Cruise control stuck on, heading towards downtown Huntsville at 60mph!

[Alone]

OK, I'll just pop out, back in a few months.

Thanks. Please make constructive use of the free time.

 

[Wingznut]

This HAL person is funny.

 

[HAL9000]

Thanks. Please make constructive use of the free time.

:thumbsup:

 

[HAL9000]

This HAL person is funny.

:awe:

 

[Aikouka]

In the UK it's a hand brake...

How much sense does it make when "hand brakes" are used by your foot in most automatic cars?

I either call it an e-brake or a parking brake.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

1) It wouldn't work at any speed

Umm... wrong but for the sake of argument, ok.

2) It would lock up the wheels and you'd just skid

Thought you said it wouldn't work at any speed... :hmm:

3) If you were turning the wheel you'd spin

Thought you said it wouldn't work at any speed... :hmm:

4) You'd probably snap the cable

Umm... no.

5) You wouldn't gradually come to a halt.

When you're rolling out of control who cares if you stop gradually?

6) You could slow down more effectively by changing into neutral and letting the car slow down naturally.

On an incline sure... maybe. On flat land... meh. Both assuming you're not in any traffic..

On a down hill... lol... Roller Coaster!!! *Hands Up* *Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*
Pull the e-brake!

 

[HAL9000]

How much sense does it make when "hand brakes" are used by your foot in most automatic cars?

I either call it an e-brake or a parking brake.

No idea, never driven an automatic car with anything other than a hand brake...?

<--- Driven 2 automatic cars, Black London Cab and a DB9, both have a hand brake, never heard of anything else.

 

[Wingznut]

Pull the e-brake!

OMG NO!!! DON'T DO IT, YOU WILL DIIIIEEEEEE!!!

Oh wait, you're not in England. Nevermind.

 

[HAL9000]

OMG NO!!! DON'T DO IT, YOU WILL DIIIIEEEEEE!!!

Oh wait, you're not in England. Nevermind.

:awe:

 

[Aikouka]

Here's a picture of one on the floor:

http://www.ford-taurus.org/taurusinfo/Features/P-brake.jpg

I think I'm gonna call bullshit on this one...
There are so many fail-safes on cruise control it's not funny.

Cruise control is supposed to release if:
You touch your brakes
You touch the gas
The speed varies by more than 5mph

My car's cruise only disengages if I turn it off, cancel it or hit the brakes. I manually accelerate and set the cruise to the new speed all the time. My car still says "SET", but it won't do anything unless my speed drops below that point again.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Here's a picture of one on the floor:

http://www.ford-taurus.org/taurusinfo/Features/P-brake.jpg



My car's cruise only disengages if I turn it off, cancel it or hit the brakes. I manually accelerate and set the cruise to the new speed all the time. My car still says "SET", but it won't do anything unless my speed drops below that point again.

Every cruise control I've ever had would disengage if you stepped on the gas.

 

[HAL9000]

Here's a picture of one on the floor:

http://www.ford-taurus.org/taurusinfo/Features/P-brake.jpg

Cheers, that's odd, I've never seen or heard of that before, cars in the UK all have pretty much the same lay out... most are manual, all of them have a gear stick and a hand brake. I was so confused when I got in an american car with an indicator-like-stalk that changes gear!

 

[Alone]

My car's cruise only disengages if I turn it off, cancel it or hit the brakes. I manually accelerate and set the cruise to the new speed all the time. My car still says "SET", but it won't do anything unless my speed drops below that point again.

Hm...what do you drive? As far as I know, cruise control automatically disables if you increase the acceleration significantly (more than 5kmph or 5mph).

 

[thescreensavers]

Every cruise control I've ever had would disengage if you stepped on the gas.

My G does not disengage when I hit on the gas.

Set at 75, get on the gas to pass up to lets say 85 now, take my foot off the gas and it will coast back to 75

Only way to turn it off, is to touch the brake to hit cancel, I haven't tried putting the car into N when the cruise is on.

 

[HAL9000]

My G does not disengage when I hit on the gas.

Set at 75, get on the gas to pass up to lets say 85 now, take my foot off the gas and it will coast back to 75

This, I don't have cruise control, but on the two cars I've driven that did, it was like this... (Ford Fiesta, Jaguar XJ6)

 

[CZroe]

Massive reply incoming...

neckbeard, every car has an emergency break. you spend all your time blasting automatic transmissions, yet you would not be able to function in a manual without the fucking emergency break.

also called a "hand break."

in some models, it is a button on the floorboard, activated by the driver's left foot.

or a lever to the left and under the steering column.

You failed to explain that it is also called a parking brake.

not really. I have no idea why it is called an emergency break, other than it isn't always a hand break.

I suppose it may be because people would use it to stop their cars from rolling away or most commonly (since the majority of cars are automatic), as backup when parking on steep inclines.

It's actually illegal in SF to leave your car parked without the emergency break applied.

so I guess, in a sense, it is to prevent accidents....

Wow. How... unimaginative. Imagine the situation where you might be screaming "Shit! Shit! My brakes are out! FUUUUUUCK!" Would you just run into a tree/wall/cliff because you have no idea what else the handbrake could be used for? In EMERGENCIES it can double as a backup brake if your primary brakes fail.

It was formerly known as an emergency brake in older cars where it would be the only braking option in case of primary brake failure. If slowly applied it could sufficiently stop a vehicle (well, better than no brake at all).

Modern cars retain the lever more for the purpose of parking assistance.

Why answer this without pointing out how silly Zin was for saying that he has "no idea?" Missed opportunity #1. Next, you didn't even correct his spelling of "brake." I find it funny that someone who doesn't even know how to spell "brake" is trying to explain all this. Missed opportunity #2.

Seriously? No one in this entire thread has pointed out that it is spelled BRAKES and not BREAKS?!

Hmm Interesting, I still can't imagine it would work well even when "slowly applied" I think it would be very dangerous when going at any kind of speed.

More dangerous than being unable to stop? What is dangerous about it at all? You seem to have a massively wrong assumption about how they work.

That's my point, it won't work in an emergency...

Except that it will. Stop giving it gas, put it in neutral, and it WILL stop the car. No, your tires aren't going to lock up and throw you off track. You can actually drive with the e-brake on in many cars and people do it in automatics all the time without realizing it.

My point is that calling it an "e-brake" is retarded.

Alright, let's me and you take two identical cars out. Mine will have an e-brake, yours won't. The brakes in both cars will fail.

Let's see who's able to stop his car.

Even though Zinfamous couldn't imagine why it was called that WITH the name? The name aids in guiding you to it in an emergency. Duh. I'm pretty sure he would have figured out why if he were careening uncontrolled down a mountain with no primary brakes.

It's like saying that have two windscreen wipers is better than one, so call the passenger side on an emergency wiper...

Yeah it's better than one, but DO NOT use it in an emergency! You will cause emergencies for others. It's used pretty much exclusively in parking.

In the UK it's a hand brake...

Wow. In your twisted view, being unable to stop and, thus, running into someone does not cause an emergency for others but stopping an out-of-control car does. Wow.

oh yeah, it's called a parking break too. Actually, that's what I called it first. makes more sense. Where I grew up, it was always either parking/emergency.

Now I mostly call it hand break, but also emergency break due to force of habit.

FINALLY, but still *facepalm* "Break?"

Yeah that does make a lot more sense... Emergency break is a very confusing name for it...

Are you making fun of Zin's spelling or sticking to your guns in your trademark fashion?

I imagine the first thing I would do (and have done) Is drop it into neutral then drive into a bush or something to slow me down (they do the same thing on Top Gear) I definitely definitely definitely wouldn't pull the hand break going anything over 20mph.

I guess you just flip-flop on your spelling. You act like the hand brake is all or nothing and locks up your wheels. This is silly. The faster you go, the less of an immediate effect it has. You can barely even notice it slowing on some cars even when it's perfectly functional as a parking brake.

Shit. No bushes between me and the collision. I guess I'll just run right into it without even trying to slow down. What else could I do? /sarcasm

Also, aiming for the bushes implies some form of control that may not be possible when your brakes go out on a mountain and you only realize it when you are already going too fast.

I'd rather things weren't described as "emergency" when they shouldn't be used in an emergency... But what are you going to do when American decides something stupid like this?

Backup break would make more sense for the use you are describing.

YOUR initial assumption was that it shouldn't be used. You are totally and completely wrong. Stop basing your other conclusions on that.

you said you absolutely will not use it if you can't stop your car. you'd rather drive into a tree or bush or something.

in several posts, you vehemently demanded that no one use this braek in an emergency situation--which very much implies that you prefer to use no brake at all if your hydraulics fail.

...then why are you saying that it should never be used in an emergency situation, when you have no braeks?

A new one!

1) It wouldn't work at any speed
2) It would lock up the wheels and you'd just skid
3) If you were turning the wheel you'd spin
4) You'd probably snap the cable
5) You wouldn't gradually come to a halt.
6) You could slow down more effectively by changing into neutral and letting the car slow down naturally.

Laughable. You WOULD gradually come to a halt... often far more gradually than desired. It is actually hard to lock up the tires with a hand brake on my large non-performance cars. Also, why would you expect the cable to snap when it is actually engineered for this function in addition to being a parking brake (hence, the other name)? You seem to think that Americans came up with the word themselves and only they use it. You are so sure of that that you didn't even consider that that may actually be what it is, what it was engineered for, and what the makers often call it as well. I've seen several cars with an "E-BRAKE" indicator on the dash completely independent of the standard "BRAKE" indicator.

...Cruise control is supposed to release if:
You touch your brakes
You touch the gas
The speed varies by more than 5mph

I've never been in a car that couldn't be dropped into N while driving... or at the very least shift down into 3-2-1 gears which would slow the vehicle by more than 5mph.

Cruise control never worked like that in any car I ever drove. You could speed up as much as you want and touching the gas does nothing. The brakes, yeah. The clutch, also yeah.

 

[gorcorps]

Oh look, another neckbeard "UK is different than US" thread.

Anyway, this driver has to be a special kind of stupid. Turn car off> done.

 

[CZroe]

Note: The wikipedia page for "Hand brake" says this:
"...the handbrake is no longer often called on for its original purpose.

The most common use for an automobile emergency brake is to keep the vehicle motionless when it is parked, thus the alternative name, parking brake."

If the original purpose was as an emergency brake and "parking brake" is considered an alternate name, then it stands to reason that the cables are engineered to support the original purpose. They said it's rarely used for that specifically due to redundancies in the primary brakes, not because they aren't intended to be used when those primary systems fail anyway. Yes, the car will not brake as well with them but it WILL brake. Saying that you should never use it is like saying that a motorcycle should not have a rear brake at all, which is absolutely insane. Yes, all your weight shifts forward to the front tire when braking a bike and, yes, your rear tire will lose traction very easily, but you NEVER want to lose traction on your front tire and you can still gain 33&#37; more stopping power by combining the two. Also, what are you going to do if your front brake goes out on a motorcycle and you are going at a high rate of speed? Does that put things into perspective for you, HAL?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/28747312/detail.html

I think that's pretty incredible, I'd have been shitting myself.

One question though, the guy says he "tried the emergency brake" WTF?! What cars have an "emergency brake" and the cars that do, how can it not work?! This is exactly what that is designed for... surely?!

Yeah, because the driver obviously couldn't grasp the concept of turning off the ignition and robbing the engine of electricity that sparks the combution process in the first place. Oh, and I am sure the driver never thought about simply slapping the transmission lever out of Drive and into Neitral.

Dumb is as dumb exists ... in Huntsville, TX.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Why are people so concerned about the e-brake (hand brake), there is no mention of the hydraulic brakes failing (breaking) in the article - so all the driver would have had to do is stand on them and keep them pressed into the floor.

Several people have tried wide open throttle (WOT) and mashing the brakes at the same time (after the Toyota incidents (WOT + braking not recommended BTW))- guess what? The brakes win and you will stop. Granted if you let off the brakes you will accelerate (as per the Toyota case, where the guy had several "goes" at braking and overheated them...). So the PSA on this is if your car gets in a situation where the throttle is stuck (for whatever reason), stand on the brakes and keep the pedal nailed to the firewall... (also try neutral/engine off after pedal fully mashed into the floor).

The second point is that the emergency/parking/hand brake may not bring you to a stop when the throttle/CC is jammed open, as the engine will provide more power as the load (E-brake) is applied.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Yeah, because the driver obviously couldn't grasp the concept of turning off the ignition and robbing the engine of electricity that sparks the combution process in the first place. Oh, and I am sure the driver never thought about simply slapping the transmission lever out of Drive and into Neitral.

Dumb is as dumb exists ... in Huntsville, TX.

He said in the video that the transmission wouldn't change in the video.

Though having watched the video he did seem to stop from 60 pretty darn quickly once the police car was in front of him...

 

[CZroe]

Why are people so concerned about the e-brake (hand brake), there is no mention of the hydraulic brakes failing (breaking) in the article - so all the driver would have had to do is stand on them and keep them pressed into the floor.

Several people have tried wide open throttle (WOT) and mashing the brakes at the same time (after the Toyota incidents (WOT + braking not recommended BTW))- guess what? The brakes win and you will stop. Granted if you let off the brakes you will accelerate (as per the Toyota case, where the guy had several "goes" at braking and overheated them...). So the PSA on this is if your car gets in a situation where the throttle is stuck (for whatever reason), stand on the brakes and keep the pedal nailed to the firewall... (also try neutral/engine off after pedal fully mashed into the floor).

The second point is that the emergency/parking/hand brake may not bring you to a stop when the throttle/CC is jammed open, as the engine will provide more power as the load (E-brake) is applied.

HAL is the one implied that it would because he had no idea what it was. We corrected him. No one who knows implied that it could stop you when still giving throttle.

 

[Turin39789]

I submit that Hal knew what an emergency brake was before his first post in this thread.

 

[Squisher]

Why are people so concerned about the e-brake (hand brake), there is no mention of the hydraulic brakes failing (breaking) in the article - so all the driver would have had to do is stand on them and keep them pressed into the floor.

Several people have tried wide open throttle (WOT) and mashing the brakes at the same time (after the Toyota incidents (WOT + braking not recommended BTW))- guess what? The brakes win and you will stop. Granted if you let off the brakes you will accelerate (as per the Toyota case, where the guy had several "goes" at braking and overheated them...). So the PSA on this is if your car gets in a situation where the throttle is stuck (for whatever reason), stand on the brakes and keep the pedal nailed to the firewall... (also try neutral/engine off after pedal fully mashed into the floor).

The second point is that the emergency/parking/hand brake may not bring you to a stop when the throttle/CC is jammed open, as the engine will provide more power as the load (E-brake) is applied.

Agreed, but too many people don't go all or nothing when they apply the brakes. They push on the brakes somewhat, then figure this isn't working too well so they try it again, but still fail, then again. Well, by this time the brakes have heated too much and you get brake fade. Once the brakes fade you might as well have no brakes until they cool.

 

[Raizinman]

Working for the police I&#8217;ve investigated numerous &#8216;run away&#8217; vehicle situations. Most commonly caused by a defective &#8216;brake light switch&#8217; that sits above your brake pedal. This switch controls your rear brake lights and also turns off your cruise control. When it malfunctions the cruise control cannot be dis-engaged by the brake pedal and people panic believing that they cannot stop the vehicle. In viewing the video, I do not recall seeing the brake lights on the vehicle ever coming on which to me, confirms this situation.

Ways that do work to stop the vehicle are: Using the OFF switch on the cruise that is either on the steering wheel or the turn signal indicator. Turning the ignition off would also work. In panic situations, sometimes people don&#8217;t think of this.

As for slowing down, applying the brakes would only minimally work. Likewise, the emergency brake would only do less than minimal to nothing and probably cause an accident if applied too hard. The reason is: Cruise control systems monitor various functions of the vehicle. Just like when going up a hill, the cruise will apply more pressure to the accelerator to maintain the set speed. When you apply the brakes, the cruise control will not see the brakes applied (due to malfunctioning brake light switch) and believe the vehicle is going up a hill and apply more acceleration. The harder you apply the brakes, the more the vehicle will fight to maintain the set speed. Likewise, there is something called brake fade. This is a condition when you continually press on the brakes and they overheat and start to fade. Depending on many factors, this can happen in just a few minutes. Sometimes brakes cannot overtake the power of the engine.

Moving the shift lever to Neutral would also work to slow or stop the vehicle. Keep in mind that the cruise control will be telling the engine to go faster, not realizing that the vehicle is in neutral. This will cause the engine to rev up higher causing the driver to sometimes believe they are going faster, due to the engine noise.

Whether the defective vehicle in the video fits into the below recall or not, the brake light switch is a very common problem and many manufacturers have already had recalls: See below:

In checking the NHTSA: Ford has announced a recall of 26,715 E-Series, Excursion and Ranger vehicles for a defective hazard warning, signal and brake light switch. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, certain F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 vehicles manufactured between 2002 and 2007, certain Excursion models built between 2002 and 2005 and Ranger pickups built between 2002 and 2011 may have been assembled with a faulty switch that could deform over time.

Obviously a full vehicle inspection would be necessary to make sure that this is the exact problem.