I feel bad for her. Obviously her reasoning processes have not been fully developed. She never really has had to do any substantial problem solving in her entire life...no college, no high school, no real job (singing and dancing is a job but they do not entail problem solving).
I do believe what she says about being frantic, but there are obvious other ways to solve the situation. Ex. climb into the back seat

Poor thing, she suffers from grotesque unawareness.