Can it happen to us?

[NCZ13]

Wait. Why would you ever heel/toe a car with an automatic transmission?

if its mandatory on all vehicles, that would include manual transmissions
but sephiroth cleared it up...

Is unintended accelaration exclusivly limited to cars with auto transmissions?

has nothing to do with transmission. has to do with the drive by wire system. (electronic throttle)

if you guys keep up with whats going on, theres alot of reports coming out that alot these incidences are hoaxes. theres is a disproportionate amount of these cars having UA after the recall announcement was made.

The "runaway" prius that happened locally recently wasnt even apart of the recall, and its accelerator pedal wasnt even made by the same plant as the recalled ones.

 

[Snagjim]

Following the debate, time to join in.

On CBC Radio1's As It Happens tonight, there were a couple of interviews on the topic this evening. The following observation caught my attention:

When Audi added the (patented) brake shift-lock to their cars in the 80s, the rate of UA reports dropped immediately by 60%. It supports the theory that it was driver error all along.

Audi (but interestingly, not parent VW) was savaged by UA reports in the US market, but in the rest of the world the effect never seemed to appear. Could that be due to the relative popularity of manual transmissions everywhere else?

 

[Snagjim]

If you want to listen yourself, you can find the podcast at

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/podcast.html

 

[sephiroth]

has nothing to do with transmission. has to do with the drive by wire system. (electronic throttle)

if you guys keep up with whats going on, theres alot of reports coming out that alot these incidences are hoaxes. theres is a disproportionate amount of these cars having UA after the recall announcement was made.

The "runaway" prius that happened locally recently wasnt even apart of the recall, and its accelerator pedal wasnt even made by the same plant as the recalled ones.

I agree, the statistical chance of a failure of *multiple* systems in that car is nearly impossible. I love how they submit worn brake pads on a 3 year old car as testimony even though we don't know if they were on their last leg anyway, and also that several experts confirm that he *wasent* applying full force for an extended period.

 

[sephiroth]

Following the debate, time to join in.

On CBC Radio1's As It Happens tonight, there were a couple of interviews on the topic this evening. The following observation caught my attention:

When Audi added the (patented) brake shift-lock to their cars in the 80s, the rate of UA reports dropped immediately by 60%. It supports the theory that it was driver error all along.

Audi (but interestingly, not parent VW) was savaged by UA reports in the US market, but in the rest of the world the effect never seemed to appear. Could that be due to the relative poularity if manual transmissions everywhere else?

wrong. After multiple recalls including the brake-shift lock fix the 'problems' continued.

http://www.autosafety.org/audi-sudden-acceleration

the only thing that stopped it was a NHSTA report that basically said they couldn't find any reason why audi design was a fault, except driver error.

 

[mpvue]

this will just weed out the idiots from the gene pool.
as long as there isn't drive by wire braking, an intelligent person can stop the car. period. end of discussion.
ever torque the engine against the brake? bring up the revs against the brake? drage racers do this all the time w/ much more powerful engines than pedestrian camrys. years ago a guy might have a carb return spring brake on him; the brakes would still stop the car.
car&driver proved it. logic proves it. and you can go out and prove it to yourself as well.

 

[Snagjim]

wrong. After multiple recalls including the brake-shift lock fix the 'problems' continued.

http://www.autosafety.org/audi-sudden-acceleration

the only thing that stopped it was a NHSTA report that basically said they couldn't find any reason why audi design was a fault, except driver error.

Interesting link; thanks for clarifying.

A 60% reduction still suggests a strong correlation, thought not root cause.

Either way: driver error.

 

[skyhawk]

this will just weed out the idiots from the gene pool.
as long as there isn't drive by wire braking, an intelligent person can stop the car. period. end of discussion.
ever torque the engine against the brake? bring up the revs against the brake? drage racers do this all the time w/ much more powerful engines than pedestrian camrys. years ago a guy might have a carb return spring brake on him; the brakes would still stop the car.
car&driver proved it. logic proves it. and you can go out and prove it to yourself as well.

I heard that at WOT, amount of vaccum feeding the vacuum assisted power brakes will diminish. I have experienced losing vaccum assist in my old buick. Braking is 'relatively gone'. Fortunately it was not a case of UA. Just normal rush hour traffic in the 401. Took the brain few seconds to react.. I hit the hazard lights and slowed down to the emergency lane.. took a deep breath and drove slowly to the nearest exit.

It is one thing when you are prepared on what to do, and expecting a UA.. Just like when those people I see in youtube demonstrate their 'stopping skills'. shift to neutral, this, hit the brakes that, press ignition button 5 seconds.. big deal. Of course they can stop the car. They are expecting the UA.

But this UA thingy does not strike when the driver is prepared. It happens when you least expect it. And the brain will have to recalibrate its present knowledge of the surroundings how fast the other vehicles are going, how fast before I reached the next
exit. etc.. Surprise can numb the intelligence.. for a short time at least.


But no worries. Now that they will be adding in brake overrides, the UA cause will never be discovered. UA will be a 'normal' occurence, a glitch. A step in the brake pedal will slap an errant engine back to normal operation. Like the knock sensor,
it will be called UA sensor. And there will be CEL codes to monitor its circuitry.

 

[sephiroth]

Interesting link; thanks for clarifying.

A 60% reduction still suggests a strong correlation, thought not root cause.

Either way: driver error.

I agree(if it's true), however I would like to see some numerical data. I didn't listen to the broadcast but did they link sources to said 60% reduction claim?

 

[Snagjim]

I agree(if it's true), however I would like to see some numerical data. I didn't listen to the broadcast but did they link sources to said 60% reduction claim?

I'd have to go back and listen myself. I think I was busy looking at other people's wheels at the time...(screwy)