Update: Beth, the Dorkmobile is Fine!

My friend Beth pointed out that I never told the rest of the Dorkmobile Road Trip Story.

After we got back from our day of yarn shopping decadence, I took another look at the Dorkmobile tires. They still looked perfectly normal to me, although, I must admit, they are those weird sports tires that are abnormally thin because they have such big hubs. They could have been flat and I might not have known it.

When I got home, I expected Jim to be waiting at the door like a nervous parent. Instead, he and the kids were watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. When I walked in, Jim said "Did you figure out how to turn off the warning light? There's nothing wrong with the tires."

It turns out that the sensor doesn't exactly tell you that the tire is flat. It is actually telling you that the tire pressure has changed. That means one tire has either lower or higher pressure than the others. Add a hot day into the mix and you might get some increased tire pressure -- which is exactly what happened. It turns out that all I had to do was

(1) Turn the key in the ignition until the console lights came on (but not far enough to start the engine)

(2) Push the spiky butt symbol button next to the stick shift in and hold it for 3 seconds until the spiky butt light on the dash started to blink, and

(3) Turn on the engine and drive for about 10 seconds.

These steps would have reset the sensor to accept the current tire pressure. Did the manual explain that? No, it just said "Stop driving immediately!"

Does anyone else think this is the most stupid feature ever? If it's going to go off all the time, why would you ever take it seriously? And resetting the sensor? How often are you going to have to go through that little song and dance?

I think I'm starting to dislike the Dorkmobile, and I think the Dorkmobile knows it.