OT Hazard warning lights and hard braking

[Richard]

Why bother responding then?

[TOJ]

And Focus, probably Fiesta too, but I haven't had one of those, just the other two.

[NY]

Is turning the badge the equivalent of moving a catch sideways in the gap between the bonnet and the car body that is created when the bonnet release lever is pulled and the bonnet pops up an inch?

Seems like a good idea as long as the badge is easy to grab hold of and doesn't slip out of your hand if it's covered in rainwater. However I'm not sure I'd have thought to try it: I'd have looked for the catch that every other car (Renault, VW, Peugeot, Honda) that I've owned has had.

[Robin]

On the Mk2 Focus it's so you can put the key in to release the bonnet (turn one way then the other). There's no release lever.

Not met it on Fiestas.

[Vir Campestris]

My first car was a Mini (the Issigonis one, not the new monster).

I was hit in the back, and the boot lid was turned inside out. I noticed that the tail lights weren't working, so I drove the pins out of the boot hinges to get access.

The wiring loom had been cut by being squashed against the fuel tank :O

Andy

[dennis]

Why bother asking?

[cpvh]

In message [e-mail], Graham. [e-mail] writes

I clearly remember buying a used Mk III Zodiac fifty years ago, and the shock and confusion when first visiting a filling station. You'll be well ahead of me here, but that was my first car with the filler cap hidden behind the rear number plate. Took me a while to find :-)

[TOJ]

Yes, you turn the badge to reveal a keyhole for the ignition key to unlock the bonnet - you turn it one way to part release it then the other way to finally open it.

[Roger Mills]

Go on, I dare you!

[Bob Eager]

I remember my father picking up a new company car (the ill fated Ford Classic) from Enfield, and him driving it back home to Brighton in about

1963. I went along for the ride (I must have been about 12). It was snowing, and even the wiper controls were hard to find. I was sitting there leafing through the manual as he drove. Once again, the fuel filler was behind the hinged rear number plate.

A few years later, I sometimes had fun while working in a filling station. The VW Beetle was a good one for newbies, of course (filler under the bonnet). And the Humber Hawk (of which I later had one) which had the filler under a rear reflector that unscrewed.

[Steve Walker]

One of the Mini's failings was the filler sticking out from the body and subject to being ripped off in a rollover. Not that your chances were that good in a rollover with cars of that era anyway.

SteveW

[tabbypurr]

yeah :/ I had a close call once due to being not 100% familiar with the steering system quirks on a history piece. Modern cars just work. That definitely was not always the case.

NT

[Richard]

Mine question was rhetorical.

[The Natural Philosopher]

On the contrary the A35s at least were bult like tanks.

[NY]

Was the filler actually *under* the bonnet? I though it was under a hinged flap on one of the front wings. Maybe that was on later models, or maybe I'm imagining it.

I have a vague memory that the Hillman Imp had the fuel filler under the bonnet, alongside a very similar cap for the windscreen washer reservoir. No possibility for confusing the two, is there?

Now that one I would *never* have found. I knew about the hinged number plate on Fords (my dad had a Corsair with it).

Which car was it that had two fuel fillers at the bottom of the rear window near the hinges of the boot lid, one on either side? I'm not sure whether it had two tanks or whether both fillers went into the same tank to avoid having to stretch the hose across the car.

[NY]

Ah, so it dispenses with the lever under the dashboard altogether?

When was it that manufacturers started fitting a release lever under the dashboard rather just a non-lockable one sticking out of the radiator grille? I remember some/all of my dad's Hillman Hunters having a non-lockable lever like that - and also (by default) a non-lockable fuel filler. He went out and bought a lockable filler cap (yet another key, alongside the separate ignition and doors/boot keys) after some toerags emptied soil into his fuel filler while the car was parked overnight on the drive.

[Steve Walker]

The majority of cars weren't though were they? Says I, who has kit car with nothing more than a roll hoop behind the seats! Although being so low, rolling is not the most likely way to die.

SteveW

[RJH]

I was in a taxi the other day, and what I'd call moderate braking caused them to come on, dry conditions, nowhere near wheels locking. I wasn't sure if that was auto or driver braking, though.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Eh? I've had ABS for 30 years on various cars and could count the number of times it's activated on the fingers of one hand.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Then that still means you are trying to stop as quickly as possible. So a possible hazard to following traffic.