# Are slow accelerating cars dangerous? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793 "2019-03-08T23:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/21 "2019-03-11T15:15:21Z")
Slow accelerating cars are dangerous because they make people stabby and shooty. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/22 "2019-03-11T15:16:04Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > In fact when it comes to safety, you might even be better off going well into that red zone You should know how your car reacts though. Some cars, I believe, have a governor that kicks in when the RPMs get that high. It’s an odd sensation when the motor sounds like it’s rapidly kicking on and off. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/23 "2019-03-11T15:33:42Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > What’s dangerous is trying to pass another vehicle on a 2-lane road on a car with poor acceleration. This. The improper driving of a slowly accelerating car makes it unsafe. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/24 "2019-03-11T15:47:30Z")
I’d expect that, in an emergency situation, redlining the tachometer would in fact be the right thing to do. There comes a point where too much engine speed is less safe even than getting out of an emergency, but a well-engineered engine really ought to have a governor to make it impossible to reach that engine speed. And there’s at least one spot around here where there’s a super-short entrance/exit ramp from a high-speed highway ([the North Coast entrance on the westbound Shoreway](https://goo.gl/maps/Dip3GJLTmMm)), and every driver who knows what they’re doing will, when passing that ramp on the Shoreway, make sure that they’re in the left lane to give cars a chance to merge in. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/25 "2019-03-11T16:22:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Slow accelerating cars are dangerous because they make people stabby and shooty. If I had a car that did 0-60 in the 18 second range, I’d be suicidal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/26 "2019-03-11T17:05:10Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Some cars, I believe, have a governor that kicks in when the RPMs get that high. I’m not aware of any car made after the advent of electronic engine controls that _doesn’t_ have a rev limiter. > **[Rev limiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev_limiter)** > > A rev limiter is a device fitted in modern vehicles that have internal combustion engines. They are intended to protect an engine by restricting its maximum rotational speed, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM). > Rev limiters are pre-set by the engine manufacturer. There are also aftermarket units where a separate controller is installed using a custom RPM setting. A limiter prevents a vehicle's engine from being pushed beyond the manufacturer's limit, known as the redline (literally the red ... Additionally, since the advent of electronic transmission controls, automatic transmissions won’t downshift if the computer knows that doing so will force the engine to over-rev. Basically it’s really hard to hurt the engine in an automatic-transmission car. Pretty much the only way to over-rev an engine these days is to attach a manual transmission to it and then downshift with the engine already at or near the redline. This sometimes happens when racing, usually when trying to shift from second to third, and instead accidentally shifting from second to first. This is typically called the [money shift,](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=money+shift) for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/27 "2019-03-11T21:55:04Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Any car made in the last couple of decades has computer-controlled ignition, and it will not let you run the engine above the redline; […] So I’ve learned, reading about redlining online since this thread got me interested. It sounds like some recent cars will actually let you go a little above the redline, and some won’t. Also, I thought that the first significant issue had to do with piston rings and the paths they wear into cylinder walls. Supposedly as the engine wears there appears a bit of ridge or step in the cylinder wall, at the point that the rings stop at the top of their stroke. Where exactly this lands depends on how fast your engine gets to run. If you have a pretty well worn in engine that never goes above some moderately fast speed, and you suddenly push it well above that speed (but still below redline), the rings will travel a bit further than they ever have before due to the increased flexing and stretching of some of the parts under increased force. This has them slamming into that ridge. Or so I thought having learned. But nowhere did I read anything about this issue. Did I dream it? ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/28 "2019-03-12T03:15:10Z")
> [@JakeRS](#): > > my car took its sweet time to accelerate and I narrowly missed the oncoming traffic when I finally passed the truck. If I had a car that accelerates from 0 to 100kmh/60mph in around 13 seconds, would that make a huge difference or little? As others have said, it’s your responsibility to determine if you have enough room to safely pass, whether you’re in a VW bug or a Ferrari. I’ll add, though, that it’s more complicated than just comparing 0-60 times (since that’s not at all what you’re doing in this situation) - some car reviewers (Car & Driver magazine, for example) will include acceleration times from speeds like 50-70 mph in their tests to more accurately gauge this sort of real-life passing/merging power. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793/29 "2019-03-12T04:23:25Z")
I just bought a car that does 0-60 in 12 parsecs. Seriously, this thing ('01 Insight) has one trick: gas mileage. At the expense of everything else: comfort, road noise, acceleration… and safety. I’ve been caught a couple of times where having some acceleration would’ve gotten me out of a tight scrape, mostly situations where someone runs a light or merges into my lane and I need to get out of their way fast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-slow-accelerating-cars-dangerous/830793.md?page=1)