Carpool Lines & Automatic Doors

Posted by Vulnadia on Aug 30, 2010 at 08:24 AM I'm new (AGAIN) to this whole carpool line business, and I know that they want to keep it moving fast, and I can respect that. But this morning, I ran into an incident that really upset me. Kaiden had kicked off his shoes, and I had untied them (they had been double knotted) and was about to put the van into park & hop out and put them back on him. I didn't even have the van in park yet, and the Teacher on duty was yanking open the passenger side door on my mommivan...problem is, the alarm went off because A the van wasn't yet in park and B it is an automatic door system. This means that in order to open that particular door you either have to use the key fob, push the button from within the van, or just pull the handle and let go and it slides open automatically. Well, teacher pulled the handle allright, but when the door started to make noise from the alarm, and it didn't open fast enough for her, she put all of her weight behind it and forced it open as hard as she could in spite of trying to get her attention to PLEASE STOP, it's automatic! What do you do in these situations? I mean, the alarm going off on the van should have been enough for anyone to realize something wasn't right and to STOP or so you would think. But what really burns me up is that anytime you force open an automatic door, it can burn up the motor and she was putting everything she had into that door opening! Aren't these types of doors becoming more and more standard? Are they really that odd that carpool line teachers have never heard or seen them before? My van is super old (it's new to me but it's a 98 for cryin out loud!) My other mommievan had them too and it was newer! In fact, the other mommievan is how I learned the HARD WAY from a grocery store bagger just HOW important it is NOT to force those doors open or shut! He managed to get the door off track and burn out the motor which costs $700 per door to fix and can only be done through the dealership... So, I'm a bit worried about all of this now! They don't even make this model/type of van anymore it's soo old and it WAS in great shape and had very low mileage.... But my huge question is, am I to expect this EVERYTIME my mommievan door doesn't open fast enough for teacher? It's older so it isn't quite as speedy as most, in fact my passenger side window rolls down at a snails pace but at least it works!!! So has anyone else had this problem in the carpool line before with their automatic opening doors? How do you resolve this issue? Teacher wasn't bothered in the LEAST that she did this or even set the alarm off or anything... So what should I do? Would a sticker or sign in the window work? (the windows are tinted too!) I'm at a loss! I appreciate speedy carpool lines and all, but at the same time, I know I have 3 little people all in carseats, that aren't always ready to hop out even though we try really hard! Then there is the fact that no matter what I do, I cannot make that door open ANY faster than it already does without burning out the motor on it! If the moter burns out, I'm not even sure the door will even OPEN anymore which would be VERY bad! The door had to be reset through the computer which took me a bit to figure out this morning, but it works for the moment, but I worry! Has anyone else run into these types of problems in the carpool line yet? by Vulnadia on Aug 30, 2010 at 02:39 PM i'm just petrified that they are going to break it before i can do much of anything!!! it's old & probably one of the first wave of automatic doors (its really a 98!) & for that i'm glad because it has a reset feature that isnt as dire as my honda is which has a part that gets messed up ifyou force it & the bearings break somehow!!!! but I cant believe that once it was opening by itself & you could hear the alarm going off (its not a pleasant noise) that she didnt stop!!! i tried not to be mean or rude about it, but my gosh i was still trying to get it in park, & get one of my kids shoes on him too!!!! (they have a long morning ride!) i'm soo worried i was too mean about it to the lady, too-she's very sweet & nice & also their speech teacher!!! eeek!!!