Killer corvette...

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-trapped-corvette-dream-car-article-1.2253934




A 72-year-old man from Port Arthur, Texas, died inside his dream car when the lock system malfunctioned and he was trapped inside his 2007 Corvette with his dog, Leia.

James Rogers and his pet both died of heat exhaustion earlier this week, police said.

The accident is not uncommon for some Corvette models, owners say. A low battery or a low key fob battery can cause the locks to lock up. But there is a manual release on the driver's side that allows occupants to bypass the battery, according to owners' manuals.

Rogers apparently didn't know about that according to KBMT-TV. A battery cable had come loose, the station said.

He had just stopped in at a Waffle House, where he was a regular. As he got in his luxury car to leave, the doors and windows locked. He had accidentally left his phone inside the restaurant, so he was unable to call for help.

Another regular customer and employees tried to rescue Rogers but couldn't get the doors open. A firefighter eventually broke a window, but Rogers and his dog were already dead.

On an online Corvette forum, several posters detailed having been locked inside their cars.
 
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Machdup1

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-trapped-corvette-dream-car-article-1.2253934




A 72-year-old man from Port Arthur, Texas, died inside his dream car when the lock system malfunctioned and he was trapped inside his 2007 Corvette with his dog, Leia.

James Rogers and his pet both died of heat exhaustion earlier this week, police said.

The accident is not uncommon for some Corvette models, owners say. A low battery or a low key fob battery can cause the locks to lock up. But there is a manual release on the driver's side that allows occupants to bypass the battery, according to owners' manuals.

Rogers apparently didn't know about that according to KBMT-TV. A battery cable had come loose, the station said.

Very sad. It also happens if the car is not completely in park.
 

Screw-Rice

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That is a horrible design to not allow the interior door handle to open the door if it's locked or not. Not sure about some others but at least Fords will open when the handle is pulled.

The manual release lever is pretty easily seen though. Sucks for this guy, but not sure why he didn't try to kick out a window or anything.
 

Zemedici

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That is a horrible design to not allow the interior door handle to open the door if it's locked or not. Not sure about some others but at least Fords will open when the handle is pulled.

The manual release lever is pretty easily seen though. Sucks for this guy, but not sure why he didn't try to kick out a window or anything.

He was elderly, doubt it would have done much good.
 

paluka21

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WTF. People from the restaurant were trying to help him??? BUST THE DAMN WINDOW.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Seeing a person in distress in their car and busting the window out -vs- not damaging his "dream car" and having someone die is a no brainer. It states that people were trying but couldn't open his car doors. A cars window will break fairly easily with a hard elbow strike or a decent sized rock/brick.
Bet the people who saw this happen are having a lot of "what-if's" going through their heads.
 

Torch10th

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C6 vettes do not have a door handle inside, instead it's a push button that unlatches the door.

As the story mentions there are several manual door pulls in the car that will open each door and the gas filler door. The door pulls are located on the ground to outside of each seat and are labeled in bright red. The gas filler pull and an additional door pull for the drivers door are located in the trunk.

Sad to hear of this happening when a cursory glance around the car even once would have highlighted these escape mechanisms.
 

BlckBox04

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seriously, why couldn't anyone run outside with a damn kitchen pan and smash the window out?
 

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