Back to the Unintended Acceleration...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...eleration.html

August 22, 2005
The victims of sudden acceleration all tell a similar tale. "I got into
my car and turned on the ignition. I put the car in reverse. The car
rocketed backward into a telephone pole."

While the people who survived sudden acceleration have reported pretty
much the same story since the late 1980s, no one in Washington seems to
be paying much attention.

More than 20,000 consumers have complained to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of sudden acceleration since the
1980s when vehicles began using an increasing number of electronic-based
controls.

Terri Moore from Seattle is one of the most recent. ?I am yet another
victim of sudden acceleration,? she writes. ?My Saturn Vue was parked in
a parking lot. I entered the car, turned on the ignition and put the car
in reverse. The car rocketed backward and hit a pole.?

After Terri?s Saturn slammed into the telephone poll behind her, she
said that she ?put the car in drive to inch away from the pole I was
wrapped around and the car rocketed forward, out of control.?

?This is insane,? Terri concluded.

The Federal agency charged with investigating the problem is NHTSA.

NHTSA has concluded in many previous cases that most incidents of sudden
acceleration are caused not by vehicle defects but by drivers' errors.
Drivers mistakenly stomp on gas pedals instead of the brakes.

Terri Moore is unimpressed with NHTSA?s sudden acceleration track record.

?The research I have done indicates the NHTSA cannot recreate the
problem,? she wrote. ?So NHTSA has concluded there is no problem. In the
meanwhile, people are getting injured and killed.?

Several years ago, NHTSA launched a preliminary investigation of sudden
acceleration involving Toyota automobiles after receiving reports of 30
accidents, including one in which a pedestrian was injured.

Last year, the agency reported that it was unable to find a cause for
the problem. NHTSA said it analyzed many of the cars involved in the
mishaps and found nothing abnormal with the throttle controls. Once
again NHTSA pointed to the driver. The agency said sudden surges are
sometimes caused by drivers who are unfamiliar with their new vehicles.

That sort of brush off has Terri Moore seeing red. ?I am not too young
to know better or too old to confuse the gas from the brake,? she said.
Terri continues to look for a lawyer in Seattle who understands sudden
acceleration. No one else seems to be paying a lot of attention.

?I have a 100,000-mile warranty on my car. So I am stuck with a car with
9,500 miles on it. I owe $20,000 on the contract and I am afraid to get
in it and drive for fear of killing someone or myself.?

Ross of West Hollywood has a similar problem with his 2001 Ford
Expedition, and has gotten a similar shrug from the dealer.

"The car, When stopped at an intersection or stoplight, will without
warning, feed a unprecedented amount of gas to the engine ... The car
jumps forward like a bull waiting to get out of the gates. I have my
foot on the brake when this happens so I know I am not stepping on the
gas. Even with my foot on the brake, the power of the engine dominates
the brakes and the car jumps forward anywhere from 1 to 10 feet," Ross said.

"The fourth time it happened was severe and the car almost hit a much
smaller car in front of me. If I hit them, they could have hit the
pedestrians in front of them. I had a passenger and after this occured
he insisted on getting out of the car and would not ride with me again
in that car," he said.

Ross said the dealer could find nothing wrong. "They do not seemed
concerned that they are forcing a dangerous car back on the road. They
only seemed concerned with their payment and giving me back the car."

Of interesting note.... most of the complaints, I dare say, regarding
unintended acceleration involve cars that have mechanically controlled
throttle butterflies. Of these, those equipped with an electronic control
for idle speed modulation cannot muster any greater rpm with the throttle
balde(s) closed than an older automatic choke equipped vehicle.

The largest concern, in these cases, is that so-called "responsible adults"
find it so easy to abdicate any responsibility for their own actions.
Whether we are driving a car or operating some other sort of machinery, we
should always be prepared for something unexpected to happen. The number of
unsafe operators far outweighs the number of unsafe machines.

GatorMan wrote:
> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...eleration.html
>
> August 22, 2005

One of the most important parts:

"Last year, the agency reported that it was unable to find a
cause for the problem. NHTSA said it analyzed many of the
cars involved in the mishaps and found nothing abnormal with
the throttle controls. Once again NHTSA pointed to the
driver. The agency said sudden surges are sometimes caused
by drivers who are unfamiliar with their new vehicles. "



--
“I intended that "not stupid" be a requirement.” – Seth
Breidbart

Jim Warman wrote:
> Of interesting note.... most of the complaints, I dare say, regarding
> unintended acceleration involve cars that have mechanically controlled
> throttle butterflies. Of these, those equipped with an electronic control
> for idle speed modulation cannot muster any greater rpm with the throttle
> balde(s) closed than an older automatic choke equipped vehicle.
>
> The largest concern, in these cases, is that so-called "responsible adults"
> find it so easy to abdicate any responsibility for their own actions.
> Whether we are driving a car or operating some other sort of machinery, we
> should always be prepared for something unexpected to happen. The number of
> unsafe operators far outweighs the number of unsafe machines.
>
>


Let's reiterate:

"The number of
unsafe operators far outweighs the number of unsafe machines. "

I have said for many years that we could probably go back
to a 14yo age limit on driving IF we adopted the rules of
preparation similar to those in Germany and other European
countries.

--
“I intended that "not stupid" be a requirement.” – Seth
Breidbart

"WindsorFox" > wrote in message
...
> GatorMan wrote:
> > http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...eleration.html
> >
> > August 22, 2005
>
> One of the most important parts:
>
> "Last year, the agency reported that it was unable to find a
> cause for the problem. NHTSA said it analyzed many of the
> cars involved in the mishaps and found nothing abnormal with
> the throttle controls. Once again NHTSA pointed to the
> driver. The agency said sudden surges are sometimes caused
> by drivers who are unfamiliar with their new vehicles. "
>
>

Older cars would do this if the driver's side engine mount broke. The engine
would lift and pull the throttle. Especially if you were backing up and
moved the shifter to Drive. Used to own a towing company and seen this many
times on late 50's cars. Sometime in the 60's they made the mounts so even
if the rubber broke the engine would stay in place.

Al

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 01:36:05 GMT, "Jim Warman"
> wrote:

>Of interesting note.... most of the complaints, I dare say, regarding
>unintended acceleration involve cars that have mechanically controlled
>throttle butterflies. Of these, those equipped with an electronic control
>for idle speed modulation cannot muster any greater rpm with the throttle
>balde(s) closed than an older automatic choke equipped vehicle.
>
>The largest concern, in these cases, is that so-called "responsible adults"
>find it so easy to abdicate any responsibility for their own actions.
>Whether we are driving a car or operating some other sort of machinery, we
>should always be prepared for something unexpected to happen. The number of
>unsafe operators far outweighs the number of unsafe machines.
>

My 99 GT will, when first started cold, sometimes blip the throttle by
itself right after I put it in gear, which is usually reverse, to back
out of the garage. But it only goes to maybe 1100 rpm and it's hardly
uncontrollable. But I wonder if this kind of cold start behavior
might startle some folks into mashing the throttle when they get
surprised by it.

It would be interesting to see just how much "throttle" the IAC can
give the engine if it's driven "full stroke" so to speak.