iDrive traps Thai minister in BMW

[Brett Dikeman]

iDrive strikes again.  Kinda sucks when you're in a fully armored car
that won't unlock the doors;

Take a bow, BMW and Microsoft.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=1&u=/nm/20030512/od_nm/life_thailand_car_dc

While I'm guessing it's like Audi models made in the last few years
with no lock knobs-  It sounds like BMW must have done something
truly stupid, like not making the door unlock itself independently of
the computer(or simply mechanically); some young engineer might have
had the bright idea of putting a sensor in the door that sends a
signal back to the main computer saying "someone is trying to unlock
the door, open it please", which usually gets the young'uns a smack
on the backside of the head from the wiser, cooler heads.  Anyone
know better?  This seems like some REALLY stupid engineering(let's
give the BMW guys a little credit, they're pretty sharp), so you have
to wonder if maybe there was a mechanical system, but was messed with
while armor was being installed.

Then again, they did put most of the car under the control of a
Windows product, so maybe it was just a really #$@$ing stupid design.

 From the kicking-em-while-they're-down department(yeah
baby!)...Montoya(F1 BMW/Williams driver) was recently in 'race mode'
doing a cool buck-and-a-quarter in a 85-cents zone in France, almost
a Franklin coin over the limit(them be US units for you
freedom-fries-lovin', god-bless-America, patriotic folk.)  License
confiscated on the spot once the motorcycle police caught up to him-
don't you hate it when the classes aren't set up fairly?  Have no
fear F1 fans, he doesn't need that license to drive F1.

B
--
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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier,
    just so long as I'm the dictator." - George W. Bush
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/