It’s a 1998 Camry. She had quit for 10 years and all of a sudden she thinks she can drive to town. I’m not talking about the ins and outs of her driving - I’m talking about rigging the car so it won’t run for her. She has a key hidden that she can use. I want to know with a car of that vintage if you can unhook the battery or something like that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2023 04:29PM by Dennis S.

Pull the spark plug wires?

Used to be just remove the distributor cap, but I don't believe this car has one.

Pull the fuse for the fuel pump.

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C(-)ris
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Denver boot

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Embarassing myself on the Internet since 1978.

That's cool man. Moms!

Remove the rotor from the distributor?

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Northern California Coast

Pull the cable off the + terminal on the battery.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Battery cutoff switch.

The Club.

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Speedy
Pull the cable off the + terminal on the battery.

Does that mess up the computers?

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btfc
Battery cutoff switch.

This.

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Dennis S

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Speedy
Pull the cable off the + terminal on the battery.

Does that mess up the computers?

I would research this before doing it. My Acura OEM radio needs a code entered before it will work.

I would put the cutoff switch on the starter, or on the power lead to the ignition switch (if there isn't a convenient fuse to pull).

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

seriously, the club knock-off, on eBay, $18.88 no changes to the vehicle at all, 5 seconds to put it on. [www.ebay.com]

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Smote
The Club.

That was my thought, too.
That way you won’t mess the car up when someone else needs to drive it.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

You could pull the 5 amp Starter fuse In the passenger compartment fuse panel.

Oh, that kind of club. I was becoming afraid for Dennis S’ mother.

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Smote
seriously, the club knock-off, on eBay, $18.88 no changes to the vehicle at all, 5 seconds to put it on. [www.ebay.com]

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

You will want to disable the car from starting, not just put a steering lock on it.
Just pull the fuel pump fuse.

But why not just remove the car? Drive it away, let her howl. You could be saving lives, and not just your mothers. She'll get over it.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

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C(-)ris
Pull the fuse for the fuel pump.

One problem with pulling the fuel pump fuse is that it might actually start but not run very long, and it will also crank, just like if spark plug wires are pulled. And since it will crank, she'll keep trying until the battery runs down.

So, if something is going to be pulled rather that modifications like a kill switch, a good choice for this car is to pull the Starter Relay.

I happen to have a 1998 Camry at my disposal to test this out, it's located in a fuse box under the hood between the battery and the fender. It's a real pain to remove, there's a tab that needs to be released with a screw driver and it takes a lot of wiggling to budge it from being there for 25 years, but it does come out.

Once the relay is out, turning the key will light up all the dash lights as normal, but trying to start will do nothing, no cranking, so she'll likely give up.

And after putting the relay back in, it started up just fine like normal, no ill effects.

Here's what it looks like when it's removed, in my car the starter relay is blue, an it's the leftmost position in the upper row. You can see the tab that needs to be released on the left post of the relay socket.

BTW: That white plastic thing between the Green and Black relays is a fuse puller, nice touch to be included. It might also work to release the relay locking tab, but I used a small screwdriver.

Ask Mom not to drive



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2023 07:35PM by nwyaker.

Hire Morgan Freeman to drive her around.

My grandmother is 92 and I believe her kids removed the battery from her car. She was driving ok but got lost a lot.

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Sell the car

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Formerly known as Dennis R

what GGD said..."sorry, mom, car no worky."

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cyclemax
You could pull the 5 amp Starter fuse In the passenger compartment fuse panel.

That might be easier to get at and remove than the relay, I'll have to try it to see how it behaves.

Here's a video that shows where these are located.

[www.youtube.com]

Fuel pump cutoff switch

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

.....Dick Van Dykes (97).....still drives.....he crashes but he still drives......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Pull starter relay or disconnect battery. Both very easy and quick to restore.

JPK

....I say sell the car or remove from her property (because having it there is temptation).....if you or someone in the family needs it, then keep elsewhere but selling it is preferred....

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Remove the steering wheel and keep it in the trunk.

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Mom had a terrible driving record. Like, forever.

But she started getting lost and had a couple of accidents in short order. My sisters took all her car keys, and locked them away. Then took her in for a medical evaluation, and her doctor told her she was not able to drive. Mom then signed the car away (to me as it happened).

She needs to hear from a professional that she should not drive, and find a home for the car. Grandkids, donate, etc. something that will make her happy.

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cbelt3
Mom had a terrible driving record. Like, forever.

But she started getting lost and had a couple of accidents in short order. My sisters took all her car keys, and locked them away. Then took her in for a medical evaluation, and her doctor told her she was not able to drive. Mom then signed the car away (to me as it happened).

She needs to hear from a professional that she should not drive, and find a home for the car. Grandkids, donate, etc. something that will make her happy.

Seconded.

Hopefully she will actually listen to the doctor, and not say that she doesn't like him/her and try to find another one that will acquiesce to her wants. We had to take the car from Mom; her doctor at that time strongly *hinted* (cough, cough, said no, really, you shouldn't drive) that she give the car up. Mom didn't say anything and so, after about a year or so of her getting progressively more "lost", it was left to us kids to take matters into our hands. Thankfully, there were no accidents. Since I hold the power of attorney (and my siblings are listed on it as well) and I have been present for the doctor's appointments where the doctor said for mom to give up the car (I'm her memory!), if there had been an accident and someone was (God forbid) killed, there was real concern that us kids could easily have been pulled into any resultant legal actions.

Now its "my freedom!" and "my independence!" because the car is gone; she scared too many people before the car made its way to it's current owner. She curses the day she listened to my brother about that blasted car. And a medical evaluation? It was stated as a neuropsychological evaluation, which when translated into mom-speak became "just another nail in the coffin of me being committed to the nuthouse!" and she adamantly refused. Even if it would have allowed for a medical evaluation for Alzheimer's and/or other cognitive issues.

The joys of attending an aging parent.

Hopefully your mom will be more amenable to the losing the car.

Edit: Forgot to say: pull a fuse or something that makes the car "dead." If the battery gets checked, and it's good but the car still won't start then it needs a "mechanic" to fix it. These days, a fix to a car can take a long time especially if the problem is a phantom issue. Given enough time, ask her about selling it because it doesn't appear to be "fixable," at least for her. Yeah, the problem was that it sat unused for 10 years... don't know what the problem is... that kind of thing. Buying a used car is still expensive, and not all markets have an abundance of them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2023 11:44PM by Diana.

Pulling the fuse seems the quickest solution.

At the same time, you may want to sign your Mom with a ride share service so she can go where she wants.

Not knowing the whole backstory of Dennis' mom, I'll assume he what's her to 'have' the car but not let her drive off.


Pull starter relay or disconnect battery. Both very easy and quick to restore.


This.

This seems the most convenient, benign way of incapacitating the car while troubling mom the least.

What are the chances she'd call AAA or worse, get a mechanic to check the car?

Should the deception be discovered and revealed to Mom, there could be trouble.

Getting old is not for the weak.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

what I did with my mom after mysterious dents started appearing on the fenders was to use a program at the local hospital.

that program was setup to get people with physical injuries back behind the wheel.

but I used it for a professional evaluation of her driving.

so with medical personnel saying she could no longer safely drive I didn't get pushback for taking the car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2023 12:02PM by Bill in NC.

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flareslow
Hire Morgan Freeman to drive her around.

+1

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Remove the power steering pump belt. Even if she somehow gets past some of the other disabling tricks,

driving without power assist is beyond most mortals' willingness and capacity to maneuver without it in

big city traffic!