NEW HUDSON, Mich. (WXYZ) — It is shocking video. A driver hits his remote start, then suddenly his car starts going. It runs right into a pond. It happened on Saturday in New Hudson.
“He made sure no one was in the way of the vehicle. He yelled out. He also had valuables in the cases, so he recovered them, then ran in to get help,” said Fred Stanton, who is the Range Master at Huron Valley Guns, where it happened.
Stanton says the car sank quickly. By the time deputies arrived it was under seven feet of water.
He is grateful no one was in front of the car when this happened outside the business where he works. He is speaking about what happened to raise awareness of a danger all drivers need to know to protect their vehicles and people’s lives.
“This happened to be a manual transmission, with an aftermarket remote start,” said Stanton.
7 Action News reached out to service managers at multiple dealerships. They say auto manufacturers do not allow the installation of remote starters on manual vehicles. The reason? If you park your car in gear, as many manual transmission drivers do, this can happen.
Industry insiders tell 7 Action News there are shops that will put remote starters on manual vehicles, but they will make the owner sign a waiver.
The problem? In this case the person had just bought the used car and apparently had no warning until it was under water.
