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My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened
by civilized 4y ago
My wife and I gave our old car to her parents. In the subsequent years, its battery kept dying and we had to go over to their place and jump it. Never happened in the prior 7 years we'd owned the car. The mechanic said nothing wrong with the battery, but suggested there might be a parasitic drain somewhere.
A few days later, we were visiting them. I looked at the car and saw the door closed, but not properly latched and ever-so-slightly ajar. You know, that half-closed thing car doors do when you don't close them hard enough.
It turns out someone, possibly my son, had been not closing the door completely. This did not keep the lights on or cause any other visible sign, as it would in some cars.
After I told them to slam the door fully shut, never a problem again for 2 years and counting.
- WirelessGigabit 4y agoMy car beeps loudly and angrily at me if the doors are not 100% closed when I hit the close button on the fob.
- gengkev 4y agoWith my car, trying to lock the doors just doesn't work if one is left open — not always the most obvious failure mode, but it's been enough to get me to notice something's wrong.
- noizejoy 4y ago> With my car, trying to lock the doors just doesn't work if one is left open for suburban single family residence dwellers with their own garage, they may not always (or ever) lock the doors while the car is parked in their locked garage.
- WirelessGigabit 4y agoWhich is one of the things one must absolutely do to ensure all modules go to sleep.
- Kirby64 4y agoNo car I'm aware of requires this. If the ignition is off and the doors are all closed, the car is, for all intents and purposes, asleep. If anything, doors unlocked may be lower power... as that would disable (or, rather, not enable) alarm functionality.
- dcormier 4y agoThe author of the linked article mentions a couple of times to lock the doors for the car to go to sleep properly.
- djmips 4y agoHorrible.
- sundvor 4y agoMine auto locks/unlocks, and will message me as I leave it if I left it ajar.
- adversaryIdiot 4y agoThats insane... To consistently not close the door like that
- civilized 4y agoI know, I'm at a loss. The kid slept in there a lot - maybe they were trying to shut it quietly to not disturb him?
- o10449366 4y agoMy wife, bless her heart, leaves everything partially open. Not even just open, but she'll screw the lid on jars just enough where if I pick it up by the top they'll drop. It drives me crazy.
- ddalex 4y agoAre you married to my wife ?!
- Miserlou57 4y agoThat should be a felony
- KiranRao0 4y agoRight to jail
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- malandrew 4y agoLol. This sounds like my house. My spouse and my nephew (who lives with us) cannot for the life of them ever close any kitchen cabinet doors. They both always leave them ajar, never leaving them fully opening but never fully closing them. It drives me nuts.
- Dalewyn 4y agoTangent, but what's the rationale for car doors requiring slams? They are the only door I know, at least in common, daily life contexts, that require slamming them with the force of Thor to properly close them.
- sleepytimetea 4y agoI got a new(used) car which has power closing doors - you just bring them close to the car and the motors gently pull them closed. Luxury feature because you never slam or even shut the doors anymore, they are closed soundlessly. I didn't know I wanted the feature till I got this car...now I wish all cars had this. I bet I won't feel the same when I have to pay a thousand dollars to get a single motor replaced.
- sh34r 4y agoCar doors are unlike any other door in your common, daily life contexts. They are not rectangular. They are heavy and float several inches above the ground. They have hydraulics and/or springs, and typically have two fixed points where they will remain open, even in moderately high winds. They have electronics, power windows, crumple zones, and side airbags. They lock remotely. Their latches and handles are very different from other doors. A car door is like a bedroom door in the same way a MacBook is like a Cray supercomputer. A door is a door and a computer is a computer, but there is significant variance within that category.
- noizejoy 4y agoI think one of the reasons is air pressure inside the car. I've always found it amazing how much less slamming the doors needed when a window was left wide open and the air inside the car could escape freely.
- fbellag 4y agoMy last two (severely low end) cars had a function that opened slightly one window when there was just one door open,for this reason... To allow the last door to close without excessive force. On one of the cars it wasnt enabled from factory, but I asked the dealership and they enabled it at no cost.
- poulpy123 4y agoWhy would leaving the door open drain the battery is there is no light whent he door is open ?
- oaw-bct-ar-bamf 4y agoI can only guess: Probably some vehicle control unit (multimedia/dashboard) thought it had to stay powered on. Door is not fully closed - driver might want to enter the vehicle again any minute and start driving again. better keep the infotainment/vehicle computer in an alive state so the driver experience is not interrupted by a booting system once he re-enters.