I've heard of a few cars lately with jammed cruise control or accelerator cables etc, 1 was fatal, the other 2 were more recent and one was stopped with the handbrake, the other ones accelerator became unstuck again. In all cases the police tried to make a clear path in the road for them... My question is; Why not just turn the key off? Am I missing something?
i'd rather have a car slowing down, with no power steering, than a car rapidly accelerating to 200kph. my thought is always to turn the key off too... i even tried it out on a couple of cars to see if it would be an option, which it was.
Yes, flick the key to off but NOT all the way into lock or you'd have an even bigger problem on your hands (steering lock) :-o
Most power steering starts to disengage at about 30KPH anyway as otherwise you'd flick your wrist at 100 and the car would go sideways.
Of course if you were driving a manual, you could always chop down the gears progressively until it almost stopped at which time it would be more than safe to plant it into a bank or similar. With an auto, turn off the "overdrive" first then down the gears from D into 2 and then into 1 at about 30KPH at which point most cars car should slow down quickly (or it might be enough to even turn off that failed cruise control or make the engine protection system cut out, better than crashing at 160 KPH. Just don't go slamming it into 1 immediately as you might break something and or more likely lose-control suddenly.
Brakes (power assisted as they are on modern cars) do get much stiffer but still work, having driven plenty of older (1930's 1970's) cars you certainly have to drive them quite differently.
As for power assisted brakes, aren't the brakes powered by the vacuum at the inlet manifold? As an experiment, turning off the engine, usually the assistance stops after about 30 seconds. If the engine is turned off, and the clutch is not pushed in, I'd imagine that the vacuum is still at the manifold, even if the engine isn't generating power.
I've thought about this before, mainly when I first heard of it. This is what I would do:
1. Try to unstick the accelerator by kicking it etc 2. Apply the brakes until the car has reached a safe speed - most modern brakes will slow an accelerating car 3. Once the car has reached a safe speed change to neutral (automatic) and switch off engine (save blowing it up) 4. coast to a stop on the side of the road. (it is not that hard to turn a MOVING car without power steering, only hard when car is stopped or slow moving)
I have noticed that most automatics do not allow you to take the key from the ignition (hence locking the steering) without the shifter being in PARK so I wouldn't think that would be much of a problem.
timestyles: As for power assisted brakes, aren't the brakes powered by the vacuum at the inlet manifold? As an experiment, turning off the engine, usually the assistance stops after about 30 seconds. If the engine is turned off, and the clutch is not pushed in, I'd imagine that the vacuum is still at the manifold, even if the engine isn't generating power.
In a petrol car yes manifold pressure.. Steering and brakes will both work fine if the engine is still turning over on deceleration with the key turned off (manual car) so key off, change into 2nd or 3rd and drive normally to a stop.
Its says that people were on the phone to emergency services at the time being guided where to go at speed, you'd think someone would think to turn the key off?!? maybe they were too busy on the phone to think about it!
timestyles: As for power assisted brakes, aren't the brakes powered by the vacuum at the inlet manifold? As an experiment, turning off the engine, usually the assistance stops after about 30 seconds. If the engine is turned off, and the clutch is not pushed in, I'd imagine that the vacuum is still at the manifold, even if the engine isn't generating power.
In a petrol car yes manifold pressure.. Steering and brakes will both work fine if the engine is still turning over on deceleration with the key turned off (manual car) so key off, change into 2nd or 3rd and drive normally to a stop.
Its says that people were on the phone to emergency services at the time being guided where to go at speed, you'd think someone would think to turn the key off?!? maybe they were too busy on the phone to think about it!
The guy apparently called the Ford dealership first telling them it wouldnt turn off. They said "oooh dont drive it" but of course he already was, which is when he called emergency services
The panicking 22-year-old, recently arrived from Queensland, called a Ford service centre and asked why he could not turn the key off. He was told not to drive the car as it would be dangerous.
''I said, 'Well, that's kind of the problem, I'm actually in the car and can't stop it','' he told Fairfax radio.
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