[pummal]

It was a mild Texas night, when Carlos, Laura and baby Andrew were out at Round Rock Crackerbarrel for dinner. Andrew had eaten a half hour before, but unfortunately the restaurant was busy and the family was forced to wait twenty minutes to be seated. By the time dinner was done, Andrew was far overdue for his next nap, and was getting fussy and overtired.

Carlos, Laura, and Andrew got into their 2002 Honda Odyssey EX-L-RES and set out to drive home. "Phew, he's asleep!" heard Carlos from the backseat, a block from home. Apparently the Odyssey's serene ride had lulled young Andrew to sleep.

The family van was a bit dirty, so Carlos got the idea that since young Andrew was asleep, they could go top off the gas tank and run the van through the car wash. A few minutes of gas pumping and still a few more minutes in the car wash, and the Mesa Beige paint was smooth as glass.

Carlos, Laura, and sleeping Andrew arrived home shortly after. Carlos fished for the correct HomeLink button the open the garage, and pulled in. "I hope I can get Andrew out of the car without waking him... poor sleepy little guy," thought Carlos.

Carlos pressed the button to open the power sliding door... and

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

An image of the gas filler door lever flashed through Carlos' mind, just before Andrew started to cry.

Carlos sighed and said, "Thanks, Honda."

=)

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2002 Mesa Beige EX-L-RES w/ misaligned, hard to close driver door

 

[adam1991]

Well, how else would they do it. Reasonably.

I guess they could flip the door UNlocked when the gas filler door closes, but that brings its own problems--which are more problematic than just leaving it alone.

That door has to be disabled when the gas filler door is unlatched. But notice that you can still manually unlock the door and open it at your own risk.

I think how they engineered things is the best compromise.

 

[pummal]

I know... I'm just a perfectionist and this is one of my pet peeves.

How about tying the door motor into a circuit that gets broken when the gas filler door is open?

It's already blocked if you're travelling over 5mph...

Some unthinking, unknowing adult sitting in that seat who wants to come out and talk while you fill up could do some serious damage to the van. Especially since there is no auto-reverse sensor while the door is opening.

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2002 Mesa Beige EX-L-RES w/ misaligned, hard to close driver door

 

[banner]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by pummal:
Some unthinking, unknowing adult sitting in that seat who wants to come out and talk while you fill up could do some serious damage to the van. </font>

Not if you have the child-proof switch activated on the sliding doors. This is an added benefit of using the switch ( not to mention giving the driver the omnipotent control of when people are allowed out of the back doors! ;-)

Of course, I suppose some unthinking, unknowing adult could open the door from the outside, after first unlocking it with the keys or the front door, while they chat with you.

Sigh...



[This message has been edited by banner (edited 02-18-2002).]

 

[pummal]

Heh.

Oh well. Any way you cut it, it's a hacky slacky solution from Honda to a fairly straight-forward problem.

The power doors really seem very much an afterthought when you really look at how they work.

Not that I would give them up or anything...

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2002 Mesa Beige EX-L-RES w/ misaligned, hard to close driver door

 

[adam1991]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">How about tying the door motor into a circuit that gets broken when the gas filler door is open?</font>

But wouldn't you hate for that mechanism to fail--and keep the door motor off?

I know these things are going to fail, and I'd rather have the door locking intermittently than the motor not work intermittently.

 

[pummal]

adam,

not really. I'm sure people said the same thing about power windows "back in the day"

"What if the motor fails, and your window is stuck up or down?? I don't want power windows."

I expect components put into my cars to work. And if Honda designed something to keep the door from opening based on the current state of the hazard, I'd be all for it. And, I'd expect them to do it right.

Your van is FULL of little gadgets and electrical devices. Any of them failing is an equal risk to the "door blocker" failing, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to give them all up.


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2002 Mesa Beige EX-L-RES w/ misaligned, hard to close driver door

 

[donlibes]

Here's a solution to the original problem as stated:

If the open button is pressed when the door is locked, do nothing. (In other words, don't beep!!) This is exactly what happens now when you try to open the front doors and they are locked. Nothing happens; no beep; nothing. If we can deal with it on the front doors, why should the back doors require that obnoxious beep.

In fact, walk up to a random Ody on the street that's locked. Try to open the front door and what happens - nothing. Try to open the rear doors and what happens - the door actually tries to open!!!! And then it realizes it's locked and so it stops and beeps. That's really idiotic design.

But just getting rid of the beeping would be good for starters. In fact, you could get rid of a lot of other things that beep on the car. For instance, the NAVI beeps on every button press - even if you have the sound turned off! This beeping on every keystroke is unnecessary. I remember when PCs were first introduced, it was all the rage to have keyboards that clicked. Then finally vendors realized that no one needed the clicking and most people didn't like it. I bet that in a few years, this beep-on-every-damn-interaction will disappear (or at least be user configurable).

 

[adam1991]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I expect components put into my cars to work. And if Honda designed something to keep the door from opening based on the current state of the hazard, I'd be all for it. And, I'd expect them to do it right.

Your van is FULL of little gadgets and electrical devices. Any of them failing is an equal risk to the "door blocker" failing, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to give them all up.</font>

But these things WILL fail. Do I expect them to work? Yes. Do I expect them to fail at some point? Only a fool wouldn't. So when they fail, I want them to fail SAFE.

I keep my cars a long time, so more things are going to fail than for the guy who trades around every 3 years. I know this. No big deal, as long as these things fail safe.

 

[Ken W]

I vote for the motor circuit interruptor tied into the fuel door interlock. That way the dummy who opens the sliding door has to do it manually and it won't self-destruct. I also like the idea of putting the kybosh on the beeps.

I haven't tried this, but are you guys saying that if I'm filling up the gas tank (which means the driver slider is locked), someone can actually unlock the door and open it. That can't be. I mean that is bound to happen sometime. We use the van for hauling hoardes of hooligans. I just assumed there was a cutoff for the motor.

Please tell me that the next time I stop for gas in the middle of Kansas with a vanload of America's youth, that my new van is NOT going to use its powerfull electric motor to cruch the living crap out of its own door and quarterpanel spilling gas everywhere like a 2-ton molotov cocktail, just because li'l Cindy Lou has to pee. Surely Honda has thought of the liability.

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'91 Sentra SE-R
'57 Chevy Belair Sport Coupe.
If at first you don't succeed...so much for skydiving.

 

[sgergen]

Page 91 in the 2002 Owners manual.

"If a passenger attempts to unlock the door by cycling the lock knob several times the door may unlock and the door may be opened."

Scott

 

[PINODY]

...so while you are in the body shop, - might be a good time to 2-tone that ODY or maybe add some cover-up sport graphics.

 

[Ken W]

I'm very happy with the sliding door fuel filler interlock. Here's what happens when you try to open the driver slider while the fuel door is open. I tried it this morning with the fuel door popped just a smidge. First, when you pop the gas door, the slider locks itself. If you slide the lock open it instantly relocks. After several cycles it will stay unlocked and you can push the lever that normally starts the motorized opening sequence. But the motor is deactivated. So you have to open the door manually, which is very slow, which is good because you've got a fuel hose stuck in your car.

My assumption of the door motor cutoff was correct, and we are not driving two-ton molotov cocktails, and America's youth are in good hands. Sorry if I scared anybody besides myself.

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'91 Sentra SE-R
'57 Chevy Belair Sport Coupe.
If at first you don't succeed...so much for skydiving.