If there’s one thing we’ve learnt during the whole GizMod Rukus project, it’s that cars are a lot smarter these days than they used to be. Unfortunately, that can also mean there are new and exciting ways to write off your car, as Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce discovered when he drowned his taxpayer-funded Toyota Land Cruiser.
Just before Christmas, the Senator was driving his car through a swollen Burren Creek in Northern NSW, and while the road was not closed and a road sign indicated to “Drive slowly”, Joyce almost made it through before the car died. After being towed out by a local farmer, the car wouldn’t start again, as the car’s electronic components had been flooded through. So much so that the insurance company thought it better to write off the vehicle rather than fix it.
An $80,000 car brought to its knees by drowning. Ouch.
[via SMH]
Note – the pic above isn’t Barnaby Joyce’s car (in case you were wondering…)
smadge1
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:21 AMOne can only assume that the 4×4 in question wasn’t designed for off-road use, given the inadequate water protection of the electronics. I guess Barnaby and the Govt should be asking Toyota some serious questions. (Unless Toyota never intended these vehicles to leave the city in the first place…)
Owen
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:28 AMI’d be more asking him why we need to buy him an $80,000 car/4WD.
matt
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 11:18 AMWTF is the point of a 4×4 thats NOT designed to go OFF ROAD!?
to so called 4wd owners:
this is stupid people! you are all so impractical and annoying on the road! I’d like to reintroduce you to the estate… the station wagon… remember them?
and in general.. WHY are car electronics so expensive???? if you put it in a smart phone, its like $100 for all the electronics… so WHY is it like $10,000 for something LESS POWERFUL in a car!?
Namarrgon
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 11:53 AMRobustness.
This is why the electronics in a car lasts 20 years, and your smartphone manages maybe 3.
(It’s also why off-the-shelf smartphones won’t get far in space, which is hugely more hostile.)
David Anderton
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 5:50 PMobviously they need to cost more then because the robustness in this case was obviously lacking!
DTM
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:22 PMA 200 series Land Cruiser dies from drowning. Doesn’t say much for Toyota’s these days. Maybe he should have sprung for the snorkel option, though that probably wouldn’t have helped I imagine.
Sean
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:22 AMLove how these egg-heads preach to us the message of “I dont cross a flooded roads” but then go right ahead and do it themselves. Its a shame others died doing the same thing and he’s still alive to tell the tale…
DavidM
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:39 AMIt’s a bit of a stretch to describe Barnaby as an “egg-head”.
Still, it’s absurd for a Land Cruiser to die fording a creek.
Cameron
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:59 AMWe’re not getting the whole story here. I dip in a river won’t kill a car’s electronic components. These things are designs to hold up in pretty harsh environments, years of dust and oil and water and vibrations. I can imagine submerging a car would be no good for it, but even then it would need to be under for a while to actually damage it.
Aaron
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:11 AMThis sounds like a design flaw in the car to me. A Land Cruiser should have been able to handle something like this, I know the older models have.
Pup Elliott
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:16 AMMm missing the points here I think. Point 1. Yes the 4WD should not be defeated in such a manner. Point 2. If BJ requires a tax payer funded 4WD then who has taught him how to use it…. no one obviously from this story. Point 3. Does he get downgraded to a RAV 4 until he learns how to 4WD properly.
Craig D
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:57 AMJeepers, I’d say Toyota is looking at a class action suit waiting to happen. For a Land Cruiser that’s ridiculous.
olearymo
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 8:37 PMSooo… is he getting lifts from other MPs now? ‘Cause he sure as frak isn’t spending another $80,000 of my money on a new landcruiser.
Elephant Fresh
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 11:59 PMI love this shit. Barnaby Joyce loves his whole hard man from the farms persona, and this totally ruins that shit. Stupid muppet in his new land cruiser. Cause that’s what every aussie battler drives. douche.