The Possessed Honda Accord

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The Possessed Honda Accord
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Every young Auto Technician has that first moment
when something goes horribly wrong and suddenly a
sunny, happy day turns sour and gloomy.  My day
came while working at a Honda Dealer in
Mississauga.I had just started my day with a
quick oil change and tire swap and was parking
the manual transmission Honda Accord I had just
serviced.  Every good technician develops their
own mental checklist.
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Mine goes something like this, did I tighten the
oil drain bolt, tighten wheels and torque to
spec, did I put oil in the car?  Never would I
have thoughtdoes the car I am working on have a
remote starter and is it properly installed?  I
was about to find out the hard way.  Getting out
of the car and walking back to the dealership
office I decided to push the lock button on the
remote I had in my hand,
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only I didnt push the lock button I pushed the
start button.Queue dramatic music now.  The car
proceeded to start on its own (remember I said it
was a manual transmission) and since I had left
it in first gear it took off across the parking
lot, dragging the rear wheels, so much for the
emergency brake. I watched in horror as this car
went whizzing past several other brand new Hondas
that hadnt even
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been sold yet, went up a curb and finally crashed
into a cement block perimeter wall.  Finally at
rest, I watched (in what seemed like slow motion)
as the wall collapsed onto the hood of the car.I
looked around trying to find a witness, anyone
would do, anyone!  One of the clean up crew guys
would come to my rescue having witnessed the
whole thing from the
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wash bay.  It turns out the remote started had
been installed improperly and the clutch override
had been disabled.   When the dust settled I was
not faulted andthe customer of the car admitted
that he asked the install facility to bypass the
manual transmission safety switch.  What he was
not expecting was when the dealer asked him and
eventually his insurance company to repair the
damaged perimeter wall.
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