by Brocephus 44 Replies latest jw friends
Gerard said: "JWs are all for neutrality but have no idea where the neutral is in their car..."
Nor do they have any idea as to the REAL meaning of "neutrality"... Blood-thirsty slavering over the idea of approximately 6 billion people dying at Armageddon is NOT a truly "neutral" stance...
As to stopping a car with a racing accellerator - I'm awfully glad that I ALWAYS buy cars with manual transmissions and clutches...
Zid
just commuting to work isn't covered in a lot of driver's insurance
This is true if you lie about how far you drive to work (for example a supercommuter), which is a common practice in the commuter world to save $100 / year or so on insurance. I pay the extra, as they can refuse payout if you don't let them know how many miles you put on a vehicle per year.
I once had a GM dealer tell me in 2007 that the reason most US GM cars DIDN'T have ABS was because the public didn't want it! WTF!!!! Seriously? Ok the US GM had a problem with ABS systems failing due to bad design (tried to make their own rather than use bosch) but that is just dumb!
Actually, according to the NHTSA, although ABS decreased multivehicle and vehicle-pedestrian fatalities, single vehicle fatality percentage went up. I don't prefer ABS myself, but I have only ever had one vehicle where ABS just didn't work (rock-solid pedal, absolutely NO braking at all at 60mph thru a stop sign, fixed it by shutting down and restarting). This happened on a Mitsubishi, not a GM.
GM did offer ABS standard for a time, it was standard on both my 2004 chevys. However, I would prefer to not have ABS at all, as I know how to use breaks during a panic stop, so if I could save $1000 on a car by skipping this, I'd like that.
There are over 2 million toyotas sold each year in the us alone not including lexus. Even if 36 cars had been destroyed thats still only 0.0002% of the cars sold per year! Thats nothing in the cost of fix vs payout analysis, if the truth be known toyota are going way over the top because they don't want to be branded as the next pinto!
28 deaths in pintos from fire. 3,127,322 pintos sold from 1971-1980. 0.0000895% of all the pintos resulted in "fiery explosion death". Sounds to me like they already have the next pinto. Pinto may be safer than a Toyota with a defective accelerator stepper motor.
From this some half wit will jerk his knees upwards and bang them on the underside of his desk and put in some half cocked, half baked "safety" solution that will cost the auto industry millions and solve nothing! Cars in the states, will get bigger and heavier so they are more "safe".
The cars are already heavier and more expensive than the cars of the 1980s for just that reason, safety.
I knew the man that died, Monty Hardy, from when I was a JW in Texas. He was a nice man. I think he went to Grapevine or Bedford congregation ... can't remember which. So sad he died while in service to the 'borg'.
Sorry to hear one of the victims was a friend of yours Wild Thing. Please don't be offended by any of the sarcastic comments on here.
I just realized ABS would be worse in this situation, as if one wheel is turning faster than the others, the car assumes the slower wheels are skidding, so under full power ABS may indeed fail to stop a vehicle. Its one of those situations where the ABS is just plain dumber than the driver.
It is a terrible tragedy. One of the first lessons I give my kids while learning to drive is how to handle a stuck clutch pedal, stuck accelerator, loss of power breaks or power steering, and brake failure.
In the last snow storm I was out blasting drifts with my diesel 4x4, and the fan belt came off. In a diesel this shuts down the vacuum pump so I had no power brakes and no power steering. A wreck waiting to happen. I crept home a couple miles without overheating or wrecking on the icy mountain roads, but stopping a 6500lb vehicle with no power brakes or power steering aint much fun.
Also, older diesels had vacuum actuated fuel shut off. I had a mercedes where the vacuum line cracked going to the fuel shutoff, and the engine would not turn off with the key. There are so many combinations of possibilities, and add panic into that results in a real mess.
Anyone recall the first big news incident where a toyota drove off a cliff in CA killing a bunch of kids? If I recall it was blamed on the floor mat riding up and pinning the accelerator. I wonder now if it was actually caused by the sticking accelerator. I really do find it hard to believe this many people would panic during a stuck accelerator unless there is actually a larger control system failure resulting as described by previous posters that the trans sticks in gear, the ignition shutoff doesn't work, and the ABS of course would counteract panic stopping.
The more I ponder, the more I like my 1992 mazda with power NOTHING. :D
ABS or not, most fairly powerful cars would have a hard time stopping from high speed with the motor at full throttle. Full brakes would likely fade out before making a complete stop. The energy with momentum is a far different thing than holding the car back from full throttle at a full stop.
Witnesses of the accident with the cop in california say that the brakes and/or wheels-tires were actually on fire from application when it crashed.
Toyota likely has a lot of legal trouble into the future over this.
I think cars have become so 'hands free' easy to drive and have become extensions of our dens and offices that a lot people forget that they're still operating a piece of heavy machinery.
My wife talks on the phone and texts while driving, despite my continued bitching about it. She has paperwork in her hand. Her car is an extension of her office. Her coffee cup is bigger than a tall 40 and partially blocks the automatic gear shift lever. If she were in the situation where she had to knock it in neutral, she'd be slow, if not too late, having to drop the phone, knock the coffee out of the way and drop whatever else she's holding.
Too many people drive like this. I'm not saying I'm perfect or have the concentration of a NASCAR driver, but I do realize that I'm directing a hurtling piece of metal down the road, within inches of other vehicles and obstacles. I rarely use the phone, I never eat in the car, I try to keep both hands free of anything except the controls...close to the gear shift and wheel. Both my cars are stick shift so that's already a plus, in that I have to keep hands free to shift...it helps to keep me focused on the job at hand.
People in general have become bad drivers. Or at least unaware drivers. Take a bad or unaware driver and put him in a panic situation and he's going to screw up. People need to realize what they're doing and be prepared for any situation.
+1,000,000 Undercover.
Of course, this simple fact is probably not going to save Toyota from a lot of cost in settlements.
From an outside of the USA perspective, it seems dreadfully convenient to take Toyota to the guillotine right at the time when the US motor industry has just about died and needed all manner of bail-outs to just keep it afloat. Sounds a whole lot like taking out your competition to me. People die driving cars, happens in Toyota's and in Fords. Toyota have always been conscientious about recalls and preventative maintenence, it is why they are the reliable, long-lived vehicles they are.
Outback- I've heard this argument before. I agree that it is suspicious, especially in light that GM is now Gubment Motors. Interesting.
JWoods- Yes, brake fade would be an issue.
undercover- I commute 85 miles each way in NJ, and I see what you are describing all too often.
