“My car won’t turn off” may sound funny, but I wasn’t chuckling when my son awakened me  from a sound sleep knocking on our bedroom door after midnight. I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. Fortunately his Chevy Cobalt was in the driveway and not miles away. He could pull the key out of the ignition and the car kept roaring. Put it in neutral, try it again. Drive it. Reverse it. Repeat. Still, the car runs. And we live on a cul de sac. A very quiet cul de sac. Waiting until it ran out of gas was not a good option for so many reasons.

We tried the obvious stuff. Then we called AAA — and were on hold for longer than I’ve ever thought possible. After 30 minutes, we hung up. If we had been using an older cell phone, it would have died.  So if my son had been stranded, he’d have been both stranded and phoneless.

We were at home, so while on hold, we pulled out the laptop computer, and typed in “my car won’t turn off.” Sure enough, a site shared the cure complete with how-to pictures. Within minutes, we had located the fuse box, the correct fuse, pulled it and voila, the car turned off. You can link to the article that applies to the Cobalt and Pontiac G5 here. Apparently, the ignition getting stuck is a problem. And the next day we restarted it the same way. It is now in for repairs.

Thank God for the Internet and mechanics who use it … with detailed illustrations and a sense of humor.

Pam Parker, mom of three and stepmom of three,  is an award-winning writer and editor for Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.