You know that manual is dying when...
 

I have dropped my manual car at Subaru dealer for some service. Took a loaner. In few minutes they are calling back to me:


Subaru service: Do you have problem with a battery?
Me: no , why?
Subaru service: we can not start your car.
Me: I have put new battery 10 months back and have no issue starting my car.
Dealer: are you sure?
Me: yes I am.
Subaru service: Ok, let us check it.


It was my wife legacy. They did not call back. When I was picking up I asked: Have you found clutch pedal?
Dealer: yes. Soon it will be like anti-thief device. :bonk:


This is actually was second time they did this.

At a Subaru dealer???? I understand toyota (technician couldn't get my car up the tiny ramp, kept stalling), but Subaru???

At least they were able to start it :)

What a sick sad world we live in.

I almost bust out laughing at work. This is madness. Hahaha

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Do you have rubber floor mats? When I worked for AAA, a lot of people claimed their cars wouldn't start, but it was because their floor mats were blocking the clutch switch

Stock mats with lock to the floor. Mats were not a problem.

Geez second time? That’s a problem :lol:

Crazy. I find it tough to believe people working in an automotive scene wouldn't know to use the clutch

The lot car jockeys that move the vehicles around are often young inexperienced drivers not the techs. Not surprising at all that it could happen even on a Subaru lot.
Gonna watch who posts derogatory remarks here and see if at least one of them didn't post "New to MT any tips?" within the last couple of years on here.

Conversation at the dealership:

Lot jockey: "This car won't start, I think the battery is dead."
Service Writer: "Does it try to start at all, or not even crank?"
LJ: "It does nothing, doesn't even try to start."
SW: *sees the clutch* "I don't know why it won't start, perhaps you should call the customer and ask."
LJ: "Really? Okay, I'll do that."
SW: "Oh crap, he's actually calling. Again!"

Could be worse. Could be car from pre 1970 or so that didn't have the switch and could be started in gear.

I had a similar goober moment when my wife bought her automatic RAV4 in 2013. I'd driven manual Japanese and Italian sport coupes all my life. Autos always threw me into momentary confusion when starting and stopping. You know how that goes. Anyway we finish up with financing and hop into the new car. I'm driving for whatever reason. I push the start button and nothing happens. We look at each other not knowing what to do. So I open the door and ask the sales guy what I'm doing wrong. Gotta depress the brake to do the push-button. Felt like an idiot. Felt like I had no business buying a new car.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Talk about old habits, I was following my son in one of my louder cars in my truck. Not really paying attention to the world and he wound it up and shifted, My natural habit was to step on the clutch and reach for the shifter. Sudden panic no clutch pedal and no shift knob. Oh s--- felt like an idiot.

:bonk:

You should have seen the confusion at the tire shop when they went to fix a flat on my 4runner and there are 4 sticks in the center console.

Bam! as he goes through the back door before it opens :clap:

I actually had to use that "feature" a few times like when the throwout bearing carrier melted on my 72 Chevy Luv and you couldn't put it in 1st unless it was off. Pretty much the same thing when I almost completely snapped off the shift fork because the tob seized on my 79 Fiesta Sport. The Luv wasn't too bad, it had a super sloppy tranny anyway so a little slammin' around got it to a shop, of course it was 5:15 on a Friday afternoon in the middle of the eastern Oregon desert. Made for a long weekend :cry: The Fiesta left me with a 300 mile overnight drive through the central Rockies, thankfully there's no traffic at night on US 40 so I just milked it up to 4th gear by accelerating up, turning it off and gently shifting it to the next gear and turning it back on. Then I didn't stop for the next 5 hours. There are only a couple of small towns and at the time only 2 of them had traffic lights so no biggie :D

i was going to post this one as well. that momentary panic when your left foot slams to the floor!

Last Friday after dining out with my wife, I go to the valet to pick up my car amongst the hundred or so parked there.
He asks me which one, and I tell him "The black Subaru with the big wing."
He looks at me a second, then goes "Ohhhh, THE MANUAL."

He then proceeded to take five minutes trying to figure out how to start it, and immediately stalled it, then kept going into reverse instead of first.

Dropped off my car at Subaru awhile back for a warranty issue and oil change. The tech said he can't drive stick very well and asked if the BRZ Clutch is light (it is).

I originally bought and registered my BRZ in Louisiana, which has an inspection program they call "brake tags." To get your brake tag, they do a quick safety inspection, then test the brakes by driving it 15 feet or so and making sure it stops.

The day I took my BRZ to get the brake tag there were two people working there. The girl who inspected my car stopped and said, "He gonna have to test the brake. I can't drive no stick." I offered to move it myself, but she said, "No, we gotta drive it. He be here in just a minute."

If your job involves driving literally thousands of vehicles per year of very make and model on the road, I would think that operating a manual transmission would be a required skill. That same girl had been there by herself when I took my Jeep in to get the brake tag. What would she have done if the other guy hadn't been there when I took my BRZ in, deny me a brake tag because she couldn't do her job?

Whoa that's BAD. Knowing how to drive a manual should be a requirement for that job as much as med-school is for doctors. That was completely irresponsible hiring that guy into that position.

All the more reason to never vallet your car.

Lol that used to be me at a salvage dealership. The one time we had a manual Integra to move I had to get help. :scared0016:

Valet is a low-skill, minimum wage job. It's not as if employers can be all that picky.

Those job interviews would go like this:

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"Sorry, we'll have to keep looking."

...

"Can you drive a stick?"
"No."
"GOD DAMMIT! You're hired anyway. Welcome the fuck aboard."
Candidate thinking: "What have I gotten myself into?"

Lol. Dammit. It can't be all that rare. That's hilarious though. :D

You would be surprised how little some so called "automotive professionals" actually know.
I know I've told this story but... the dealership where I bought my tS had a problem trying to unlock the trunk. I phoned in advance about coming to see the car. They had several hours to go over things but didn't. When I asked them to open the trunk they couldn't because the battery was dead. They had to drop the back seat to get at the release button and of course the seat release is in the trunk so they couldn't. First, they were going to remove the battery and put it on a charger for a couple of hours. Then they decided to bring in the portable booster/trickle charger. It took about a half hour before it had enough juice to pop the trunk. I went back a couple days later and made the deal on the car. I had to wait another three or four days until they could get it in to do the PDI. Funny thing, during the delivery process I asked about the owners manual. Well they turned the dealership upside down but they couldn't find any of the books that should have been in the glove box. It took me about eight weeks, numerous phone calls to the dealer and Subaru Canada's Customer Service before I got a complete set of the correct year books. There, in the manual it talks about the hidden key in the fob and the lock under the rear lid to access the trunk should the battery fail.
No one in that dealership, not sales staff, service staff or techs seemed to know anything about it on the day I first looked at the car.

This supports my already strong conviction to never ever leave my vehicles in the hands of "professionals."

They can't even change the oil without rounding the corners off the sump plug bolt and over tightening it.
So how would they know what a clutch is for?

Along with Dashcam with a no tampering cover :burnrubber:

I went to a dealer to test drive a V6 mustang last year, and the guy had to ask me politely to move the car to the front of the lot since it was parked to the back because none of the sales staff could drive manually and the only maint tech who could drive stick was busy in the bay

he kept saying he was sorry and to be careful not to crash it into other cars (to be fair they wedge those cars in tightly next to each other)

I thought it was hilarious