simsgw

That reminds me of the famous "runaway Audi" where Dan Rather and CBS 'showed' that it was feasible for the car to accelerate even with the brake pedal fully depressed. Of course, the engineer they hired had to fake it en toto. I believe what he did was put a valve in to release brake pressure from both the tandem lines, while routing the pedal pressure to another line he rigged to the accelerator. I won't vouch for details because it's too much trouble looking it up, but it was essentially proof "proof!" that you could arrange to use the left pedal as a throttle with a determined fixer-upper. CBS touted it as proof that a manufacturing error could cause those symptoms and Rather almost lost his job that time (as he finally did in a later incident), when the engineer confessed under pressure from knowledgable professionals.

Not to be harsh, but that was about the time I realized that whenever I heard a report from a journalist on an event or a subject I knew about personally, that report was wrong in at least one major respect and usually more. I did not conclude that reporters were always intentionally faking things as Rather did. I just decided to quit believing anything I heard on television and damn little I read if it was written by a journalist.

Gary

Da Hapa

Nope.... and the jackass in San Diego also had tinted front windows.. which is also illegal in Ca.

simsgw

Well, I suppose tragedy is a fair statement whatever the cause in this case, but someone on another list of mine presented that case as a counterexample to my simple statement that brakes are more powerful than the engine. He said: "How else could an experienced highway patrolman drive down a freeway and finally crash if the brakes are so powerful? Huh? Huh?" Okay, I added the ignorant huh's. They were just implied, not actually typed.

My reply outraged him, but was just literal truth: We have more murder suicides in California in a year than we have runaway cars with hijackers driving, let alone these phony incidents of stuck throttles. So if I wanted a practical explanation of how a trained driver goes 120 for miles and then crashes, I can find at least one simpler explanation than supposing an escape clause has been found in the laws of physics.

Before someone bothers to mention it, I am well aware that a twit can manage to light up the brakes like a cigarette lighter by dragging them ineffectively while applying too little pressure to actually slow the car. If you do that to the pucks, you probably will have too much fade for a smarter driver to stop the car until the brakes cool. But that ignores at least three other ways to stop a 'runaway' and in any case that sort of behavior is not consistent with huh boy's assertion that this was a trained driver doing his best to stop that Lexus.

As I said then, on that other list, I don't assert this is the case with that Lexus accident, I merely point out that it is statistically more likely than the tale reporters gave of that day. I'm not being paid to do the post-accident analysis and I suspect no one will be if suicide is suspected. Even a murder/suicide. Whatever the investigating officer may conclude privately, in stressful occupations like the military and law enforcement, it is rarely useful to tell the family it was suicide. A particularly skeptical insurance investigator might ask uncomfortable questions, but an officer can be found to reply: "Oh, certainly. I routinely put the barrel in my mouth while cleaning my pistol. Haven't you heard of spit and polish?"

Gary

simsgw

Glad someone mentioned it, because I've been thinking the same thing about all these incidents. Cell phone? They got on a cell phone while in a car they felt they couldn't stop? Who do they think they are? O.J. Simpson?

You remind me of Cindy's reaction to a commercial for one of those security agencies. ADT or somebody. This guy kicks in the front door, the woman grabs her kid in one arm and picks up the phone with the other to tell the caller from ADT (or whoever) that things are certainly not okay. "He just broke into my house. Help!" And this ADT operator says something like "Yes Ma'am. I'm calling the police right now." Oh good. That will help. Don't you have a laser wired up to fry an intruder? We're paying for you to call us? We already know what's happening.

First time Cindy heard that, she said "Oh yeah. That's what I want. A phone call interrupting me while I'm busy shooting that bastard." I couldn't disagree with her, since I know damn well she would shoot, she would hit what she points at, and the local sheriff needs twenty minutes to respond. The guy would have stopped twitching long before the deputies got here. And conversely, as Cindy takes for granted, a phone call in either direction does nothing to help such a situation. The action is complete -- for good or bad -- long before anyone else can join.

Those people need to grow up and take care of their own life.

Gary

simsgw

Let me decide how to phrase this. I won't say 'crap' because that might be thought insensitive. Let's try this: Every driver should have to do these things. If you cannot, then take a bus. A stuck throttle is trivial compared to a blown front tire. Are you outraged that manufacturers don't include a fifth wheel for such occasions? Or a little man to live under the dash and climb out to take over in emergencies? Did they never read the owners manual? Tough. Cry me a river. What would you think of an airline who responded "the pilots today didn't have time to read the manual. Sorry about that little mountain. The altimeter lied to them." Am I supposed to be less responsible with my family than a corporate pilot? By what conceivable standard?

This nonsense has got lawmakers looking for a way to act "caring in this crisis", so they now propose a law requiring the throttle to be cut when we touch the brake pedal. Engineering by twit experiences. So in our future cars, we will have less ability to control the vehicle because a few hundred hysterics and frauds wanted their name in the paper and a chance at a check from Toyota.

Gimme a break.

Gary

simsgw

Clearly I need one.

Forgive my overkill tonight, and if I've been impolite to anyone, let me apologize. This one seems to push too many buttons at once.

Gary, going somewhere to quietly chew nails

KeninBlaine

Good idea. And who's Cindy?

This topic has generated far more dialog than I would have expected. It seems to make a lot of us kind of cranky.

simsgw

Sorry. Cindy is my wife. We met at that high school where we both took drivers training.

Gary

sandwedge

Impressive. It took what.....3 months for Toyota to come out in public and explain that you can simply nudge the gear lever into N and the car will stop accelerating and slow down no matter what you do and no matter what the gas pedal is doing. This might even be easy enough to understand for the retarded Prius owner who reached 94mph on I8 the other day because he though the car would "flip" if he touched the gear lever. Quietly.....one by one, PR guys are starting to agree on cable news interviews now: This is one of the worst, maybe THE worst PR fiasco in corporate history. Incredibly poorly handled.

larrytrk

For those who have not seen this, a simple way to handle the problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4Pt...ure=popt02us02

PS, get the kids out of the room :>)

Master Deep

That was epic.

texas911

That was awesome.

Da Hapa

fantastic video.

KeninBlaine

I loved it!! Well done.

Master Deep

Nice how he covered himself up so he doesn't get ticketed also. lol