This morning I get in my car and it won’t start. I’m thinking “what the @$#!” is going on here because I bought the car in 2006 brand new. This shouldn’t be happening. Finally after attempting several times I get it started. As I was driving toward my favorite coffee spot that starts with “Star” and ends with “Bucks”..sorry had to do that. Anyway, I get to a red light and when the light turns green, I go to shift from first into second gear when I hear this horrendous noise and my car begins to buck like a freaking out of control horse. Ok, maybe not that intense, but still. I look at the dash and my check engine light has come on. GREAT! Now what do I do?

I decide to drive to the nearest gas station and park the car. I shut off the car and wait a few seconds, then start it again. Everything seems ok at this point, so I turn around and head back for home. I called the dealership and they said to bring it in if I could drive it in. So, slowly I drive the car to the dealership, explain to the service manager what happened and then proceeded to wait for what seemed like an eternity.

The service manager comes out and tells me the freaking accelerator chip is defective, which by the way is covered under my warranty..thank God for that! The accelerator chip is defective? I was going down a residential street. Had I been on the highway at say 70mph, I could have lost control of my car and been roadkill.

The service manager tells me after doing an oil change and a cabin filter change and a coolant flush that he doesn’t have the chip and it will be Tuesday before he gets it in, but he says “It’s safe to drive until then”. I’m not sure whether they borrowed parts from another car or what but it seems ok now. It just struck me funny that he’d say it’s safe to drive until then. This all caused me to miss work today, so it’s been one of those days. Sorry, just thought I’d vent a little.