Rogue vehicle leaves motorists stranded in car park

We've definitely heard of cellphones causing certain keys to not work properly, but this story just takes the proverbial cake. For reasons unknown, a small family car left in a UK car park was found to be intermittently sending out signals which blocked over a dozen other key fobs from functioning. Reportedly, the vehicle's owner was "unaware of the problems his car had been causing," but the malicious whip had been setting off alarms and leaving motorists without a way to unlock and / or crank up their own rides. Interestingly, there's no mention as to what exactly was wreaking all that havoc, but the owner of the ill-willed motorcar has reportedly promised to fix the issue (or call off the prank).

[Via TheRegister]

[Preston @ Nov 2nd 2007 2:33PM]

Definitely sounds like a prank to me.

[R0b0t @ Nov 8th 2007 10:06AM]

all your car are belong to us

[paul.davis @ Nov 2nd 2007 2:50PM]

AWESOME!! I would soo.. follow my arch enemies around and sabotage their day!!

Muahahahahahahaha!!!

[John Williams @ Nov 2nd 2007 2:56PM]

OMG, IT'S BUMBLEBEE

[StrangeBum @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:05PM]

That's what I was thinking.

Transformers, more than meets than eye!

[Matt E. @ Nov 2nd 2007 5:09PM]

You beat me to it. I was thinking it was a Decepticon, though. LOL!

[Joseph @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:02PM]

Stranded? Can't they just unlock it the old fashioned way by inserting the physical key into the lock?

[Alexander @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:24PM]

Because they are idiots?

[spyder91 @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:32PM]

Not with cars that require a chipped key to start. If that functionality was disabled it won't start.

[spyder91 @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:35PM]

Oh and any decent alarm disables the ignition when triggered.

[Paul @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:11PM]

Darn that malicious whip!

[blade417 @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:07PM]

Just send Xavier or Gambit in there, they'll take care of the issue.

[MEAT! @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:09PM]

"Hello? What-what? Honey, is that you? Calm down, just calm down. Okay. It's okay. Just explain it to me calmly. You can't unlock the car again? The keyfob doesn't work? Now, you're pushing the right button this time, right? Yeah, the one that has the open lock on it. That's right. Okay. Did you try the key? The key. It's metal. Yes, it looks like a nail file. That's right. You put that in the door. In the door, honey. Yes. Yes, it's just like the house. Okay, turn it. Try the other way. Turn it the OTHER way. It worked? I said...I SAID, It worked? Please, stop screaming! Look, I need to get back to work. Yes, okay. Love you too."

[Ghen @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:28PM]

win

[FK @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:45PM]

LOL

[PK @ Nov 2nd 2007 5:26PM]

LOL - shades of Blondestar...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7780916420567729697

[Mark Richardson @ Nov 2nd 2007 3:48PM]

Why couldn't the "stranded" people in the park just use their key to unlock their doors and start their cars manually?

[Shull @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:06PM]

Unlocking manually is fine. Some cars will not start without first receiving the signal from the key fob...

[Shiftlock @ Nov 2nd 2007 4:18PM]

My 2006 BMW doesn't have an ignition with a traditional key. It has to receive a signal from the fob, or it won't start. There's an optional place to put the fob while driving, but I'm pretty sure that only charges the fob's battery.

[a @ Nov 2nd 2007 5:08PM]

did anyone consider that the 'fob' in question might have in fact been the fob to the garage gate doors?

This happened in my old apartment and no one could enter or exit. There wasn't a manual override to my memory and some company had to come out and correct the issue....

There is no way it was a garage full of bmws or fob-activated cars... I'm pretty sure this story meant the gates to the garage...

[pagercam @ Nov 2nd 2007 5:07PM]

The key fob transmits to the car that only has a receiver. So how does the car without a transmitter jam all the other cars??? Sounds like a prank, most key fobs in the US use 315MHz that is a pretty unusually frequency to use for anything else. I say PRANK!

[jon @ Nov 3rd 2007 1:55PM]

why is it that we need electronic keys, again? What was so difficult about the mechanical key?