[locusjag]

Originally Posted by shishir333

Third, the engine light. This happened once with me too on my Polo. I revved the engine really hard on an off-road steep climb. There was smoke and burning smell from the engine bay. The engine light came on. And the very next morning it was gone! Even the VW guys did not find any error codes

I remember a Grand Tour segment where the Holy Trio test how good AWD cars are in the sand. If I remember right Hammond, May and Clarkson had marquee brand AWD cars. And the cars were really revved hard in the sand to extract maximum performance out of them; at least 2 of the 3 went into limp mode with the check engine light coming on. I think the cars' clutch plates had overheated.

And lastly, was it .anshuman who tried dune bashing with the AWD Hexa? I remember the Hexa's clutch plate overheating as well upon being over-revved. It had to be allowed to cool down, after which it was alright again.

It's the same thing that seems to have happened with your friend's Harrier and with your Polo.

[Raghu M]

Great point! This forum is always a learning class. My two lessons today, one got to know about GoDigit, just got a quotation from them. It's cheaper than my regular insurance and has all the add ons in the world. I will work on that later. The 'avoid tolls' on Google is something that I just discovered was ticked on my last trip. It gave me quite some trouble and I was directed to deserted roads. For solo rides or with our friends, it is fine to take directions from the locals if we spot any. I did the same and the guy mentioned told me not to rely on Google maps but just go straight. I did and found my way out. But if you are travelling with your family, first caution would be to avoid travel once it gets dark. The other point of caution would be doing some homework about the route.

[digitalnirvana]

Scary read. So many things could have gone so much more wrong. Key lesson here is to trust common sense, always.

I shouldn't be preaching though! Using Google maps I ended up in a narrow (read e-rickshaw width) road last week about 60kms from home in an unknown area. With a pond and slush on one side and open drains on the other. With two 90 degree turns and a dead end. And no shoulder to do a U-turn on. Net result - an hour of agony, a severely damaged left passenger door and scratched bumper. And badly traumatized family members. This too was at night.

[samee_arian]

All's well that ends well. This is what I can say, but surely this story has lessons to learn for most of us. Their ordeal definitely was scary but good thing is that there was no damage to people or property. We really did a great job by advising them the right insurance company and then went a step ahead in helping them in the time of need. Definitely deserve words of appreciation from us for the great job you did and added a shining star to fame most bhpians enjoy.

[Nalin1]

That was a spooky experience!. As soon as I started reading your post, I guessed that 'Avoid Tolls' is probably checked and that is where it all started!.

Good that you figured it out and now you know the culprit. This option got inadvertently checked last year by someone on my phone fiddling with Google maps, when we returning to Bangalore from Sakleshpur. And nobody realised it and we continued on state highways (roads were beautiful though) and joined NH. Our first thought was "Oh maybe, this was the shortest route, hence Google maps guided us this way, now that we have reached NH, no need for maps as we know the way back home". Anyway maps were not switched off and we were happily chatting away and enjoying the NH. Out of the blue, it suddenly suggested a turn off the highway back to joining the SH. That is when we realised that the 'Avoid Tolls' is checked unintentionally by someone .

Anyway we saved some cash on toll, but this is a lesson for your friend and all of us. When following Google maps, if you ever get a diversion off the main road it is either this culprit or Google trying to route you through a shorter route. A shorter route might even be a 100 metres shorter through a kacha road!. Just ignore and proceed if you are on a main carriageway and maps will quickly reroute.

[Holyghost]

Few years back, Google maps showed me a faster route to Bangalore airport and I almost ended up missing the flight. Google was asking me to drive through a narrow 3 feet wide road with walls on both sides. I thought google will re-route if I go back and take a different road. But it did not; it made me go through some small roads and brought me back to the exact same spot asking me to go through that 3 feet road again. The cycle continued 1 more time and finally asked for help from local people. I was able to reach the airport just on time and had to run all the way to the boarding gate.

Now I never trust google maps and always verify the entire route before starting the navigation. If the map shows any diversions from the highways, I always double check with local people before taking the deviation.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by shishir333

Time for some investigation and introspection

First google maps. Why this weird behavior?
We figured this out

The navigation has "Route options" settings on top right which allows to check/uncheck three options. Avoid tolls, avoid ferries and avoid motorways.

He had all three checked. It made sense to avoid ferries and motorways but avoiding tolls was the culprit here.

I do not think it fair to title this topic Google Map Terror when it turned out to be a human error.
Having said that, hats off to your investigative skills. I am sure this is a valuable heads up for numerous others who rely on Google Maps for navigation.

Also thank you for sharing your experience with GoDigit and their customer service as well as RSA. My car is due for insurance renewal in Dec and I will surely consider them.

[Joyb]

Not only on Highways, G Maps sometimes puts you in a spot even in densely populated areas of City. Has happened to me 3 times in Delhi in last 1 year, wherein G Maps took me inside densely populated urban villages, with roads fit for a two wheeler (and i checked, it was not two wheeler selected in mode of communication) .

Two times locals helped me out (once they even said, Maps dekhkar aaye ho app yahan- Translation:- Maps must have got you here). The third time G Maps left me at a dead end after taking me through some back lanes, with non existent roads).

Lesson Learnt- Whenever taking a unfamiliar route, always study and decide in advance.

[Ross]

Never trust google maps blindly off the main highways especially in monsoons as road condition does not get updated properly. Have landed in many sticky situations over the years. Have learnt my lesson and I always stop and ask the locals on road conditions and the best route to take whenever in doubt.

Look where google landed me recently in one of my weekend drives in Ragihalli forest area near Bangalore. There was a steep descent leading to a stream with about foot deep water and slushy mud. My fortuner could clear this easily in 4H, but I doubt any sedan or hatch could have done the same. This showed as clear blue road in google maps.

[Sebring]

Interesting anecdote there. And thank God your friend survived. A 4X4 car would have definitely pulled on. But the Harrier isn't one. I recall getting stuck deep deep in UAE's desert sand-dunes once, with zero network coverage and 55-60 degree intense heat. Thanks to my lucky stars it was a Pajero. I found a few metal sheets, put some desert foliage on it for traction, slipped it under the wheel and it came through. If it hadn't I wouldn't have survived that day at all. Just those few minutes of baking was enough to make me faint.

[pkulkarni.2106]

I have same story to tell. Somewhere last year we decided to visit Bhimashankar from Pune. Have never traveled on this route, so we completely relied on Google Maps.

Whoever knows the area would usually suggest to go to Manchar and then take a left turn which will take to Bhimashankar via Ghodegaon.

But as we relied completely on Google Maps, it showed us a different route from Rajgurunagar -> Chas and so on. This route goes from what looks like a forest area.
Not only the roads were secluded, there was hardly any road to speak of. At one point, there was a trench dug up on the road; no matter how carefully I drove I ended up damaging the exhaust (& hence had to continue the rest of the journey with loud exhaust).

Since then, I double check the route suggested by Google Maps with someone who knows the area.

[Repsol]

That was really a scary experience and I can only think of how much the family members would have been terrified. Glad that nothing untoward happened.

This is the reason why I always make sure that I check the route map in google 1-2 days before I travel. I do this religiously even for my regular trips too (to KL). In fact I even posted about this here once, asking for suggestion from fellow members, when GMaps suggested an alternate route via State Highway.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post4704183 (All Roads to Kerala)

But I still decided to stick to my known route via NH, as I don't want to take any risks or adventures at 3 AM with my family next to me.

[humyum]

Had happened to me too on my roadtrip to Ladakh passing through Amritsar and on our trip to Gandhidham

In Amritsar at 3 am in the night, it told us to go through narrow streets to reach our Hotel but the catch was, the streets started getting narrower and narrower until a point where if I had to go through, it would have to be by climbing someone's house steps which were exiting on the road.

We carefully reversed out of this mess, took the next available big road we saw to start breathing again, stopped a patrolling cop and asked him to show us to our hotel. Seeing our MH car, he readily agreed and rode the bike ahead of the car till the Hotel.

Once on my road trip to Gandhidham, the same thing happened, it took me through such desolate roads in the peak of the night with only fields around and not a single headlight in sight around almost an hour. All of us in the car had our BP shot up just thinking what if someone just comes out from the field with the stone or gun or just in huge numbers.

Google maps is out of our system now, we just stop and ask whoever we can and always remain on the main road. If its late in the night and we can't find anyone, we just keep driving on the highway till we find someone.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by shishir333

The navigation has "Route options" settings on top right which allows to check/uncheck three options. Avoid tolls, avoid ferries and avoid motorways.


Thanks for reading through, I hope by sharing this I could be of help to someone!

Stay safe!

RSA .

I believe if you select the route options in google properly, you could avoid such a mess.

Thank god your friend and his family are safe. Cannot imagine being in a desolate area with family for 1.5hrs, that too at night.

[Cessna182]

Glad that it worked out.
A few years ago, my car broke down on a rural road in WB. I called the helpline from the insurance, and they said they'd take a day to pick it up. Sadly it was still under warranty and I did not want to get any local mechanics to work on it. I went home in a local rickshaw. Came back next day to see the esteemed folks from the towing service station less than a kilometer away. But that was WB.
Good to see new companies honouring their commitments. I hope everyone is okay.

Google maps leads to lots of unfavorable sites. You can search on this forum for a related thread.