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Stuck accelerator Video. HOLY CRAP

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eits said:
anyone else notice that that car slammed into the other car at just over 80 mph?
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77mph~ yea, into some old asian car, they moved forward for quite a while after the impact so maybe the guy in front got lucky and wasn't sandwiched, otherwise ...totally dead man.
 
i'm sure i've told this story here before, so bare with me:

i was at an intersection, stopping for a red light. directly in front of me are an suv and a chevy s-10 pickup. the woman driving the s-10 puts her foot down and and her truck gets under the suv, lifting the rear way into the air. the rear tires are smoking like a chimney. this seemed to go on forever, probably about 10 seconds. the brake lights never came on. the state trooper diagonally across from us had a look on his face that was worth a million dollars.
 
Zenmervolt said:
Seen the video, CR is flat wrong. It's not an uncommon position for CR to be in, they are pretty much completely ignorant when it comes to anything with an engine.

The problem in the CR video is that they gave up and started pumping the brakes. At WOT, an engine is not producing vacuum so the vacuum booster for the brakes will only have enough for one or two pumps of the brake pedal before power assist is lost and you're working with manual brakes which require MUCH higher pedal pressures.

Had the man in the CR video simply trusted his brakes and kept his foot down HARD on the brake pedal the first time, the vehicle would absolutely and without question have come to a stop from 60 mph.

ZV
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The voice of reason speaks the truth.





When I lived in FL during the mid-1980's, there were news reports every year, at least 3-4X a year, of a runaway car from a "stuck" accelerator pedal. The driver swore he/she had pressed the brake as hard as possible but the car just kept accelerating. Hint: Pressing the brake will slow down any car at WOT, pure and simple.


In each and every case, it turned out the driver was pressing the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.......confusion and panic took over and the drivers thought the brake was being pressed.


And this was during the Audi transmission/stuck accelerator pedal bruhaha that was never proven to be anything else than driver error. CR along with one of the major networks, forget if it was NBC, ABC or CBS, tried in vain to replicate the incident. They eventually got an engineer to attach a contraption to the car that increased the fluid pressures inside the auto trans in an Audi, which finally made the tranny/throttle stick open and result in WOT. Unfortunately, the pressures that were put into the tranny were so vastly high that the car in stock form could never have created internal transmission fluid pressures like the ones done by CR and the network, which made their "proof" anything but proof.


Brakes can always haul down a car at WOT to a stop, assuming there is any friction material on the brake pads at all and the driver doesn't stupidly pump the brakes mindlessly and needlessly. This was true in 1969 and is true today.
 
I think you are lazy wuss if you put it in neutral. A real man rides that car like a BOSS.


ps
neutral is said 36 times in this thread so far.
 
busydude said:
Why are so many people giving this terrible advice? Have you tried turning the steering wheel when the engine is not running?
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In all fairness, they are more thinking of getting the car stopped than steering. Not saying it wouldn't be better to be able to steer though.
 
busydude said:
Why are so many people giving this terrible advice? Have you tried turning the steering wheel when the engine is not running?
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Yes, it's not that hard until the car is going very slow.

Most people perceive it as very hard to turn because they are so used to the assist, and because of the sudden loss of that assist.

Most cars today probably have variable assist. My 1995 Taurus has it. At highway speeds there is almost no assist. In a parking lot, there is maximum assist.
 
busydude said:
Why are so many people giving this terrible advice? Have you tried turning the steering wheel when the engine is not running?
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Yes. I used to have a vehicle that didn't have power steering. Its rather difficult to turn the wheel when the vehicle is at a complete stop but any movement whatsoever makes it absurdly easier. Over 5mph or so and its damn near like having power steering.

By the time it got difficult to turn the wheel almost any danger of you crashing the vehicle will be gone.
 
Doppel said:
Actually it was people simply hitting the wrong pedal, but yes to put the prius in neutral you need hold it in N for a moment, it doesn't simply go right into it. Also, pressing the ignition does nothing; it needs to be held for a moment. Still, slam the damn brakes should be number Fvcking 1 priority!

Lastly, this video is highly fishy. The guy accelerates and very, very quickly is into the next lane, like he was expecting it to happen. I simply think that's an unnatural reaction if your car really did start to speed up.

The car starts to accelerate at 6 seconds and as 7 seconds comes along he's already steering. I don't buy it.
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Good point. He has ninja like reflexes on the steering wheel but doesn't have good enough reflexes to stand on the brake, shift into N, or cut the engine?
 
Darwin333 said:
Good point. He has ninja like reflexes on the steering wheel but doesn't have good enough reflexes to stand on the brake, shift into N, or cut the engine?
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Beyond that how does and accelerator get "stuck" when you're stopped and have your foot on the brake?
 
wirednuts said:
i agree putting it in neutral is best, but really in a panic you will likely throw it to park. which is fine too. youll probably ruin the parking gear, but again you will stop and not die.
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very doubtful. If you just push up on the lever, it will go into neutral easily, but will NOT go into R. Most cars also have an interlock to prevent you from shifting into P or R while the car is moving.
 
T_Yamamoto said:
Made in China
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assuming it's the latest generation:

Assembly
South Korea: Asan
United States: Montgomery, Alabama
China: Beijing
Indonesia

WelshBloke said:
Probably because he has his foot jammed on the accelerater not the brake.
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For that long? Fat chance... he'd probably lift off and try at least once again so his foot is not likely stuck on the accelerator.
 
Last edited:
rh71 said:
assuming it's the latest generation:

Assembly
South Korea: Asan
United States: Montgomery, Alabama
China: Beijing
Indonesia



For that long? Fat chance... he'd probably lift off and try at least once again so his foot is not likely stuck on the accelerator.
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Well he certainly doesn't try the brake.
 
fstime said:
You are obviously a moron and don't understand that under so much pressure and adrenaline running through you at that exact moment, you sometimes do not think as clearly as a somebody (cough cough) sitting behind his little computer monitor watching a video on youtube in his parents basement.
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It happened to me once. I was scared (of course) but I hit the brake and clutch together with little added drama. I pulled over and discovered a stuck butterfly, probably due to a loose pebble from a swapped air filter.
 
Zenmervolt said:
Yes, they do. Take your car up to 60 mph and floor both the brakes and the accelerator. You WILL slow down. Worst case scenario is that the brakes will overheat at some point and you'll come to a balance at 5 to 10 mph, but you sure as hell will not just go shooting to 80 mph. And it doesn't matter what car you have, if you floor the brakes while stopped even 100% throttle won't make you start moving.
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I have to disagree with you there, worst case scenario is you burn out your clutch/blow up your engine and befoe anyone starts i'm not saying it is very likely just that it is more than possible.
 
Darwin333 said:
I understand hitting the brakes immediately but why wouldn't your next step be to simply turn the key thus killing the engine?
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Loss of power assist to the brakes and steering can be disconcerting in such a situation.

In older cars, you may turn the key too far and lock the steering wheel.

A lot of newer cars do not have locking steering wheels, though.
 
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