unintended acceleration

[buddy938]

What do you guys think?

an article sent to me, not sure if the SUV in the picture is a CX-9.

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/mu...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366

Also found this in NHTSA
Vehicle Make - Model - Model Year(s)
MAZDA CX-9 2012
Details
0 Associated Documents
Crash:Yes Fire:No Number of Injuries:0 Number of Deaths:0
Manufacturer: MAZDA MOTOR CORP
Vehicle Identification No. (VIN):
SUMMARY:
I HAD AN INCIDENT YESTERDAY RESULTING IN A MINOR COLLISION. MY ACCELERATOR STUCK, MY ENGINE KEPT REVVING, AND I COULD NOT STOP. I KEPT APPLYING THE BRAKES BUT IT FELT AS IF EVERYTHING LOCKED UP. I REARENDED THE PERSON IN FRONT OF ME NO DAMAGE TO THEIR CAR AND ONLY MINOR TO MINE. I AM NOW AFRAID TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE. MY HUSBAND CONTACTED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY ARE WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM MAZDA CORPORATE. *TR

 

[ceric]

How difficult can it be?
1) shift to N
2) brake
3) power off

 

[tex2670]

How difficult can it be?
1) shift to N
2) brake
3) power off

Their speed ordeal lasted 25 minutes before she took the decision to plough into two other vehicles to stop her car.

25 minutes?? She drove 40 miles and had the wherewithal to avoid other cars for that long, but couldn't think to slam the brakes??? C'mon.

 

[BBro420]

Can't slam the brakes.....a full throttled engine overpowers the brakes. And on some vehicles, the shifter is electronic and tied into the engine/transmission control modules not allowing you to shift into neutral when the accelerator is fully pressed. So, if the control modules think you have the gas peddle floored, it will not shift between neutral and drive thus protecting the engine and transmission. I don't know what the programming is on our CX-9s but I've read where this is what happened on some other makes (Toyota).

 

[BRIAN_MP5T]

SHUTS OFF KEY
or
PUSHES AND HOLDS RED BUTTON

 

[ceric]

Can't slam the brakes.....a full throttled engine overpowers the brakes. And on some vehicles, the shifter is electronic and tied into the engine/transmission control modules not allowing you to shift into neutral when the accelerator is fully pressed. So, if the control modules think you have the gas peddle floored, it will not shift between neutral and drive thus protecting the engine and transmission. I don't know what the programming is on our CX-9s but I've read where this is what happened on some other makes (Toyota).

Correct on "can't slam the brake".
The pads will melt in a few minutes.

I have a Prius. You can hit "Park" on highway speed. It will go into "N".
You hit Start/Stop button, it goes to "N". Tried that.

I also tried it on my BMW by accident. Shifted to N at highway speed, it reved to redline and bounced back down. Scary but it worked.
Haven't tried it on CX9, but it should be the same. My guess.

 

[BRIAN_MP5T]

So basically you confirmed that you would have to be dumb to be injured by a car with a run away throttle.

simply putting the car in N or shutting down the ignition will work.

 

[HOLOHOLO]

I think the word "panicked" would describe it better...

If it happens while you're sitting at a light behind someone, or facing a kid in the crosswalk, or in a parking garage with a cement wall in front of you, you won't have time to "thoughtfully" consider your options. You only have a split second and your lizard brain would be screaming at you: "BRAKE - BRAKE!!!" Not to mention if you are a novice driver, or an older driver, or my wife, etc

I was driving last week and my Camry suddenly went dead on the road at 35 mph. No warning, 4 Lanes of traffic, near a school with no power, no brakes, no lights -even flashers, with a huge semi filling my rearview mirror. I managed to float through an intersection, dodge some kids and coast into the parking lot of a nearby church.

Was I "smart" cuz I got through it unscathed? No - I was LUCKY.

So I'm not going to judge others re "unintended acceleration" mishaps. Unless they are lying.

 

[ceric]

I think the word "panicked" would describe it better...

If it happens while you're sitting at a light behind someone, or facing a kid in the crosswalk, or in a parking garage with a cement wall in front of you, you won't have time to "thoughtfully" consider your options. You only have a split second and your lizard brain would be screaming at you: "BRAKE - BRAKE!!!" Not to mention if you are a novice driver, or an older driver, or my wife, etc

I was driving last week and my Camry suddenly went dead on the road at 35 mph. No warning, 4 Lanes of traffic, near a school with no power, no brakes, no lights -even flashers, with a huge semi filling my rearview mirror. I managed to float through an intersection, dodge some kids and coast into the parking lot of a nearby church.

Was I "smart" cuz I got through it unscathed? No - I was LUCKY.

So I'm not going to judge others re "unintended acceleration" mishaps. Unless they are lying.

Let me guess. Timing belt?
Happened to me once in an Accord. I also survived.

 

[HOLOHOLO]

That can be a scary one, Ceric. Any serious engine damage?

Mine was a failed cell/shorted battery. Everything shut down, no warning. Seems they call them "diehards" for a good reason!

 

[dsc888]

The same thing happened to me years back with my 1997 Camry V6. I was cruising and then the engine went dead and the lights on the IP all lit up. I stopped. placed it in Park and then restarted it. It never happened again. Absolutely weird.

That can be a scary one, Ceric. Any serious engine damage?

Mine was a failed cell/shorted battery. Everything shut down, no warning. Seems they call them "diehards" for a good reason!

 

[HOLOHOLO]

The same thing happened to me years back with my 1997 Camry V6. I was cruising and then the engine went dead and the lights on the IP all lit up. I stopped. placed it in Park and then restarted it. It never happened again. Absolutely weird.

Wow, (LOL) was it white too, just like mine??!

 

[ceric]

In a Honda with high compression ratio engine, you don't want to restart the engine again when TB is broken.
You will bend all the valves.
If you still have power steering and brake, it is not thE TB.

 

[dsc888]

No, it was Classic Green. But I did a Diehard battery from NTB in there so I don't know if that was the culprit. It could have been a loose battery terminal connection.

Wow, (LOL) was it white too, just like mine??!

 

[Jaleik]

This seems to be happening more frequently, ive see a story recently about it where in france the police escorted a car on the highway going 180km/h or something like that until they ran out of gas.

Seriously I just dont get it. Granted in my car I would just :

A) Stop pressing the gas since it dosent get stuck on its own.
B) Brake.
C) Put it in neutral or downshift.
D) Turn off the car.

The moral of the story here is : get a manual car with a key instead of a button. PROBLEM SOLVED.

 

[tex2670]

Can't slam the brakes.....a full throttled engine overpowers the brakes. And on some vehicles, the shifter is electronic and tied into the engine/transmission control modules not allowing you to shift into neutral when the accelerator is fully pressed. So, if the control modules think you have the gas peddle floored, it will not shift between neutral and drive thus protecting the engine and transmission. I don't know what the programming is on our CX-9s but I've read where this is what happened on some other makes (Toyota).

Granted it was 30 years ago, but all my friends who did burn outs negate this theory--stand on the brake, go full throttle and slowly let off the brake. The car does not take off, as the brakes override the gas.

 

[BRIAN_MP5T]

Get a manual car and push in the clutch... "No Problem"

 

[ceric]

Not every vehicle has brake overriding gas pedal.
Some do, others don't. Not on Toyota/Lexus before the UIA happened.

 

[tex2670]

No every vehicle has brake overriding gas pedal.
Some do, others don't. Not on Toyota/Lexus before the UIA happened.

that was an electronic fix. my high school friend's '64 Galaxie 500 didn't have the fix either, but when he put the left foot on the brake and floored the gas at the same time, the car didn't go anywhere.

 

[tex2670]

Hit the Brakes

Certainly the most natural reaction to a stuck-throttle emergency is to stomp on the brake pedal, possibly with both feet. And despite dramatic horsepower increases since C/D’s 1987 unintended-acceleration test of an Audi 5000, brakes by and large can still overpower and rein in an engine roaring under full throttle. With the Camry’s throttle pinned while going 70 mph, the brakes easily overcame all 268 horsepower straining against them and stopped the car in 190 feet—that’s a foot shorter than the performance of a Ford Taurus without any gas-pedal problems and just 16 feet longer than with the Camry’s throttle closed. From 100 mph, the stopping-distance differential was 88 feet—noticeable to be sure, but the car still slowed enthusiastically enough to impart a feeling of confidence. We also tried one go-for-broke run at 120 mph, and, even then, the car quickly decelerated to about 10 mph before the brakes got excessively hot and the car refused to decelerate any further. So even in the most extreme case, it should be possible to get a car’s speed down to a point where a resulting accident should be a low-speed and relatively minor event.

But Toyota could do better. Since the advent of electronic throttle control, many automakers have added software to program the throttle to close—and therefore cut power—when the brakes are applied. Cars from BMW, Chrysler, Nissan/Infiniti, Porsche, and Volkswagen/Audi have this feature, and that’s precisely why the G37 aced this test. Even with the throttle floored and the vehicle accelerating briskly, stabbing the brakes causes the engine’s power to fade almost immediately, and as a result, the Infiniti stops in a hurry. From speeds of 70 or even 100 mph, the difference in braking results between having a pinned throttle or not was fewer than 10 feet, which isn’t discernible to the average driver. As a result of the unintended-acceleration investigation, Toyota is adding this feature posthaste.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-deal-with-unintended-acceleration