Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32660, 16 July 1971, Page 7

Auto Gossip

Stranded The way in which many people will put themselves out to aid a stranded motorist has impressed a friend of mine who was unlucky enough to find himself halted far out on the Akaroa-Christchurch road one wet night recently with a defective ignition system. The car was one he had owned only a few days, so he was not very familiar with the under-bonnet layout, he had no spares with him in any case, and he had no torch. The car had not stopped in a particularly safe place, so he switched on the hazard warning flashers —the switch which flashes ail four indicators simultaneously. The effect, he told me later, was very impressive. The next few cars stopped immediately to find out what was wrong, Whereas before the hazard warning was switched on traffic had just roared past. Some effect was to be expected, he said, but he was surprised at just how dramatic it was. Warm welcome One of the motorists told my friend there was a farmhouse just 100 yards up the road, so he and his wife elected to go there and telephone for aid. They were, they told me, a little diffident as they approached the door, wondering what reception they would get at

A. J. P.

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such an hour. They need not have worried: in fact, they said, the welcome was so warm they felt they had known the people for years after only a few minutes, and now feel they have made some new friends. My friend decided to ring the foreman of his own garage for advice, and admits he was slightly surprised when the man said he would make the 50-minute trip out to the stranded car himself, and that night. He duly did. The trouble turned out to be an almost invisible crack in the distributor rotor, and so the travellers were eventually on their way again.

Various lessons It’s probably a pretty typical “I had a breakdown” story, with the usual moral that it’s usually the ignition system which lets you down, and that most such involuntary halts can be remedied with a little knowledge, some illumination, and a few simple spares. There is also the moral that one should take note of the warning signs an engine often gives: my friend tells me the engine has been misfiring for a couple of days. With the all-seeing wisdom of hindsight, one can draw numerous lessons from such an experience—and still get caught out oneself, two or three days later. Hazard flashers The dramatic -results achieved by using the haz-ard-warning flashers I find of particular interest, and after hearing my friend’s tale I’m even more in favour of this device. There must be very few motorists of any experience who have not wished for such an effective warning at some time or another, whether the need has been occasioned by a breakdown, a puncture on a busy road at night, coming upon an accident, or even being involved in an accident. Certainly warning triangles are an excellent idea, although they take much longer to bring into operation—but I doubt if

more than two or three motorists in 1000 carry them. One could, of course, switch on the ordinary indicators to attract attention but it is not likely to be very effective, and in nearly all cars the ignition has to be switched on to make the indicators work. Did you realise that leaving the ignition switched on with the engine not running can result in a burned-out coil, by the way? An automotive electrician tells me it would cost about $l5 to fit hazard flashers to most cars. He also said that in his experience they were undoubtedly life-savers, but that most people never thought of fitting them until they had already had their accident, and been lucky enough to escape with their life.