More on the Kim case

News reports confirm that Kim and his family took a route noted for its hostile winter conditions.

""Authorities say the cyber-savvy family may have plucked the route from Grants Pass to Gold Beach from an online mapping service, unaware of the elements," AP reported.

"Despite its impassable snowdrifts and single lane, Bear Camp Road is offered as the preferred route on some websites and on-board-directions software available on some new cars. And most of those have no business in those mountains in the winter."

However from another AP story, we can infer that the Kims were not using a satnav device after all.

"Driving south on Interstate 5, the Kims had missed the turnoff to the coast and instead drove through the Siskiyou National Forest.

"They passed signs warning that Bear Camp Road may be blocked by snow, but kept going. At times, James had to stick his head out the window to see through the falling snow, said state police Lt. Gregg Hastings.

They descended into a confusing warren of logging roads.

By the time they turned around, they were 15 miles off Bear Camp Road and stopped where they hoped to be spotted from the air, fearing they were running out of gas, searchers said. "

Whatever satnav's foibles, problems tend to occur through creating unrealistic expectations, not through getting lost. We may yet be looking at a more traditional Petrol Tank error.