This story was in the news in the past couple of days, about a woman whose car accelerated uncontrollably when the gas pedal got “stuck”: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8788204
The stories say that she was able to stop the car after the 911 operator told her to lift up on the gas pedal and press down on the brake. But none of the stories I’ve seen even hints about how or why the gas pedal was stuck.
I know some past incidents have been blamed on floor mats but I think some have been genuine mechanical problems. Anyone heard the cause of this one?
I’d hate to think this poor woman almost died because the floor mat was on her gas pedal and she never thought to reach down and fix it.
The past incidents were on Toyotas. Some were floormat related and there was a recall for sticky pedals. Info on the Toyota’s Pedal Recall. This was a Kia Sorento, so different manufacturer. Kia is looking into the incident. http://stjoechannel.com/fulltext?nxd_id=293962
I’m curious as to why she wasn’t instructed to
1 - shift the car into neutral (yeah let the engine scream but at least you can stop the car and live)
or
2 - turn off the ignition
Ideally, one should do both. Engine will indeed scream, but any car manufactured in the last 20 years or so will have electronically controlled ignition, and the ECU will keep the engine from revving past the redline by intermittently killing the spark and/or fuel injection. It sounds horrible when this happens, and wouldn’t be good to do to your engine for hours on end, but everything will be absolutely fine for the three seconds between shifting into neutral and turning the ignition off.
The 911 operator told her to shift into neutral but she said she couldn’t get it out of drive. I don’t know if she suggested shutting off the ignition. I saw the story while I was on the treadmill at the gym; the sound was off but the closed captioning was on, so I may have missed part of the instructions.
My husband has an Audi with manual transmission. He added on the “winter floor mats” when he bought the car, these mats are hard rubber and thicker than the regular mats. I rarely drive his car, but I did one day in the winter and adjusted the seat for my height. I stopped at a red light and pulled out to find the gas pedal stuck under the floor mat. Thankfully I figured out what was happening and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. I shifted to neutral and pulled the mat out with my foot and the pedal unstuck. It scared the shit out of me and my husband, but everything happened so quickly that I didn’t panic I just reacted. We readjusted the floor mats and went on our way, it hasn’t happened again but I make sure to pull the floor mats into their proper place when I move the seat on the car.
She was asked to do 1). They wouldn’t ask her to do 2) because pretty obviously from both the video and the fact that she ended up in this situation in the first place she’s hardy the brightest bulb in the chandelier and she’d quite probably turn the ignition off all the way to activate the steering lock. Although I understand that in some cars now that won’t happen precisely because of idiots who’ve managed to lock their steering when driving.
She was at least lucky enough to be in such a crappy car it could only do 115, and to be on an open highway with little traffic. This could very easily have been a darwinian incident.
I remember years ago driving a Ford something-or-other, late 60’s or early 70’s vintage. The accelerator started sticking. One time it stuck, kicking made it stick in higher revs, so I turned off the key. On inspection - the accelerator cable ahd worn through the sheath where it curved. If you pushed it too fast, it would pop out and then the sheath would grab and hold it.
What bothers me about a lot of newer cars is the total lack of a “kill” switch. The start/stop button is just a button that the computer is supposed to read and decide “Oh, I’m supposd to turn off the car”. If the computer program malfunctions or freezes, it could ignore that button, but still run the engine. A least the old key actually broke an electrical circuit needed for engine operation. I’m surprised the government approves something the size of a car without a guaranteed physical manual kill switch.
I have seen the result of industrial equipment that ignored the “stop turning” button, due to a runaway process. (They neglected to update firmware - runaway process) the guy kept pushing the stop button, the ladle kept pouring, hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage and cleanup. Management and Worker Safety both insisted on a manual override after that.
Do not turn off your engine while the car is moving. Power steering depends on the engine.
Do brakes require the engine to be on? When I step on the footbrakes with the engine off, they’re really hard to move.
As a pilot, I was trained in emergency procedures. I have to shake my head when I read stories like this, because emergency procedures are not taught when being trained how to drive a car. From distant memory, I can recall being instructed – verbally, not practically – what to do in a skid. I’ve used the knowledge. And I was taught, in those days before ABS, not to slam on the brakes. But that was about the extent of it. I don’t recall ever being told what to do in case of a stuck throttle. I think back in the late-'70s it was assumed that people would know to shift into neutral and/or turn off the ignition. From time to time in the Prius, I’ll mash the accelerator pedal and shift to neutral just to make sure it works. (I don’t turn off the ignition while moving, as I’m not sure if it locks the steering.)
ETA:
I’ve had the power steering fail while I was driving. It does not prevent steering. It just takes more effort. The brakes will work without the engine running, but power brakes will require more effort.
.
It could be argued that some people don’t know how to shift into Neutral, they’ve never done it plus car shifters seem to be getting more complicated. Are any of them not physically connected to the transmission; moving the shift lever just sends the command to the computer?
There supposedly isn’t any normal car sold whose engine is stronger than it’s brakes, all the way up at least to the 500+ horsepower Mustangs. But I learned from a Consumer Reports video made back during the runaway Toyota days that if your engine is running full throttle you need to press the brake hard one time and leave it there; you won’t get more brake boost if the engine is at full throttle.
Power steering helps a lot at slow vehicle speeds. At highway speeds the benefit is negligible.
After the engine is shut off, there should be power brake assist for one application of the pedal.
There are many false reports of stuck accelerators. It’s often an excuse for collisions to due to inattention, happens with remarkable frequency when someone starts out in reverse instead of forward. One documented case had the same woman claiming stuck accelerators in at least two different cars, and in each case the brakes, ignition key, and shift lever all failed simultaneously with the accelerator sticking, yet there were no signs of mechanical failure afterwards. Also, following highly publicized cases of a stuck accelerators, many people suddenly remember that it happened to them in the same type of car, yet they never bothered to report it to anyone or have the car looked at by a mechanic. Also remarkable, the same type of car doesn’t have to be the same model, just the same manufacturer, or something altogether different but similar looking. Those stuck accelerators are devious little buggers.
Why can’t I find what make/model of car she was driving in any of the articles? I guess when you have “CAUGHT ON TAPE” there is no need for details 
I have a recall notice right here from my 2004 Ford Escape that says “On your vehicle, there may be inadequate clearance between the engine cover and the speed control cable, which could allow the engine to be stuck at full power when the accelerator pedal is fully or almost-fully depressed. A throttle that is stuck fully or almost fully open may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop or slow the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death. This threat exists whether or not speed control is used.”
I’ve got to make an appointment soon :-o
What doesn’t make sense is that she “couldn’t shift it into neutral.” Are there any cars that can’t be shifted into neutral while moving?
On all the Automatic transmissioned vehicles I’ve been in, if the transmission isn’t in park, the key won’t turn all the way off, so the steering wheel won’t lock.
:eek: The key fob turns on the car automatically? That seems pretty dangerous.
None that I’ve come accross turn the car on automatically, although they may, indeed usually (un)lock it automatically. They just allow the start button, when pressed, to work.
Yeah, Toyota Camry (hybrid, 2009) for example, the key just has to be in the car, in the driver or passenger’s pocket. So you can’t really “trnr off” the car by pulling out the key. I suppose you could toss it out the window - I haven’t tried that. Supposedly pushing that button turns off the engine. See my comment above.
OTOH, BMW from several years ago - key goes in a slot under the “Start” button. I haven’t tried pulling it out in gear, but pushing the start button locks it in place; I haven’t tried either to see if I could yank it out without breaking it. To remove, you must first stop the engine (assuming the vehicle cooperates) with pushing the Start button.
Basically what we are seeing is rare erratic complaints of runaway vehicles that have no direct physical means of killing the engine. But then, that started in the early 80’s with the Audi’s, didn’t it?
QFT. The power steering on my PT Cruiser died a few years back, as I was driving home from a friend’s house (about 25 miles away from mine). At highway speeds (or even 35-45 mph), you’re never making turns which are tight enough that the lack of power steering is a huge issue. When turning corners, OTOH, I felt like I was wrestling a bear; getting the car into the garage (it was 10pm when the power steering died, and I wasn’t able to take it into a repair ship until the next morning) was an interesting experience.
OTOH, I’m a reasonably fit guy…I’m not convinced that my wife, for example, has the upper-body strength to manhandle the steering in that sort of situation.