I Have No Car & I Must Scream
Jul. 7th, 2022 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aFunny thing about living on an island. Resources are limited. So, during the pandemic we had to wait 6 or 12 months to get a chest freezer for our garage, to hold all that excess Costco goodness. Kimberly has noted that vegetables are limited though fruits are abundant. It's difficult to get certain types of batteries or chargers because they have to be brought in by a store. Similarly, furniture can be limited.
So this Tuesday, a few hours before we're headed out for our regular grocery shopping in town (already a day delayed because of July 4th), I get a letter from Mercedes Benz in our mailbox.
(Yes, we have a Mercedes Benz. Not because I ever thought I'd be the type of person that would own a Mercedes Benz but because it's what was available in our price range when we arrived. She was actually a *great* deal. A 2010 model, sure, but in almost immaculate shape because she was owned by a realtor. Her name is Julie. The car not the realtor.)
So, letter from Mercedes Benz. I open it up and discover it's not only a safety recall, but a "stop drive order' which are apparently the rare, top-class ones. I read the specifics and learn that Mercedes Benz put some ornamental cover on their brakes for many of their ten-or-twelve-year-old vehicles (yes, including Julie). And this can cause corrosion in brakes when water is involved, I assume because the covers somehow retain water. This can caused slowed braking and (here's the kicker) if hard force is applied to corroded brakes, they can shatter. (Breaking brakes = no brakes and probably no breaks.)
So, stop drive order.
No, I don't really think our car has suddenly become a death trap. I read about it, and see they discovered the problem because someone in Germany noticed his braking was slowing down. No deaths. Yet.
But I'm also aware that we now live in a wet, corrosive environment, so if there's a place that brakes are going to get corroded because of the design flaw, it's probably Hawaii not Germany.
From what I read, a "stop drive order" doesn't have the force of law (that I can find) but it does have the opportunity to mess with your insurance, presumably if you get into an accident while driving under one.
So various levels of not good.
Now it looks like the government pushes hard on forcing corporations to fix safety recalls like this. ("THAT's why we have a wizard." Uh, government.) The letter talks about how Mercedes Benz will either send out a mobile inspector or have our vehicle towed to the dealerships and then they'll repair the problem.
Which pretty much involves taking off the fancy-looking brake bags and saying "No Corrosion!"
(Hopefully.)
I look up on the Mercedes Benz recall site for where our closest dealer is, but honestly I was already pretty sure I knew the answer. It's on Oahu. Which is the next island over.
And we don't even have a ferry for cars any more because protestors got it shut down a few years before we moved here.
(Not that it was going to be successful. Who wants to spend half-a-day going to Oahu on a boat instead of taking a 30 minute plane ride? Some people, but not most.)
Yeah, so at that point I hand some phone numbers to Kimberly because I'm in the middle of a client workday.
She calls Mercedes Benz of Honolulu and once they figure out what recall we're talking about and verify our car is in the class tell us no problem, they'll call us back within 24 hours and probably fly out an expert bag remover.
Wow, German efficiency.
24 HOURS LATER. Kimberly calls again. Oh my gosh, they are so frazzled and overwhelmed by the recall that we're just going to have to be patient and maybe they'll get back to us in a few days.
Now, we definitely live outside of the cities (as they were) on Kauai. I definitely couldn't bike to any of them because the only road is the highway and it's a deathrace-2000-type-dealie for biking, and I say that as someone who biked the hard roads of Oakland and Berkeley for decades.
So we're mostly stranded at home, albeit with a golf course right next store for exercise. And parents who have offered to lend us a car when we need one.
But, kind of inconvenient.
And we're being patient at the moment, because given my beliefs about the general demographics of Mercedes Benz owners I have to guess that MB of Honolulu is dealing with the Mother of All Karen-storms.
But tomorrow will be Day 4 with no transportation, and my patience is wearing thin. We're going to need to start talking to them hard about when they're going to be doing something, and how they're going to recompense us with transportation alternatives (also discussed in the letter) if it's not really soon.
On the bright side, we've managed to go three days past our usual grocery store trip with no emergencies.
Because we have a chest freezer in the garage.
So this Tuesday, a few hours before we're headed out for our regular grocery shopping in town (already a day delayed because of July 4th), I get a letter from Mercedes Benz in our mailbox.
(Yes, we have a Mercedes Benz. Not because I ever thought I'd be the type of person that would own a Mercedes Benz but because it's what was available in our price range when we arrived. She was actually a *great* deal. A 2010 model, sure, but in almost immaculate shape because she was owned by a realtor. Her name is Julie. The car not the realtor.)
So, letter from Mercedes Benz. I open it up and discover it's not only a safety recall, but a "stop drive order' which are apparently the rare, top-class ones. I read the specifics and learn that Mercedes Benz put some ornamental cover on their brakes for many of their ten-or-twelve-year-old vehicles (yes, including Julie). And this can cause corrosion in brakes when water is involved, I assume because the covers somehow retain water. This can caused slowed braking and (here's the kicker) if hard force is applied to corroded brakes, they can shatter. (Breaking brakes = no brakes and probably no breaks.)
So, stop drive order.
No, I don't really think our car has suddenly become a death trap. I read about it, and see they discovered the problem because someone in Germany noticed his braking was slowing down. No deaths. Yet.
But I'm also aware that we now live in a wet, corrosive environment, so if there's a place that brakes are going to get corroded because of the design flaw, it's probably Hawaii not Germany.
From what I read, a "stop drive order" doesn't have the force of law (that I can find) but it does have the opportunity to mess with your insurance, presumably if you get into an accident while driving under one.
So various levels of not good.
Now it looks like the government pushes hard on forcing corporations to fix safety recalls like this. ("THAT's why we have a wizard." Uh, government.) The letter talks about how Mercedes Benz will either send out a mobile inspector or have our vehicle towed to the dealerships and then they'll repair the problem.
Which pretty much involves taking off the fancy-looking brake bags and saying "No Corrosion!"
(Hopefully.)
I look up on the Mercedes Benz recall site for where our closest dealer is, but honestly I was already pretty sure I knew the answer. It's on Oahu. Which is the next island over.
And we don't even have a ferry for cars any more because protestors got it shut down a few years before we moved here.
(Not that it was going to be successful. Who wants to spend half-a-day going to Oahu on a boat instead of taking a 30 minute plane ride? Some people, but not most.)
Yeah, so at that point I hand some phone numbers to Kimberly because I'm in the middle of a client workday.
She calls Mercedes Benz of Honolulu and once they figure out what recall we're talking about and verify our car is in the class tell us no problem, they'll call us back within 24 hours and probably fly out an expert bag remover.
Wow, German efficiency.
24 HOURS LATER. Kimberly calls again. Oh my gosh, they are so frazzled and overwhelmed by the recall that we're just going to have to be patient and maybe they'll get back to us in a few days.
Now, we definitely live outside of the cities (as they were) on Kauai. I definitely couldn't bike to any of them because the only road is the highway and it's a deathrace-2000-type-dealie for biking, and I say that as someone who biked the hard roads of Oakland and Berkeley for decades.
So we're mostly stranded at home, albeit with a golf course right next store for exercise. And parents who have offered to lend us a car when we need one.
But, kind of inconvenient.
And we're being patient at the moment, because given my beliefs about the general demographics of Mercedes Benz owners I have to guess that MB of Honolulu is dealing with the Mother of All Karen-storms.
But tomorrow will be Day 4 with no transportation, and my patience is wearing thin. We're going to need to start talking to them hard about when they're going to be doing something, and how they're going to recompense us with transportation alternatives (also discussed in the letter) if it's not really soon.
On the bright side, we've managed to go three days past our usual grocery store trip with no emergencies.
Because we have a chest freezer in the garage.