From the LA Times source:

The most obvious impulse for any driver experiencing sudden acceleration is to apply the brakes. But when an engine goes to full throttle and is speeding at 120 mph, the brake might not stop the car.

One source says that at 120 mph, the car is traveling 180'/sec.  Since decisions sometimes have to be made in 3 sec. or less, that's 540' in 3 sec while trying to call 911 or look in the manual's index.

All motorcycles have kill switches but no car does? I wonder why,it's good for bikes and not for cars? I have had stuck throttles, I just turned off the engine, I guess I've been wrong all this time? You loose power assist after a short time but you can still brake and turn. My car has 400 hp, if the gas sticks you want to turn it off quick before you gain too much speed. You are not going to be able to select neutral very well when you are pinned in the seat and gaining speed fast, plus you'll need both hands to steer when the power steering fades.

Thanx, Russ  

 They did this on that show Myth Busters...........................

You can't  turn the ignition off when in drive

You can't slam it up into park , or reverse for that matter.

Bye, Bye....................Birdy................

When reading things like this that makes me glad I have a manual.  All I'd have to do is just press the clutch if the engine starts running away (nearlly happened to me one time when it was a case of the floor mat getting stuck on the gas pedal.  Was able to press the clutch and then kick out the floor mat).

The downside of being used to driving a manual was like the one time I took over driving my friends car because he was starting to fall asleep at the wheel.  Later on that trip, I was getting hungary, so I wanted to stop in a McDonalds to grab a quick bite.  I am used to just pressing the clutch and coasting down to a stop in most cases. The only problem was that this car was not a manual.  Ended up slamming the brakes (good thing there was nobody behind me!).  My friend immediatly woke up with a "WTF?" I just said "Whoops - forgot this is an automatic!  There is no clutch! At least I was able to let him know I was stopping to grab something to eat.

I didn't want to uncover my car (2006 GTO) to test it but my wife's car will turn off in drive (PT Cruiser). I don't think I ever had a car that wouldn't shut off in drive but I'm sure there are some new ones that might have that blocked.

Thanx, Russ

LarryC:

The "smart throttle" is also a preventive device, and the cop would easily have survived if his loaner had had it.

"Smart throttle" refers to a "fly-by-wire" system that has no mechanical connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle.  It works, and is even used on some high-performance motorcycles, but it depends on the car's computer working properly at all times, so it adds one more thing (or group of things) that can go wrong and cause a very hazardous situation instead of preventing one.

JJKIZAK:

HHMMMMM. Wonder why a normal driver would not immediately hit the brakes a s the car took off.

And this guy wasn't just a normal driver, but a police officer, whom one would assume had had professional driver training.  As well, the car was a Lexus, a premium car that you'd expect to have premium brakes that should have been able to stop the car. 

I don't understand why he didn't brake hard or downshift, or shift into Neutral or even shut off the engine, instead of making a phone call which could have been no help at all in the few seconds available.

My guess is that the driver panicked instead of dealing rationally and effectively with the emergency situation.

russ69:

I don't think I ever had a car that wouldn't shut off in drive but I'm sure there are some new ones that might have that blocked.

Years ago, I was driving my 1990 5.7L Caprice (ex-police model) on the highway and ran out of fuel.  I knew that the fuel pump sends excess fuel to the injectors and the surplus is returned to the fuel tank, so I reasoned there was still a bit in the tank.  I shifted to Neutral and shut off the engine, letting the car coast for a half-mile or so, then restarted it, put in back in Drive, accelerated gently back up to speed, then repeated the process five or six times until I reached an off-ramp with a nearby gas station, where I filled up.

It didn't seem all that technical and power steering is hardly needed at highway speeds.

I am very skeptical on general claims and any individual claim, and of course they should be examined on a case by case basis according to actual evidence.

I was involved as a lawyer in a case where a man's wife claimed the car, while she was parking it, suddenly accelerated backwards through the garage wall into the kitchen.  It came to rest burning rubber on the linoneum. Later, very convincing evidence showed that the husband was in the driver's seat at the time and was very drunk.  So the police were told it was the sober wife was driving and the episode was blamed on the mysterious turn on of cruse control.

There are some anecdotal reports where someone will say, "The harder I stepped on the brake, the faster the engine reved."  They deny they got the wrong pedal but that is the only rational explanation.  When an accident is due to driver errror, the driver will blame cruise control.  In other cases someone loses control for whatever reason, and then, again, it is the car computer which is blamed.  Maybe they believe it, themselves..

And there are situations where someone is "upside down" in a lease and is looking for some reason to get out of it.  A claimed run away is a good hob goblem in a Lemon Law claim.  "It ran away the other night and I just don't feel safe.  I took it to the dealer three times and they don't find any malfunction." The next argument is that the manufacturer/dealer is refusing to fix the problem. They are evil. 

Yet manufactures will put it in their records for the sake of accuracy and govenment compliance.

What happens in the 'scientific' world of examination is that all of these, IMHO, frauds, become evidence.  The next time there is a claim by a plaintiff, his expert engineer will say: "Of course this could have happened, look at all the previous reports of things very similar." 

It is like a witch hunt.  There are previous reports of witches, so this one could/must be correct and not made up.

Hang the witch..

Wm McD

 

 

 

 

Considering that it takes most cars a pretty decent amount of time to accelerate to speeds around 100mph, I would hope that any person with a high enough IQ to get a driver's license would realize that shifting into neutral would fix the problem.  Why anyone would attempt to turn the engine off is beyond me.

In the San Diego case, the driver was a seasoned off-duty CHP officer with lots of high speed driver training under his belt.  The car was a loaner from the dealer while his car was being serviced - so, he, apparently was unfamiliar with the car, hadn't read the manual & didn't know the three second drill on how to turn it off.  The call to 911 was from the driver's brother-in-law who was a back seat passenger in the runaway Lexus.  He reported wide open throttle & no brakes.  No idea why the driver was unable to shift it into neutral, but things happen very quickly when a powerfull car goes to WOT.  The driver had his hands full trying to thread his way through heavy traffic at 120 mph.  Unfortunately, his luck ran out & he rearended a SUV, struck an embankment & the car burst into flames killing him, his wife, their 13 year old daughter, and the wife's brother.

Toyota blames the floor mats....

There have been over 2,000 of these "incidents."  16 fatalities so far....

Downshift and let it blow , if it's a manual . Put it in neutral if its auto . I would have long been applying the brakes before it ever got to that .

As was pointed out in the above articles, hit the brakes twice at WOT and the vacumn is depleted.  Without power assist, the engine easily overpowers the brakes.

wuzzzer:

Considering that it takes most cars a pretty decent amount of time to accelerate to speeds around 100mph, I would hope that any person with a high enough IQ to get a driver's license would realize that shifting into neutral would fix the problem.  Why anyone would attempt to turn the engine off is beyond me.

 

Because it works? Done it 100 times. Didn't you ever take Mom's car and blow the muffler off by running down the road, shutting off the engine then turning it back on? KA-BOOM! Loads of fun! That 5000 pound station wagon didn't turn or stop too well without power assist but I never put it in a ditch or ran off the road.

Thanx, Russ

jheis:

As was pointed out in the above articles, hit the brakes twice at WOT and the vacumn is depleted.  Without power assist, the engine easily overpowers the brakes.

Still , you would realize that something was wrong and be doing something about it .