OT: Is a stuck car accelerator capable of doing this?

[Dan Lanciani]

| Actually, it wasn't that simple. It turns out it was a loaner car, so the | driver was not familiar with it, and it didn't use an ignition "key". He | would have to press the start button and hold it for three seconds. It is | still a mystery as to why he didn't put the shift into neutral, or maybe he | couldn't for some reason.

Is there a mechanical linkage on those shifts? I had a Lexus with the start button as a loaner and one of the features of the shift was (I think) a pseudo-manual mode where you could shift up and down by tapping one way or the other. I don't think that part was mechanical so maybe the rest isn't either.

Also, I would not have known about the three second button hold (though I might have held it in desperation under the circumstances). When you stop normally (in park) you just tap the button to shut off the engine.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

[Bob]

Automatic transmissions are required to have a mechanical linkage for park / reverse / neutral / drive but not necessarily of the individual speeds. Does anyone else remember the push-button transmissions on Chryslers and Edsels in the 50s? In order to tow an Edsel with a dead battery it was necessary to uncouple the driveshaft because a solenoid was used to engage the park gear.

[Stormin Mormon]

You are exceptional, to be able to do that.

[clare]

Unlike the Chrysler that had a cable linkage for ALL pushbutton shift perations

[Red Green]

Tony wrote in news: [e-mail]:

55 bel air? Hmmmm....

Throttle/linkage sticks - that car is dangerous, a threat to your life and those around you. Where do I pick it up...[in the interest and safety of you and your loved ones]?

[Red Green]

Tony wrote in news:7hmvtnF2tbrcgU1 @mid.individual.net:

Rental ehhh? :-)

[JIMMIE]

I had a Chevy SS Impala that developed a stuck accelerator. Problem turned out to be a broken motor mount.

Jimmie

[EJ Willson]

I had a 1968 SAAB model 96 with the V-6 engine. The SAAB designed throttle linkage disconnected, and the remaining spring snapped the throttle wide open. The engine went to full song and would not stop/slow down. Fortunately I was on an empty expressway. At about 85 mph I regained my composure, turned off ignition and got it stopped. This linkage setup is most stupid design I have ever seen. The incident convinced me that SAAB's are designed in Sweden by exiled German morons.

EJ in NJ

[AZ Nomad]

Invariably they have confused the pedals. The idiot behind the wheel thinks he is pressing the brake while he is in reality stomping the accelerator. He pushes it harder to try to stop the vehicle.

Audi was infamous for unintended acceleration with dozens of reports of maniacal cars that couldn't be stopped. They put in an interlock to insure the driver had their foot on the brake before the car could be put in gear and all the reports vanished.

[Steve Barker]

those were very common. you'd hit the gas, the engine would rare up and put the linkage in a bind, and then it just stay that way. throttle open and engine rared up. They never did fix it. they put cable restraints on the motor mounts to limit the travel when they broke.

[Bob M.]

And on this computer, powered by Microsoft Vista, to turn it off I have to use the 'extremely intuitive method' of ... wait for it.... pushing the on/off button!

[in2dadark]

e quoted text -

But you didn't pull out your cell phone to call a clueless 911 operator who wouldn't be of help anyway.. I just don't get why a former cop would bother making a phone call at that point... Maybe you had the 'advantage' of being alone in the car. In his case 4 heads couldn't come up with a solution, so they called someone else who was equally clueless..

[Stormin Mormon]

Didn't Ford have similar problems? I'm remembering stories of their F-150 pickups that would slide out of park, and take off with no driver. They put the brake / shift interlock in there.

[Jim Yanik]

EJ Willson wrote in news:4ab6dd2d$0$5927$ [e-mail]:

yeah,why would engineers design it so the spring OPENS the throttle instead of snapping it closed in a cable failure? were they trying for a light pedal pressure?

[AZ Nomad]

There's a reason you don't hear about unintended acceleration any more and it is because of the mandated interlocks for idiots. I don't think it was a good idea. I'd been much happier if it was mandated that a tree be placed 80' away so they could remove themselves from the genepool. The ECU could keep a log of the fact that the brakes were not in use.

[EJ Willson]

When I saw this "feature" I decided that I'd never buy another SAAB. EJ in NJ

[AZ Nomad]

I could find no reference to that and plenty that the spring closes the throttle. Can you provide any citation to back up your claim that saab throttle springs open the throttle?

[SteveB]

I smell lawyers on this one. But then, you put people in a rental car with no instructions on how to turn if off in an emergency, and that common practices do not work on this car, and you are INVITING lawyers. I bet they get a bundle, and future models are different. But it could take ten years. Ford had trannies that would creep into gear. Killed many people. They identified the problem, fixed them, and then quit making that mechanism. It just took a few years, and then it took a very long time for the ones on the road to die out. Probably are still some out there. I left mine one day parked at a Wendy's. Came out to find it gone, across two lanes of traffic and in a ditch. I got lucky on that one.

Steve

[EJ Willson]

Do you have any info on the 1968 v6 showing that I am wrong??. I don't need a citation. I owned one and it happened to me. EJ in NJ

[EJ Willson]

Do YOU have throttle linkage diagrams for a car that you owned 40 years ago?

BTW this these same geniuses put a downward turning "snout" on the air cleaner that brought the combustion air in just below and behind the the front wheel suspension. If you went through a large puddle (say 6 inches deep) under power, you filled the carburetor with water. Another great piece of design work.

EJ in NJ