Mobile Internet meets Peugeot 308Posted by Jeff on February 23rd, 2009
Where would I be without mobile internet? Probably still sitting at a petrol station somewhere along the M1.
While attempting to drive back to London I became aware that my rented Peugeot 308 was running a bit dry on windshield washer fluid (albeit not because it warned me of this, it has no windshield wiper fluid warning light as it turns out!). Off I pulled into the roadside station to pick up some wiper fluid thinking this should be a relatively simple task – you know, buy wiper fluid, open hood, open wiper fluid, pour into fluid container. Not so much. 10 minutes later I was still walking around the car trying to find the lever to crack open the hood. While I am no mechanic, I like to think I checked the spots this lever would typically be:
- A lever underneath the steering wheel.
- A button under the arm rest in the centre console.
- A button on the side of the driver seat.
- A button inside the glove box.
- A lever on the passenger side underneath the glove box.
- A button in the trunk. (yes I know, a stretch, but I was getting desperate!).
Always the last thing to check of course, but I did also try and check the instruction manual. However, as luck may have it the rental company conveniently did not include it as part of the package.
Finally after becoming somewhat disgruntled that I could not find something as simple as the hood opener I got back in the car and thought about what to do next. Then, eureka! Google was clearly the answer – through the magic of mobile internet there may still be hope for me to get the windshield wiper fluid filled up!
I picked up my Blackberry and typed into Google: “hood opener peugeot 308”.
Results: nothing of any interest.
Frustrated at first, I then came to the realization of my perhaps North American centric search terms, and swapped out “hood” for “bonnet”.
Bingo.
Up came a few sites, all of which went on to complain about the lack of a windshield wiper warning light as well as the location of the “bonnet” opener. Which, as it turns out, is conveniently located in a virtually invisible lever in the border of the door frame on the passenger side of the vehicle. Hallelujah, the bonnet is open and my windshield wiper reservoir is filled up!
In the absence of mobile internet and Google, where would this answer have come from? I probably could have found a number from the rental company to call and, assuming they were still open, perhaps I could have been connected to someone who knew the answer. I would hope so, but thats probably optimistic. Another alternative would be to find someone at the petrol station who knew the Peugeot’s more subtle details, or to call someone who could have checked the internet on my behalf to answer the question. Whether any of these solutions would have given me the answer I was looking for is up for argument but no doubt they all would have taken more time and quite likely led me to the decision that wiper fluid wasn’t all that critical and I could make it the remaining 20 miles home by leveraging the spray of cars in front of me to clean my windshield. Clearly not a great option – so needless to say I am pleased to have found yet another useful application of mobile internet – finding out how to open a bonnet on a Peugeot 308.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Hi Jeff,
Passenger side!? No kidding… Yes, that’s exactly when the mobile Internet shines 🙂
My classic moment was when I was on the way to a rendez-vous when I figured out that I forgot the location of the café. Well Google on my mobile new 🙂
Cheers,
Martin
March 17th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Hey Martin,
Yeah this mobile internet thing solves the most amazing problems – though you still need some human involvement to make the necessary Hood –> Bonnet conversion :).
I was later advised that the possible rationale behind the bizarre location was probably related to the conversion of the car to the British side of the road and this was just an artifact that they never bothered to swap over. Seems like a logical explanation to me, but sure glad I had my good friend Google with me at the time!
Jeff
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:19 am
Hi Jeff, thanks for this. i just typed in “peugeot 308 open hood”….and got your article. I was recently asked to jump start a car,….the guy had the jumper leads and was conveniently parked for me to help…..but we couldnt work out how to open the hood…..didnt look on the passenger side at all….
January 13th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Sounds familiar, I will sure never forget where the hood/bonnet opener is on a Peugeot 308 again! Glad this post came in handy.
December 24th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hi man, thanks very much exactly the same issue M1 windscreen wash Peugeot 308 hire car… Xmas eve! You’re a life saver!!!
January 24th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Hi Jeff
This may be 2012,but you are still a life saver. I have being going crazy trying to find the bonnet opening lever each morning out washing my window screen hoping it will stay reasonable clear till I get to work and the same in the evening.
I have called to two garages and asked while getting petrol( No problem let me show you !! a man of course!! Then it used to be there ha ha .
Even my husband thought he knew it all.I will have a better look later. We have a little bet going on nothing will please me more than to get a nice fifty note this evening.
Don,t worry I won,t be to hard on mankind.
Thanks.
Mary