car stuck at 60 mph on freeway

[RJDiogenes]

This was an episode of Enterprise.

Well, it's very lucky nobody was hurt or killed. I wonder what his payout will be?

 

[Emher]

While I haven't gotten stuck in cruise control before, I have had my brakes cut out on me while traveling at a good speed on a city street. It scared me a bit because I was heading towards stopped cars at an intersection, but I didn't start screaming like a little girl and freeze up. I downshifted and slowly pulled the parking brake and came to a stop in the bike lane.

And this kids is why you drive manual. Seriously, I read more and more stuff about stuff going wrong with automatic cars. Then again as said earlier "Oh he was Driving a Ford, that's what's wrong"

 

[Jadzia]

I would've gone for the hand break right away. Or driving off the road, if there was such a place available.

But, I would have pulled off the road the first time it malfunctioned, and not have kept driving.

I don't think the handbrake is that powerful to act against the accelerator. I know this because I set off once with the handbrake on and it pulled away just fine, just feeling a bit more sluggish than usual. Eventually it would just wear it out.

 

[Kirby]

Does anyone know where Dennis Hopper was while all this was going on?

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Yep, that's in the article too.

It had locked up in motion.

The ignition key wouldn't turn.

The gears were locked.

The brakes were useless.

That's a whole lot of independent systems to crap out at once.

 

[Docbrown777]

Yep, that's in the article too.

It had locked up in motion.

The ignition key wouldn't turn.

The gears were locked.

The brakes were useless.

That's a whole lot of independent systems to crap out at once.

That's what I'm thinking. This is really goofy and I'm having trouble believing the guy was really in danger. Those are all separate systems. The failure of one does not effect the failure of the others.

 

[John Picard]

It's kind of amusing to me how a lot of peoples' first reactions to reading about someone in a crisis situation is to try to determine how much better they could have handled it themselves...while they're not personally experiencing the crisis.

Then again, I live in Vermont, where we only have one major interstate, and trying to drive off of it most of the time would probably be a death sentence.

Back in the late-1980's, my dad proclaimed that most people don't drive, they aim. This was all before anti-lock brakes, keyless entry/ignition systems, electronics in braking systems or the throttle, stability control, etc, etc, etc. People are no longer taught how to drive anymore, meaning accident avoidance maneuvers, how to control a skid, and most importantly, how to ditch the car without causing major mayhem.

Throw me into a situation like the above, and I guarantee you I'll get out of it or have the vehicle off of the road. Have you heard of, "the tail wagging the dog?" That's when, while towing a trailer, the trailer started to undulate back and forth thereby affecting the tow vehicle. If the operator doesn't incorporate the right course of action, both will jackknife and potentially spin out. Been there, and I know how to recover. I've had a U-Haul moving truck start rocking due to high winds, and had I not acted properly it would have flipped over. My dad also stressed to always be aware that I might need to drive off the road to avoid an accident, or how to drive into a cow or a horse that might wander into the road.

The problem with drivers is that 95% are too passive and treat it like a mundane experience. That's why, every day, I see more and more idiots distracted with their stupid GPS devices on the dash or yapping on the cell phone.

 

[Trekker4747]

I would've gone for the hand break right away. Or driving off the road, if there was such a place available.

But, I would have pulled off the road the first time it malfunctioned, and not have kept driving.

I don't think the handbrake is that powerful to act against the accelerator. I know this because I set off once with the handbrake on and it pulled away just fine, just feeling a bit more sluggish than usual. Eventually it would just wear it out.

If the handbrake is ajusted right the car should be very resistant to move with it on.

There's several things this guy could've done while this was happening.

He could've tried to shut the car off.
He could've tried to force the gear-selector into reverse (which would've stalled the car.)
He could've tired to lift the accelerator up with his foot.
He could've "ditched" the car in the field.

 

[John Picard]

I would've gone for the hand break right away. Or driving off the road, if there was such a place available.

But, I would have pulled off the road the first time it malfunctioned, and not have kept driving.

I don't think the handbrake is that powerful to act against the accelerator. I know this because I set off once with the handbrake on and it pulled away just fine, just feeling a bit more sluggish than usual. Eventually it would just wear it out.

If the handbrake is ajusted right the car should be very resistant to move with it on.

There's several things this guy could've done while this was happening.

He could've tried to shut the car off.
He could've tried to force the gear-selector into reverse (which would've stalled the car.)
He could've tired to lift the accelerator up with his foot.
He could've "ditched" the car in the field.

Toyota has incorporated electronic accelerators, meaning there is no cable from the accelerator pedal assy to the throttle body. This is the actual cause of sudden acceleration and not the lame excuse of floor mats. If the above car has this same arrangement, then attempting to lift the pedal would be fruitless.

Data point to Toyota's throttles, not floor mats

Eric Weiss was stopped at a busy Long Beach intersection last month when he said his 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup unexpectedly started accelerating, forcing him to stand on the brakes to keep the bucking truck from plowing into oncoming cars.

Toyota Motor Corp. says the gas pedal design in Weiss' truck and more than 4 million other Toyota and Lexus vehicles makes them vulnerable to being trapped open by floor mats, and on Wednesday, it announced a costly recall to fix the problem.

But Weiss is convinced his incident wasn't caused by a floor mat. He said he removed the mats in his truck months earlier on the advice of his Toyota dealer after his truck suddenly accelerated and rear-ended a BMW.

"The brakes squealed and the engine roared," the 52-year-old cabinet maker said of the most recent episode. "I don't want to drive the truck anymore, but I don't want anyone else to, either."

 

[Saturn0660]

Not the first time this has happened..
get your SUV fixed

The control units were getting wet. Causing shorts. You used the CC and the throttle would go wideopen. The engines was pushing so hard you couldn't shift gears. If you were lucky and had a stick shift you just put the clutch in. In you were in an Auto to bad, you were going for a ride.

I'm shocked no one else remembers this..

 

[FordSVT]

oh i figured out what the deal is

he was driving a ford

Toyota Announces Recall to Fix Runaway Acceleration

And I'm with Ebeneezer, that's the engine sludge thing all over again. Toyota would rather blame its customers or on breathtakingly stupid reasons for it's vehicle's quality problems than risk the public perception that they could possibly make an unreliable vehicle. Mercedes had the same problem in the 80s and early 90s, they'd ignore dramatic safety issues and do everything they could to avoid government recalls by putting out a massive number of internal TSBs while simultaneously denying there was a problem in the first place. Transmissions were being replaced for "routine maintenance" when customers dropped off their vehicles for an oil change.

Just bringing it up to counter the "Japanese car makers are PERFECT and only car about quality products for your family while domestic makers are penny pinchers trying to find out how much your life is worth so they can save money on seatbelt material" attitude.

 

[John Picard]

Not the first time this has happened..
get your SUV fixed

The control units were getting wet. Causing shorts. You used the CC and the throttle would go wideopen. The engines was pushing so hard you couldn't shift gears. If you were lucky and had a stick shift you just put the clutch in. In you were in an Auto to bad, you were going for a ride.

I'm shocked no one else remembers this..

It was both the trucks and the SUV's, but your comment about not being able to shift the automatic makes no sense. The transmission has a cable/lever system from the column shift lever to the transmission. Pop the vehicle into neutral and the engine will scream. The rev limiter will prevent it from readlining and subsequently blowing, but I'd rather blow an engine than risk life/property damage.

 

[Saturn0660]

^-- If i remember right. When they looked into it what they found is that because people had their foot to the floor with the brakes the torque converter was so loaded that the shifter couldn't be moved. Dateline did a big thing on it back in early 2000's

 

[FordSVT]

Even at wide open throttle at 75 mph, slamming on the breaks will bring a vehicle to a halt. It will take longer, but they will not give out and they will slow the car down. Try it sometime if you don't believe me, car brakes are incredibly powerful.

I just don't understand how that many totally independent systems could possibly fail all at once without a loss of electrical power which would correspondingly shut the engine off. Most of the time in these stories I believe the people driving panic and don't do anything but step on the gas pedal over and over again trying to get it to stop accelerating, maybe pump the brakes a few times, and then it's panic mode and "OMG THE CAR IS POSSESSED!". That's what they tell the cops, that's what they tell the reporters, and we never do get to find out what the real cause of the incident was after it's investigated because 3-6 months later it's a non-story unless it impacted many, many people and resulted in deaths.

 

[John Picard]

Even at wide open throttle at 75 mph, slamming on the breaks will bring a vehicle to a halt. It will take longer, but they will not give out and they will slow the car down. Try it sometime if you don't believe me, car brakes are incredibly powerful.

I just don't understand how that many totally independent systems could possibly fail all at once. Most of the time in these stories I believe the people driving panic and don't do anything but step on the gas pedal over and over again trying to get it to stop accelerating, maybe pump the brakes a few times, and then it's panic mode and "OMG THE CAR IS POSSESSED!". That's what they tell the cops, that's what they tell the reporters, and we never do get to find out what the real cause of the incident was after it's investigated because 3-6 months later it's a non-story unless it impacted many, many people and resulted in deaths.

Like I said, people aren't trained to drive anymore. I cannot, for the life of me, understand these stories where people have a flat tire and end up flipping the vehicle. I've had several flats over the year, a few of which were at speeds in excess of 60mph. I noticed that the vehicle handled rather odd (such as the back end floating funny when I wiggled the steering wheel), so I pulled over to perform an inspection and -- voila, flat tire.

With every passing day I wish the US had high speed rail and would crush every single car on the road to build it. There are too many mindless drones on the road.

 

[Saturn0660]

Even at wide open throttle at 75 mph, slamming on the breaks will bring a vehicle to a halt. It will take longer, but they will not give out and they will slow the car down. Try it sometime if you don't believe me, car brakes are incredibly powerful.

Ya, not so much... Foot to the floor on gas and brake.. Depending on the car. You'll slow down. But you'd boil the fluid before you'd stop. Hell, i've boiled the brakes in my old Saturn.

Big V8 in a towncar/crownvic/ford. add shitty brakes. You have a recipe for death.


I do however totally agree with people not knowing how to drive anymore.

 

[Trekker4747]

Toyota has incorporated electronic accelerators, meaning there is no cable from the accelerator pedal assy to the throttle body. This is the actual cause of sudden acceleration and not the lame excuse of floor mats. If the above car has this same arrangement, then attempting to lift the pedal would be fruitless.

Oy!

Such a "drive by wire" system is stupid.

 

[Saturn0660]

Like I said, people aren't trained to drive anymore. I cannot, for the life of me, understand these stories where people have a flat tire and end up flipping the vehicle. I've had several flats over the year, a few of which were at speeds in excess of 60mph. I noticed that the vehicle handled rather odd (such as the back end floating funny when I wiggled the steering wheel), so I pulled over to perform an inspection and -- voila, flat tire.

You are so right. I guess I was lucky.. I got to take the Bob Bondurant
high speed driving course when I was like 17.

 

[John Picard]

Even at wide open throttle at 75 mph, slamming on the breaks will bring a vehicle to a halt. It will take longer, but they will not give out and they will slow the car down. Try it sometime if you don't believe me, car brakes are incredibly powerful.

Ya, not so much... Foot to the floor on gas and brake.. Depending on the car. You'll slow down. But you'd boil the fluid before you'd stop. Hell, i've boiled the brakes in my old Saturn.

Big V8 in a towncar/crownvic/ford. add shitty brakes. You have a recipe for death.


I do however totally agree with people not knowing how to drive anymore.

Look, don't take this the wrong way, but your knowledge of cars is lacking. It's going to take a lot to get brake fluid to boil, and your uneducated bias against Fords is evident. The Towncar and Crown Victoria have very powerful braking systems. Pumping, followed by locking the brakes, will effectively get the vehicle under control. Worse case scenario, I'd have that car grinding down the concrete retaining wall and into the water barrels.

Toyota has incorporated electronic accelerators, meaning there is no cable from the accelerator pedal assy to the throttle body. This is the actual cause of sudden acceleration and not the lame excuse of floor mats. If the above car has this same arrangement, then attempting to lift the pedal would be fruitless.

Oy!

Such a "drive by wire" system is stupid.

Oh, but that's called "progress"

 

[Saturn0660]

Look, don't take this the wrong way, but your knowledge of cars is lacking. It's going to take a lot to get brake fluid to boil, and your uneducated bias against Fords is evident. The Towncar and Crown Victoria have very powerful braking systems. Pumping, followed by locking the brakes, will effectively get the vehicle under control. Worse case scenario, I'd have that car grinding down the concrete retaining wall and into the water barrels.

Look, don't take this the wrong way... But don't EVER assume anyone ever performs service on said car. When the last time you had brake fluid changed? That shits not part of ANY brake service i've ever seen. How much water you think gets into your system?
Also, kinda hard to lock the brakes of an ABS system.
But i will admit a total boil maybe the wrong word. However am i the only one who's felt the pedal sink to the floor while high speed braking?


We are not talking about what YOU would or what I would do.. we are talking about what your/my mom or grandma would do. PANIC!!!

OTW, I've owned a Towncar. Shitty OEM brakes.. You fail...