Kim did stay with the vehicle (and his family) for something like a week before going for help. I think this might have been the right decision at that point, because his youngest child was 7 months old and would not have been able to survive without food nearly as long as an adult would.

Kim's wife and children did stay with the car and were rescued some time later. But at the point that Kim left the car he had to be thinking that searchers weren't going to find them in time.

I've often wondered if Kim's fatal mistake wasn't leaving for help but rather leaving the road he was on and going cross country. By the time he made the decision to do that, his thinking might have been very seriously impaired indeed, though.

That's good advice if people are looking for you, or you are in an area where other people are likely to pass by and find you accidentally.

But what if enough time is passed that searches will have been called off?

This guy stayed with his vehicle for over two months, until he finally died from starvation [1].

At some point you have to recognize that help isn't coming. The question then is how to determine when it has reached that point. This should probably be part of planning for any trip where you might become lost and isolated. At the very least, find out how long they will keep an unsuccessful search going there.

[1] https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/...

Interestingly he walked 16mi and died just 1mi away from their intended destination.

Can't imagine the horror of trekking through the wilderness, your family waiting in the car, to find help.

Very easy to say from a computer. Not easy to say 168 hours after no contact with the outside world.