APKhaos

Yep, Audi have had it since around 2003 or so. I was trying to teach an S4 driver how the LFB at the Glen. In frustration that he 'just didn't get it' I decided to drive a few laps to demo. Kinda red faced from the bus stop on when I realized what was happening!

Potomac-Greg

I was under the impression that any modern braking system can easily overwhelm an engine at full throttle. In fact I recall an article testing stopping distances with throttle off and throttle open; and the distances were not radically different (+10% - 15%?).

Bob Rouleau

Greg you are correct, but, there are "buts". The brakes have to be in good shape. Secondly the driver needs to have the presence of mind to press hard hard hard and not let up. Power brakes are usually vacuum operated and full throttle on the engine means minimum vacuum so if you diddle on the pedal you lose boost to make things more exciting. If you do not stomp and hold the brakes overheat and now you are in bigger trouble. Personally not being able to shift into neutral with the engine above idle strikes me as a stupid idea that should never have been implemented.

Best,

ervtx

Correct. This is true for all brake systems. Ever heard of a car that accelerates as quickly as it stops? The obvious solution to a stuck throttle (teaching people to brake hard), however, does not fit the government's agenda, and or soothe the automakers' fears of lawsuits.

It's also quite amusing to see all of the references to the electronics as the culprit... throttles have been getting stuck since they were invented, and applying the brakes has always been the most effective response. You just have to bring the car to a stop, and not ride the brakes until brake failure.

By the way, if the legislation does not expempt cars with manual transmissions, we can probably say good-bye to heel-toe downshifting, as it will go the way of left-foot braking.

Veloce Raptor

What a bunch of nanny state socialist focktards we have inside the beltway...









Professional Racing and Driving Coach

chrisp

My G37S has a brake override. First normally aspirated car I've had with the overide. My 2001 A4 1.8T had it. On the turbo cars it's super intrusive (dumps all boost). It's much less so on my G37.

JimmiLew

Agree with VR! +1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.................

The money would be better spent on driver training. We should make the bar higher to get a drivers license like in other countries. It should be an earned privlidge, not an entitlement.

Accidents would decrease, insurance premiums would decrease, and more people would live. That concept is way too complicated for our brainless Gubment to understand.

JL

sparks259

didn't mercedes benz give the brake-by-wire a shot a few years ago?
iirc, that didn't work out too well.

ew928

Better trained doesn't mean the average moron on the road won't still be reading the newspaper eating his/her mcmuffin putting on makeup/shaving texting tweeting answering emails on his/her phone while hogging the left lane at just over the speed limit and then dive into the far right-hand side exit 100 feet from said exit.

Got little mindset out there on the roads that the driver should pay some attention to driving.

Bryan Watts

That's all part of training...training includes teaching someone just what a responsibility driving really is. Stiffer penalties for people who choose to do something other than drive their car while driving their car would help solve the problem as well.

JimmiLew

Exactly! The average moron will now be slighly above average after a true educational program. This alone would make a huge difference!

ew928

Is the average Joe trainable?

I'm not sure they get the responsibility of piloting a couple thousand pound projectile.
It's like they just get in the car and not give a damn about what is around them.

Only got to drive in Europe once and they seem to take pride in not driving like an a$$hat.

fatbillybob

When you try and make things foolproof they just make a better fool!

The solution is screw the gov't and rip out the ECU's and put in motecs.

fatbillybob

Oh, how do you guys know there is a tranny lockout? That is just freaking dangerous. Electronics is never 100% reliable. The best last resort is always a manual switch. On my next car if it has that feature I'm wiring a manual kill switch just like my race car.

ew928

E-transmission has lockout (at least on the troublesome Toyotas) for Neutral when the engine isn't near idle.
Plus it's got those e-keys with 'Start' button so driver has to hold the 'Start' button down for 3 seconds before the engine shuts off.

E-gads.