removable roofs. But you’d be wrong.

Remember this poor guy? He basically cooked himself — and his poor dog, Leia — inside his own car this past summer.

Now, personally, there are lots of things to question about this: First of all, he was eating at Waffle House in the middle of the day. Secondly, his dog was named Leia. Thirdly, according to Sam (I’m not a C6 owner, so I had to ask), even without being able to lower the windows, he could have simply unlatched the roof and pushed it up.

“The windows do drop down slightly to get under the edge of the roof. But even when that doesn’t work you can open the doors no problem. So throwing the latches and pushing up on the roof it would have just come right out,” says Sam.

And then we have poor General Motors. Somebody dies in their car, and this time, it isn’t their fault. But they still have to send out tens of thousands of letters to C6 owners, explaining to them how to get out of their own cars. They just can’t win for losing.

So, if you have a Corvette, and you are stuck in your own car, never fear — help is on the way, in the form of this letter. Read it, comprehend it, and maybe even go practice.

Here’s the letter:

#Chevrolet #Corvette #GeneralMotors #Letters #Safety

Mark "Bark M." Baruth

More by Mark "Bark M." Baruth

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 65 comments

Tjaguar888 on Jan 01, 2016

RIP Daddy. My Father and his dog were the ones who were trapped inside the 2007 Corvette and died 06/08/15. I was glad to see this letter has been sent to many owners in the US and Canada. If one life is saved by this letter, then they are helping create awareness of this terrible design. His death haunts me. He was a healthy well nourished male and died from hyperthermia, as stated in his autopsy. Found dead with owners manual out, but I'm sure passed out from heat before finding the tiny print on page 80 of 500 page manual about release while sweat pouring in his eyes. His life and Leia's was ended too soon. Some things said are very hurtful but I move on, ignoring the insensitivity of people. I think of the day before he died, he came by and was so proud of his car. What creeps me out, is the thought of what if he would have tossed my teen daughter or I the keys and said take it for a spin and one of us would have drove away, battery cable come loose and it died on us? I would have not known how to get out either. In a panic, would I have thought to get owner manual out? In 92 degree temps in Texas in June, the interior heat gets very hot fast. Its a hypothetical thought but could have happened. PS All he wanted was to own a Corvette, sad he only got less than 3 weeks. Not a fan of corvettes anymore.

Like Reply
Carlisimo on Jan 02, 2016

I'm crazy enough to always read the whole damn manual, and it's getting harder as they get longer. 25 years ago you had to be lazy to not be able to do it. Now they're several times larger and rather intimidating. The more necessary they become, the less they'll get read.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.