Insane (but tragic) floor mats/car safety story -

by JWoods 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  JWoods

  Devil's advocate for a moment, Undercover. Technically, yes - cool brakes at a standstill can overcome the engine to hold you still (at least the front wheels - the backs have to spin or else no burnout...)

  Over-heated brakes trying to pull down a heavy car under full power at 100+? Not an easy thing...remember that Top Gear episode where they drag raced a Mercedes 600 Pullman against a Rolls Royce Corniche? The Mercedes won, but ran right off the end of the airstrip with the brakes on fire after the car made about 110 mph. And the engine was of course not pulling.

  We are running about 70/30 on this on my car club pages - most people being haunted by their first try at hauling down even a high end sports car from 130 or so.

  And there is of course the eyewitness account that fire was coming from the brakes.

  Having said - nothing can convince me that this was not a case of driver error.
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  undercover

  Yea, brakes working or no, there's no reason that a driver in control of his faculties couldn't have figured out a way to gain control of the car before it got to such speeds, granted of course that he didn't want to go that fast to begin with...

  A small part of me does wonder about some of these modern cars and the more 'drive by wire' they become. Everything is computerized. What if the system malfunctions and if, by some weird set of circumstances, though remote a possibility it may be, all the systems for shutting down and braking and shifting gears just locks up (sorta like your PC locking up) and won't work?
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  JWoods

  10/4 Undercover. I was actually put off by this from buying a newer Mercedes Benz - they do not even have a mechanical connection to the brake master cylinder from the pedal!!! Yup - totally by electrical servo "to better control your braking for you". Gives me the creeps. Many cars, of course, have an override or totally electrical throttle to avoid wheel spin. Like you say, what happens when this breaks (not if, WHEN)?

  Of course, I am old-fashioned that way. Only just this past spring have I brought home a car with an automatic transmission for the first time in over 30 years. Under pressure, of course, from the ladyship...
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  daniel-p

  Yea, brakes working or no, there's no reason that a driver in control of his faculties couldn't have figured out a way to gain control of the car before it got to such speeds, granted of course that he didn't want to go that fast to begin with...

  That's the whole crux of the matter. The driver was probably going 70 or 80 before he realized his brakes weren't working, and didn't have time or the control over his vehicle to reduce his speed at that point.
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  undercover

  The driver was probably going 70 or 80 before he realized his brakes weren't working, and didn't have time or the control over his vehicle to reduce his speed at that point.

  70 or 80 to 120 still takes a while. A Lexus may have plenty of gitupandgo but it ain't no drag car. If you're doing 80 and you let off the gas and it continues to accelerate, time to knock it neutral, brake, get it whoa'd way down and then hit the kill switch.

  I think, my opinion, the guy was joy riding. He took the car to high speeds...higher than 80 before realizing there was a problem. Maybe the floor mat did stick the pedal down. Maybe there was another failure, but the main failure was between the ears of the guy operating the vehicle.
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  brinjen

  I was actually put off by this from buying a newer Mercedes Benz - they do not even have a mechanical connection to the brake master cylinder from the pedal!!! Yup - totally by electrical servo "to better control your braking for you". Gives me the creeps. Many cars, of course, have an override or totally electrical throttle to avoid wheel spin. Like you say, what happens when this breaks (not if, WHEN)?

  No mechanical connection? I've had the power booster fail on me in a Commodore VH V8 once... had to pretty much stand on the pedal to stop the thing but I did manage to stop it... no collision, no one hurt. No way I could trust a car like that.

  As I was reading the article... I couldn't help but think, aren't police supposed to be trained for high speed pursuits? You'd think a cop would know to put the car in neutral and hit the kill switch... I'm hardly a 'highly trained' driver but even I know that. Would think most would (or at least should)...
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  undercover

  I was actually put off by this from buying a newer Mercedes Benz - they do not even have a mechanical connection to the brake master cylinder from the pedal!!! Yup - totally by electrical servo "to better control your braking for you". Gives me the creeps. Many cars, of course, have an override or totally electrical throttle to avoid wheel spin. Like you say, what happens when this breaks (not if, WHEN)?

  No mechanical connection? I've had the power booster fail on me in a Commodore VH V8 once... had to pretty much stand on the pedal to stop the thing but I did manage to stop it... no collision, no one hurt. No way I could trust a car like that.

  I had a 67 Chevy truck, drum brakes all around, no power booster. One of the rear brake cylinders had been leaking. It took a pump to get full brake pressure. A wreck happened right in front of me on an Interstate one day. I slammed the brakes as cars are sliding all around in front of me. The wheel cylinder blows...pedal to the floor...nothing. By sheer luck, wrecking and sliding cars part like the Red Sea as I blow through unable to stop. I just let off the gas and let the truck slow down until it quit rolling and I left it on the side of the road and walked to a phone.

  That was a scary ride that day.
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  brinjen

  Undercover... the other car was turning right into traffic... the other driver didn't look for oncoming traffic first (I had right of way). I think what saved me that day from a collision was that I wasn't speeding for one, there was no traffic behind me also. The other was (and this was a major source of contention with my then backseat driver boyfriend) when I was learning, my driver instructor heavily instilled into me to always cover your brake when you see a potential situation for an accident. Just that split second of changing pedals... I was already prepared... just a matter of stopping.

  I did my first burnout in that same car too... it was near the top of the hill. The other driver had right of way this time (I was the one turning right) but it was very difficult to see any oncoming traffic until pretty much the last second. I remember looking up and seeing the other driver waving his arms around panicking... I hit the gas pedal and got the hell out of there... bit of gravel on the road to boot... car had excellent pick up was always the first one off at traffic lights in that car. It was a small one but pretty impressive, back seat driver boyfriend was even impressed.
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  Dagney

  "70 or 80 to 120 still takes a while. A Lexus may have plenty of gitupandgo but it ain't no drag car. If you're doing 80 and you let off the gas and it continues to accelerate, time to knock it neutral, brake, get it whoa'd way down and then hit the kill switch."

  I have one of these. Where is the kill switch?
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  brinjen

  Kill switches are usually below the dash board... had a couple of cars with one installed. Cuts off the engine... also makes it impossible to start the car with the switch on... handy little extra security feature.