Run away cars

[The Daring Dufas]

Well, the world does need poets and English professors. *snicker*

TDD

[Doug Miller]

No, but having the good sense to shift a runaway-accelerating auto into neutral -- as has happened to me twice -- *does* make me superior to those who lack that good sense.

FWIW, neither one of those was a Toyota. One was a Buick, the other a GMC truck.

[Harry K]

So, with all the coverage of the problem on the news you think that an owner of one of those cars _shouldn't_ have known about it _and_ the solution to how to stop? Turning off the engine does not take a genius, nor does shifting out of gear. Everyone out there who drives knows how to do both.

Harry K

[trader4]

Well, here we go again. I may have generalized when I implied all cars work that way. But apparently you and Doug are over generalizing too. I have two cars here, a MB and a Porsche and just tried it on both of them and they work exactly as I described. You can turn the ignition off, to the lock position, and the steering wheel will not actually lock until the key is removed. When I remove the key I here a clunk sound of the spring loaded lock mechanism and at that point, if you turn the wheel a few degrees either way it seats and the wheel no longer moves. I previously had a number of Pontiac Gran Prixs and I'm pretty sure they worked that way as well. I've never encountered one where the wheel locked without the key removed.

I'd be interested in what others find in their cars. One would think this would be a basic safety feature, as you would not want the steering wheel to lock easily in the emergency kind of situation we've been talking about.

[trader4]

Interesting, I heard the replay of the 911 call and I remember it differently. I heard the 911 operator ask if he tried shifting into netural and it sounded to me like he avoided the question and responded saying something about having trouble talking on his cell phone. I didn't hear him say no and his avoiding the question sounded suspicious to me. I only heard it once and could have gotten it wrong.

[JohnnyD]

This clearly indicates you are no where near as smart as you think.

So, you aren't very smart when buying vehicles, either. Okay.

[Jack]

I posted here because of the great number of posters, some of whom might have an opinion. I was right !!

Why people take the time to reply to a post to say that "they personally do not care to reply" is beyond me.

My cars are 2000 and 2003 GM products and the keys are on the steering wheel and when you turn the key off it locks the steering. Maybe if the key is in the dash it does not lock the steering just by turning it off.

The guy in CA said he was afraid to take his hands off the steering wheel (I think).

Sorry to have bothered the group, I will not be back.

[LSMFT]

How can somebody be too STUPID to shut the switch off.

[LSMFT]

He was paid by GM to smear Toyota.

[jamesgangnc]

This guy is just trying to cash in. Nothing wrong with his car.

[Bob F]

I have never owned a car that could not be turned off without locking the steering wheel, or that the power brakes would not stop you at least once after turning off the engine. Turning off the engine while moving merely removes the power and the power steering. So the car takes a little more force to steer. Even after exhausting the power brake vacuum reservoir, the brakes still work, just not as strongly.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Driving a car with manual shift has an advantage. In olden days we all had brakes w/o powe(vacuum) boost.

[Doug Miller]

Smarter than you, apparently, and obviously smarter than the knothead that drove 30 miles -- THIRTY MILES -- with the throttle wide open. Each time it happened to me, it took much less than a hundred yards to get the vehicle to a full stop.

Did you take an extra dose of dumbass this morning?

[Doug Miller]

Article in the paper this morning said the guy didn't shift into neutral because he was afraid it "might slip into reverse".

Either way, he's a total idiot. How frigging stupid do you have to be to drive for THIRTY F**KING MILES with a wide-open throttle, and not try shutting the ignition off or shifting into neutral? And how is it that after thirty miles of -- as he told the 911 operator -- "standing on the brakes" while the car still continues accelerating, once the cop pulls up next to him and tells him to stand on the brakes and apply the parking brake too, suddenly he's able to get the car stopped quickly?

[trader4]

Go take a look and tell us which it is. Either it only locks the steering wheel when you remove the key or else it locks it when you turn it to the lock position. All of the cars I've had that I can recall required the key to be removed to lock.

[jamesgangnc]

Nicholson- Hide quoted text -

It most likely will not lock unless the shifter is in park.

[Art Todesco]

Please turn off the orange HTML stuff, it's almost impossible to read.

Ok, I got up off my can and went 17 stairs to the garage where there are 2 GMs ... well, only one today, the other is presently out. But, I then had to hike back upstairs to get the keys. I always leave the keys in the ignition when the car is in the garage, but for some reason they came upstairs and got put on the table. Anyway, the 2002 Trailblazer column mounted key has 4 positions in this order.

1. Off and key removable
2. Accessory position .. key not removable
3. On
4. Spring return start I started the car 4 then 3 and then put it in drive. I then turned the key to 2 ... engine off, key not removable, but accessories on.

A lot can depend on whether you have a column mounted gear selector or console mounted. The Trailblazer has a console selector. BTW, the gear selector also locks under some conditions, but I didn't "test" that. It actually locks the little button that allows the selector to be moved.

Now, many of the newer cars have a pushbutton to start turn on and start the car. It detects the presence of you electronic key which doesn't have to be touching the car .... obviously, some electronics in this type of switch. Seeing the Toyota problems would make be scared to have one of these pushbutton things. It also makes me wonder how much of the gear selector is done electronically, even though we move that big lever.

Also, I just heard the noon news and the

911 tape from CA. The guy said, "My breaks are burnt and I'm trying to shut it off." The Asheville news person said that the car finally lost power (whatever that means) and the car rolled into the squad car.

[mkirsch1]

According to some replies I have seen, the car WILL NOT shift into neutral, even though you put the shift lever there. The computer is programmed to leave the car in gear to prevent damage to the engine!!!

Essentially, the cars are death traps straight out of a Stephen King novel.

Why is there no mass hysteria over this?

Why do we not hear ANYTHING about shifting into neutral on the news?

Who the hell at Toyota allowed a car with an infinite death loop in the programming to get out to the public?

The computer thinks you want to go fast, and you're flooring the gas pedal. To protect itself, it won't let you shift out of drive. You can't shut the engine off either because there's no "accessory" position on the ignition switch anymore; it's either ON or LOCK.

These are the kinds of oversights a high-school level computer programmer would make.

[Tony]

Oh, OK. Then I won't bother to tell you to post in plain text.. BLACK not orange! And you don't need to include that attached file, your sig file already shows up.

[mkirsch1]

UNBELEIVABLE!! This is a LIFE and DEATH situation we're talking about here.

Who gives a rat's ass about blowing up the engine or tearing out the transmission when the alternative is DYING or KILLING someone???!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

People who place more importance on the condition of their car over their lives and the lives of others, deserve what they get.

If they didn't stop their car because they were afraid of damaging it, kill someone, and live to tell about it, they deserve to go to jail like any other murderer.