If the marketing folks at Southwest Airlines run out of ideas for their commercials, they should give me a call.
The picture below is of my covered parking space at home -- and the picture above shows what happened to our long-term Rondo when I tried to back it in there after work on Friday. I was creeping back, stopping, creeping back, stopping, cree--CRASH! After a 0.5 mph impact with that weird wooden cabinet thing, there went the window on the Rondo's liftgate -- right before my unbelieving eyes. I really, really wanted to get away.
I back into this spot every night (otherwise the driver door couldn't be opened on that truck, which always goes in head-first), so I can't use unfamiliarity as an excuse. Not that there are really any excuses for breaking your own rear window. But other than my extraordinary boneheadedness, was anything different this time?
For one thing, the Rondo's a lot longer than I thought. I actually tried to park it twice -- the first time I turned it off, got out, and noticed as I was walking away that the Rondo's nose was still sticking out. That's why I was trying to squeeze it as close to the cabinet structure as possible.
For another, the Rondo has a pretty aggressive "in-gear creep" when you ease off the brake -- much more aggressive than our long-term Scion xB, for example. I didn't expect the Rondo to creep backward nearly as much as it did when I eased off the brake for the fateful last time.
Be that as it may, the fact is that I backed our poor Kia into an immovable object. Not one of my better moments. The replacement glass had to be special-ordered and should be in later this week. Till then, the Rondo rests -- and I try not to have an anxiety attack whenever I'm backing into my parking space.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com @ 8,669 miles
I back into this spot every night (otherwise the driver door couldn't be opened on that truck, which always goes in head-first), so I can't use unfamiliarity as an excuse. Not that there are really any excuses for breaking your own rear window. But other than my extraordinary boneheadedness, was anything different this time?
For one thing, the Rondo's a lot longer than I thought. I actually tried to park it twice -- the first time I turned it off, got out, and noticed as I was walking away that the Rondo's nose was still sticking out. That's why I was trying to squeeze it as close to the cabinet structure as possible.
For another, the Rondo has a pretty aggressive "in-gear creep" when you ease off the brake -- much more aggressive than our long-term Scion xB, for example. I didn't expect the Rondo to creep backward nearly as much as it did when I eased off the brake for the fateful last time.
Be that as it may, the fact is that I backed our poor Kia into an immovable object. Not one of my better moments. The replacement glass had to be special-ordered and should be in later this week. Till then, the Rondo rests -- and I try not to have an anxiety attack whenever I'm backing into my parking space.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com @ 8,669 miles
daytona_500 says:
05:21 PM, 04/14/08
Wow that sucks, cant believe the whole glass just shattered like that.
Bet you wish you had a backup camera, lol.
desmolicious says:
05:33 PM, 04/14/08
Stuff happens. Figures it was a Friday night, just when you were looking forward to the weekend.
Ah well.
estreka says:
06:20 PM, 04/14/08
No backupintoacabinetdurability?
How much is the fix?
dalaw says:
06:33 PM, 04/14/08
you wont see a cabinet that high with a back up camera
carfreak8394 says:
07:22 PM, 04/14/08
Obviously, when they put that cabinet there, they didn't expect for a Kia Rondo to ever be parked there..
altimadude00 says:
08:09 PM, 04/14/08
The cabinet looks like it was designed for the nose of the car to slide under it. It wasn't designed for a car to back up against it.
I hate the way some cars surge forwards (or in this case backwards) when you release the brake. it should be a linear creep rather than Warp 12 creep.
slickersdrip says:
08:19 PM, 04/14/08
Another way that manual transmissions have the edge.
stovt001 says:
08:52 PM, 04/14/08
I have the same cabinet arrangement in my apartment's garage, and it is so small I have to pull in forward and slide my hood under it, or else my car won't fit.
prndlol says:
11:30 PM, 04/14/08
Hey everybody, Joh's parking space is 114!
zoomzoom22 says:
12:45 AM, 04/15/08
What did the poor, innocent little Rondo ever do to you????!!!??
sandcountry360 says:
07:18 AM, 04/15/08
It's okay, I've backed my Honda into a tree before. I couldn't see out of the back window (mistake number 1389285), so I decided to park even with the Dakota next to me. Low and behold, there's a thick, blunt tree branch sticking out about 2' into my parking space, and it hit right on the lip of the trunk, above the box H. It's still there, along with the torn up passenger doors from where I scrapped along a beautiful white E36 coupe last year. Absentmindedness is a %^%$#
johnmarco says:
08:01 AM, 04/15/08
That's not as bad as when I sheared off my side-view mirror on a parking structure piling while backing out of a spot. That one cost me $500.
thebigal says:
08:34 AM, 04/15/08
well if it makes you feel any better, I backed our Impala into the tree in our driveway... The driveway goes around the tree before you enter the garage and I forgot to cut the wheel to go around the tree when backing out one day... the crunch in the rear fender is still there. Oh well.
dougtheeng says:
09:17 AM, 04/15/08
That glass looks pretty jagged, not very safe.
sadbuttrue says:
09:47 AM, 04/15/08
Daytona500 - Yep, a backup camera would've been nice, or better yet, parking sensors. In fact I considered naming the post "2007 Kia Rondo: No Parking Sensors." Unfortunately my own personal parking sensors were on the fritz that day...
DougTheEng - Yeah, definitely not safe. Another issue is that every bump causes additional pieces to fall off, though fortunately the Rondo's rear window is rather rakishly angled, so the glass just falls into the cargo area. In any case, don't worry, it's not leaving our garage until the glass guys show up.
Great stories everyone! Makes me feel a little better about my gaffe, though I really wish I had done that to my own car rather than someone else's.
Josh
SubyTrojan says:
09:54 AM, 04/15/08
No worries, Josh.
Is the 'Teg low enough that the cabinet becomes a non-issue?
sadbuttrue says:
09:58 AM, 04/15/08
Suby, ha, I could probably fit the entire 'Teg under there. The only issue is the old-school power antenna -- gotta remember to retract that before backing the rear deck underneath the cabinet.
Oh yeah, someone asked for the repair cost. I'll blog about it when it's done, but the estimate was $267 for the glass, $100 for labor.
Josh
tmanz says:
03:02 PM, 04/15/08
Should have taken the Ferrari :)
Too bad you didn't activate the Omega 13 in time.
thebigal says:
07:25 PM, 04/15/08
so do you get to pop for the window or is this covered under Edmunds casualty insurance???
Which brings up another question... when something like this happens, whether it be this or an accident, who gets to pay for it if its your fault and not the fault of someone else? Also who pays for the gas in these cars???
johnmarco says:
07:30 PM, 04/15/08
I've been wondering the same thing. I'm sure they have to pay for gas, but what about operator errors?
sadbuttrue says:
11:38 PM, 04/15/08
TheBigAl and JohnMarco,
I'll let the great Top Gun do the talking:
"That's classified."
"What?"
"That's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
sandcountry360 says:
06:54 AM, 04/16/08
What is a 'Teg? If it's an Integra, I'm officially jealous. My power retractable antenna hasn't worked in YEARS. Which is a shame, because I think it's a really cool feature.
jriz says:
09:27 AM, 04/16/08
For his offense, Sadlier has been given the 42-42 treatment...a Smart ForTwo for two weeks with the radio disabled, the aux jack locked out and the Greatest Hits of Wing in the CD player.
SubyTrojan says:
09:48 AM, 04/16/08
Nice one, James! =Þ
sandcountry360, my use of the term "'Teg" was indeed a reference to Josh's Integra.
carlisimo says:
09:56 AM, 04/16/08
That reminds me of the time I tore off my front bumper while reversing out of a parking spot.
I was parked next to a column, nose-first, but that column (for some stupid reason) had little around bulges 6" high around its base. Like a rocket ship, if that makes any sense. I reversed out of the spot at an angle and it caught my old Sentra's vinyl bumper on the side and tore it away. Brilliant!
crutnacker says:
06:46 PM, 05/ 5/08
In my 2000 Nissan Craptima, I found out the breakaway mirrors only work once when I backed out of my garage at about .5 MPH. THe sound and visual of mirror pieces flying across my windsheild was priceless.
actualsize says:
07:34 PM, 06/ 9/08
tmanz: would 13 seconds have been enough to save the Rondo?
mellocooper says:
06:08 AM, 07/ 6/08
Re: the glass a few people mentioned -- looks like perfectly normal behavior for tempered safety glass. Any trauma to it and the whole window disintegrates into harmless small beads with no sharp edges. What you see pictured is just a few bits that happened to stay in place. It's hardly more harmful than a coarse pile of sand.