Car Troubles Surge During Autumn Foliage Season

While traffic on the approaches to Lake Chuzenji often slows to a crawl, some cars have been stopping in the middle of inclines with hazard lights flashing, and on one recent Sunday morning alone, Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) Tochigi handled 11 stalled vehicles.

Roadside crews say they are also receiving more SOS calls from foreign tourists. One rental car driven by a visitor from Taiwan was found with its left front tire completely flat and a large gash torn into its sidewall after the driver accidentally rode up onto a curb while leaving a souvenir shop. The wheel cover had shattered on impact. A spare tire was fitted on site, allowing the traveler and his mother to continue their trip and enjoy sightseeing in Tokyo the following day.

Another call came shortly after 3 p.m. on a Sunday from a convenience store parking lot. A couple in their 40s and 50s had driven to Nikko with their family early that morning to enjoy the scenery, but on the return climb the accelerator suddenly stopped responding. Video they recorded shows the car failing to pick up speed even with the pedal fully depressed, forcing them to pull over immediately. The vehicle had been driven for more than 12 years and had surpassed 140,000km, a distance at which parts deterioration becomes more common. JAF used a diagnostic scanner and detected an air-flow sensor failure affecting engine output. With on-site repairs impossible, the car was towed to a dealer while the family returned home by train from Nikko Station.

Foreign tourists are not the only ones affected. Late in the afternoon, a woman in her 40s returning from climbing Minamisawa, one of Japan’s 100 famous mountains, found that her engine would not start when she returned to her car at about 2 p.m. She had started her hike around 6 a.m. and spent the day enjoying the foliage and the panoramic mountain views. When JAF measured the battery voltage, it read just 3.1V—far below the roughly 12.5V needed to start an engine. The woman typically drives 20,000km a year, double the national average, accelerating battery deterioration. After a portable battery pack was connected for an emergency jump-start, she was told not to turn off the engine until she reached home. She finally returned after about six hours.

As evening fell and rain intensified, another SOS arrived from deep in the mountains. A man in his 30s from Saitama, who enjoys off-road driving, had taken his four-wheel-drive vehicle along an unpaved forest track for about 20 minutes when the car suddenly dropped into a large trench cut across the road. The vehicle’s front end became lodged in the earthen wall, leaving it sharply tilted and immobilized. The trench appeared to have been dug either for drainage or as a measure against illegal logging. The driver, uninjured, had walked down to the main road to seek help.

JAF workers drove as far as they could, then climbed a steep, muddy slope on foot to reach the site. With darkness setting in, they anchored metal stakes into the ground, attached a wire to the vehicle, and operated a manual winch in the pouring rain. After repeated attempts, the driver slowly applied the accelerator while the crew hauled the vehicle forward by hand. The car finally broke free after about five hours, though its front bumper had been damaged. The rescue fee totaled 33,700 yen, including 15,700 yen for the basic charge, 12,000 yen for the extraction work, and a 6,000 yen first-year JAF membership fee, which the driver chose to purchase for future security.

Nikko’s autumn beauty draws millions of visitors, but the season also brings unusually heavy congestion, sudden mechanical failures, flat tires from riding over curbs, battery drain from long drives and overnight parking, and off-road accidents on forest paths. The incidents underscore how quickly travel can be disrupted and how essential it is to drive cautiously and prepare for unexpected trouble during the peak foliage season.

Source: FNN