question

Question: Aweighting An Answer

By on • ( 210 Comments )

My wife, Kay , has a question about a recurring problem, and she’s hoping my followers have answers. That’s because I’m too stupid to answer this question for her.

Kay drives a Toyota Corolla. This is a compact car. But it has four doors, with two bucket seats in the front and a bench seat in the back. So up to about five people can kind of comfortably fit inside.

According to her Toyota Owner’s Manual, in the section on Specifications, her poor little ol’ Corolla has a vehicle capacity weight of only 865 lbs, which would be the combined weight of all occupants, plus luggage.

My wife uses the trunk of her car for storage, and I’d say there’s at least 50 pounds in there that she lugs around on a regular basis. So that’s the “luggage.” Kay, herself, weighs about 200 lbs.

Now for the kicker. Kay isn’t the only fat person she knows. Our niece, who lives in town, weighs 400 pounds. Our niece’s husband weighs about 240 lbs. Other members of her family, such as cousins, tend to be heavy also. I doubt any of them tip the scales at less than 200 lbs.

And she has many friends at her diet club who easily weigh-in weekly at a good 200 to 250 lbs each, and often more.

When there are family events, they often want her to drive, and try to squeeze into her poor little Toyota like a bunch of clowns. And at the end of every diet club meeting, her friends all want to go out to eat, and want her to give them a ride. Especially during pre-Covid days, but even now, since outdoor dining has been allowed.

Kay is good at math, and she adds passenger weight in her head. When the total, plus the weight of her and the junk in her trunk exceeds the safety limit of 865 lbs, she worries about her ability to control her car. She also fears that the wheels might fall off, or that the axles might snap, or that she might bottom out while going over a speed bump.

She wants to put a limit on how many fatsos are allowed to jam themselves into her prized Corolla, but she’s afraid to hurt anybody’s feelings. So her question is as follows:

How do you diplomatically tell a fatso that they can’t ride in your car, due to their extreme weight?

Categories: question

210 replies »

  4. By lying a little.

    Here’s how: Complain about how car is handling, make appointment to get car worked on (something cheap and simple – change oil, tune up, anything). Complain about how car is handling and that you finally caved for a check up at garage. Then call everyone after appointment and say mechanic told you it was too much weight on the axel and that it will destroy tire warranties if the wear is wrong for axel weight. Tell them the honest limit and that from now on, you’ll only take that many who fit with the right weight total.

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. I agree with churchmousie. It’s a question of safety and wear and tear on the car. Just be blunt and say you can only take 1 (maybe 2) additional passengers from now on, and the rest will have to find their own rides.

    Deb

    Liked by 5 people

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  6. Tippy, you have some smart followers here with a lot of good answers. You could learn a lot from them, and stop being so stupid. I’m going to try out some of the suggestions offered here. I really like the helium balloon suggestion. Would you run to the store real quick and buy some helium? I have some leftover balloons we can use.

    Liked by 2 people

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  8. I will blurt it out… permanent solution – trade that Toyota Corolla 4 door for the 2 door coupe model. My ‘big’ friends would stand and contemplate the maneuvering needed to squeeze around the folded in front seat of mine then say (after our writers meeting) ” Let’s all take our own cars .” Yay !!! Give me the prize for the most expensive response to this dilemma 😁

    Liked by 4 people

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  11. My wife says there were a lot of good answers, and that I have some very nice followers on this blog. She also says the gold star for best answer goes to Jason Frels, for his suggestion about putting helium balloons in the trunk. So congratulations, Jason, and here’s your star: ⭐

    Liked by 2 people

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  12. Just tell them that her car is not safe to drive anymore. Or it has some worrisome issues and she wouldn’t want to risk anyone’s safety but with those issues.

    Liked by 2 people

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  13. Fold down the back seats and cover it “stuff” that cannot be moved (an old bicycle, a bookcase, “important work papers”…) Only driver and front passenger seats available. No words necessary.

    Liked by 2 people

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  14. I wish I had something clever to add. I drive a Nissan Frontier with suicide doors so, technically, it has “backseats” but, you’d have to be, like, 10 years old to fit. Past that, it’s a 4 x 4 with a towing package so, the heavy weight could go in the bed.

    Kay, you either need a jeep with a pumped up suspension, a 4 x 4 pickup with a towing package or…a mid-life crisis sports car built for two…only.

    I hope you get gas money for your taxicab impersonations.

    Liked by 1 person

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