A couple from Alexendra, New Zealand went through a near-death experience when they got trapped in their new Mazda 3 for almost 13 hours. The car features a key-less entry system.
Brian Smith and Mollieanne Smith, both in their 60s was trapped in their Mazda 3 after believing that there’s no way for them to get out of the car. Their cars’ transponder was left outside the car, and coupled with the fact that even the instruction manual was left at home, the couple went through a frightful 13 hours.
Mr Smith said he could not locate the unlocking mechanism, and the car salesman made it seem like the car would not work without the transponder. ”Once I found out how simple it was to unlock it I kicked myself that I did not find the way out … I had this mind-set that I did not have the transponder [so I could not get out],” said Mr Smith. The emergency crew who rescued the couple said that they would have died if they were trapped inside for another half an hour.
According to Glen Harris, Mazda New Zealand’s general manager, ”It’s not a design flaw with the car … what we have said to the network is, with new technologies, don’t forget to show customers how to use them in their entirety [and] how to override them. There is always a manual process to override them.” Mr Harris also noted that it is the industry first that someone actually got locked from inside their car in such a manner.
[Via Otago Daily Times]
