Car won't move

[Xionraseri]

Could Someone tell me why my car (instance name 'thing') wont move and i get the default in the switch (thing.dir)?
//carMove
//move the car random direction and speed

init();

function init(){
//direction constants
NORTH = 0;
NORTHEAST = 1;
EAST = 2;
SOUTHEAST = 3;
SOUTH = 4;
SOUTHWEST = 5;
WEST = 6;
NORTHWEST = 7;

//initialization
//randomly position car
car._x = Math.random() * Stage.width;
car._y = Math.random() * Stage.height;
car.dir = Math.random() *8;
car.dir = Math.floor(car.dir);
car.speed = Math.random() * 10;
turn(car);

/* debugging code
trace ("dir: " + car.dir);
trace ("rot: " + car._rotation);
trace ("dx: " + car.dx);
trace ("dy: " + car.dy);
*/
} //end init

function turn(thing){
thing._rotation = thing.dir * 45;

switch (thing.dir){
case NORTH:
thing.dx = 0;
thing.dy = -1;
break;

case NORTHEAST:
thing.dx = .7;
thing.dy = -.7;
break;

case EAST:
thing.dx = 1;
thing.dy = 0;
break;

case SOUTHEAST:
thing.dx = .7;
thing.dy = .7;
break;

case SOUTH:
thing.dx = 0;
thing.dy = 1;
break;

case SOUTHWEST:
thing.dx = -.7;
thing.dy = .7;
break;

case WEST:
thing.dx = -1;
thing.dy = 0;
break;

case NORTHWEST:
thing.dx = -.7;
thing.dy = -.7;
break;
default:
trace("There's a problem here...");
}//end switch
thing.dx *= thing.speed;
thing.dy *= thing.speed;
} //end turn

function move(thing){
//moves thing, wrapping around boundaries

//move
thing._x += thing.dx;
thing._y += thing.dy;

//check boundaries - wrap all directions
if (thing._x > Stage.width){
thing._x = 0;
}//end if

if (thing._x < 0){
thing._x = Stage.width;
}//end if

if (thing._y > Stage.height){
thing._y = 0;
} //end if

if (thing._y < 0){
thing._y = Stage.height;
}//end if
}//end move

thing.onEnterFrame = function(){
move(car);
}//end car enterframe

[ASWC]

that's not a pretty code to be honest. but mainly your problem come from the fact that a lot of your variables are initialized for car and not thing, so when you call thing.dx there's nothing because the variable does not exist.

car._x = Math.random() * Stage.width;
car._y = Math.random() * Stage.height;
car.dir = Math.random() *8;
car.dir = Math.floor(car.dir);
car.speed = Math.random() * 10;

change all that for "thing" instead of "car" for a start. this code has a lot of problem to be honest.

[Xionraseri]

I know, i am a complete noob, started like 2 weeks ago. I following this tutorial book, and thing is i originally had instance name car. It didnt work, so i just changed it to thing to see if it would do anything. I had the same problem. Then i go and change it back to what i originally had, "car" and it works...i am confused, but thanks anyway.