Clean Out Your Crap! - A word of advice
 

So I'm heading home from class a few days ago, heading down I-696 in the second-most-inside-lane and passing the I-75 interchange, when some moron in a purple Stratus coming down the onramp swerves (sp?) over sharply three fucking lanes, and of course right in front of me. I had the cruise control set at about 65-70 MPH at the time, and I slammed on my brakes. The ABS kicks in, shit in my car goes flying towards the front, and I pray to God that the person behind me has enough space to stop.

Well, I had avoided an accident there and I missed the Stratus in front of me. But I immediately floor the accelerator to make sure that the guy behind me doesn't hit me (I guess I'm just paranoid about that...). However when I try to floor it, the thing only seems to go halfway down. I was dumbfounded for a second, and a bit panic-y. Remembering I had the cruise control set, I just hit the 'restore' button, and she steadily went back to cruising at 70 MPH.

After a quick glance down, I noticed that an eyeglasses case had been thrown forward when I slammed on the brakes, and came to rest right underneath the gas pedal. During the remainder of the drive home, I thought how lucky I was that I not only avoided an accident, but also that the case didn't come underneath the brake pedal. Only having the ability press the brake down about halfway is much worse than having the ability to press the gas pedal halfway down.

So in other words CLEAN UP YOUR CRAP! Don't keep small objects on your driver side! Let your passenger worry about that stuff :D

People don't realize it's the little things that get us... more than the bigger things.

Guns don't kill people, eyeglasses cases kill people. Good reccomendation. Always try to keep the car crap level to a minimum. It can save you in case of stratus-fear, and people will say things like "Huh, nice car", even if you drive a piece of crap. My first car was a 93-94 Ford Tempo coupe (one of the only Tempo coupes in California, as it was a hand-me-down from dad after we moved from St. Louis). It was not a pretty car, but I walys kept it vaccumed, carpet-cleaned, washed and waxed. Among other tempos, mine was a gem. My first 4 cars were crap (93 Tempo, 90 Taurus SHO, 90 Civic hatch, and 94 Escort coupe), but they always looked presentable thanks to some good clean work.

O Man, thats the thing im most paranoid of when im driving, something getting stuck under the break or the gas, thats why i dont like plastic bottles of water, id rather have a cup so if it does fall, I can SMUSH it! If something like that were ever to happen, which i hope it never does

No, no no. Practice environmentally friendly car cleaning. For example, use 1/3 the water, 1/2 the cleansing products, and 3/4 the electricity by only cleaning every 3rd time you dump your latte. (Those Pine-tree air fresheners are cheaper by the case.)(Oh, and park in the shade.)

Altnernately, pay the extra $5 at the carwash and let them take care of things. Best to think of those CD's and twenty dollar bills you've dropped under the seat as a universal healthcare tax.

When I was in high school a friend of mine had stopped at 7-11 at lunch to get a slurpee. On his way back someone ran a red light in front of him and he didn't see it until it was too late. He threw the slurpee in the back seat just before the impact, and when they hit, the slurpee flew forward, hit and broke the windshield. He was damn lucky it didnt hit him in the back of the head, or he might not have walked away from the crash like he did.
I had a bottle of sunscreen get caught under the pedal once while making a panic stop. Other than having a mess to clean up it didn't cause any problems though. I do try to throw all my crap on the passenger floor now.

My best friend has to be the messiest mofo I know when it comes to his car. He's an actor and he works hard at his job as a server. That's his excuse for not keeping his car tidy. But it's more than just his ride, it's his bedroom and apartment. Anyway, that's not important. I found so many things in his car when I threw the trash out (he left it to me for a few days when he went to cali). I literally parked the car between two dumbsters and was just throwing out HANDFULS of garbage. Paper, wrappers, food, receipts, etc.

I've seen his car get to the point where the floor was covered in sticky stuff, coins, and dirt. Lately, the passenger side foot well has been filled with garbage up to being level with the seat.

TAKE YOUR GARBAGE WITH YOU. Seriously it's really kinda gross.

When I was in Driver's Ed, my instructor told me a story about a good friend of his. Worked construction, was in very good shape and could swim very well. On his way home from work on a road that sort of follows the shape of a river, he swerved off the road into the water. It wasn't deep and the current wasn't bad, should've been no problem to swim back to shore.

But every day he tossed his hard hat on that shelf under the rear window of his car. It knocked him out and he drowned.

I just bought a new beater and couldn't stand how much random crap was in it (open Mcdonalds ketchup packs, fast food cups, old newspapers, etc) so i cleaned it up. Lo and behold, it looks about 2 million times better inside. :) Next on the list is to shampoo it to do something about that weird smell lol

Yeah junk in your car is dangerous. I was watching Top gear or 5th gear or some British auto show on the SPEED Channel and they put like a laptop and some other smaller things on the back shelf had the car going like 45 miles an hour and slammed on the breaks...everything they put up there flew forward and they BARELY missed the test dummies but they all smashed and broke the front window. They then put a set of tools in a little tiny hatch back did the same...the back seat broke and the toorls came flying into the passenger compartment.

i have had this happen with a wire from the car. it wrapped its self around my break i was able to snap the wire once i stepped down hard enough but still not a fun thing to happen

waa, that's scary!! Thank God I've got that hump thingy in my truck...Although I have had things fall off the seat and under the petals, and I almost got in an accident trying to get it out... :D

I bug my wife about this kind of stuff all the time. Every once and a while I get fustrated driving her car and head out to it with a garbage bag.

That Sucks
 

I once had to bust like three ale-8's(a local drink) under my brake pedal on the way to a party.

um, maybe u shouldnt be drinking ON THE WAY to the party? just a thought

Whoa scary!! Yes clean it up!

Ale 8 is a soft drink.

I had a Monte Carlo when I was in high school and one day when I was getting ready for work, my dad vacuumed the interior for me. So I leave for work and see my friend ahead on the road (a back country road with no one around) and so I floor it to catch up to her. I had the car for maybe a month and was still in the "I have a cool car let's be reckless with it" phase. So we are approaching a stop sign, I finally pass her and try and hit my brakes. The pedal doesn't budge. I fly through the stop sign doing eighty something and finally manage to smash my brake pedal to the floor. I'm shaken, I pull over... dad had forgotten one of the attachments for the vacuum in the car and it had lodged under my brake pedal.

Scariest thing that has ever happened to me. I drove fifteen miles an hour the rest of the way to work, lol.

Some slob parks a Ford Probe near my house, and the passenger's seat and rear seats are literally filled with garbage right up to the windows. Forget about something getting stuck under the pedals, if he ever has to make an emergency maneuver, this guy is going to be buried by a landslide. I should get pics...

When I had a car, I would never leave any crap in it. If it didn't fit in the center console, I took it with me. I always got compliments about how clean I kept my car.

glda to hear ur ok man...dam thats crazy

Your lucky that wasn't under the brake pedal:eek: I don't keep crap in my van because the stuff I own is worth more then my whole van...LOL