Sudden Acceleration Verdict Is in - its not a electronic issue

So you don't disengage the clutch right before braking to a stop? How do you do it then?

A manual transmission would have helped prevent the case of pedal confusion shown below, as the clutch would have been disengaged or the car being out of gear at the time of gas pedal misapplication.

 

course, you know how many accidents there have been because people pressed on the throttle instead of the clutch when coming to a stop. worst is when you're stopping at a crosswalk with people in it.

 

Instead of the clutch? I would say none, ever. There is this huge brake pedal in the way, and if you mistake brake and speeder, your car will simply rev, causing the teen in the BMW next to you to think that you want to battle, which makes him accelerate out of control and kill the poor old lady in the crosswalk...

A manual transmission has the great advantage of not downshifting by itself. The downside is that you might stall, but at least you don't accelerate by mistake.

Wait. Why am I saying this?

 

All of the Unintended Acceleration cases are caused by people pressing the gas instead of the brake. Using that logic people would also be accidentally stomping on the brake when they're on the freeway trying to speed up. And if they had a clutch, pedal misapplication would mean their left foot would accidentally press on the brake instead of the clutch.

 

I'm sure they have happened, but they don't get much attention because they don't crash into things.

 

Ha, I'm not calling Whoopi.....I'm calling Slimer and the rest of the Ghost Busters!!!! First, I'm going to become a certified ghost buster so that I can make some extra $$ off all the calls to capture them. In fact, I think I saw one of these the other day, too..... :flypig:

 

All this stuff does happen. Have you ever been in an automatic tranny rental car with a stick-shift-only driver who hits the 'clutch' hard as part of the normal stopping procedure? Those shoulder belts dig in really hard as all unsecured items fly off the seats.

But the $64 Gazillion question: how many of these get reported to NHTSA as vehicle problems, because the drivers believe they made no error?

 

I'd say its greatest advantage, with respect to UA, is that it has an additional and independent tool to remove power from the wheels.

And whereas most automatic tranny drivers these days have never used 'N', and do not have it stored in muscle memory, all manual tranny drivers must use the clutch repeatedly every time the vehicle is operated. So when (not if) UA strikes, most will terminate it by reflex, without having to think. Some will fail, but that number appears to be vanishingly small.

 

My problem with going back and forth from a manual to an automatic was usually the opposite of SUA. Occasionally I would get that stupid wide brake pedal they used to put on U.S. cars with automatics when I was expecting a clutch pedal. It causes you to stop somewhat faster than intended.

Tom

 

There should be a lot of complaints about unintended deceleration if pedal misapplication is so rampant. Complaints about brakes locking up on the freeway should be just as common as UA. But where are they?

 

Perhaps they aren't as scary as UA. Likewise, it's probably easier for most people to recover from UB, since slowing down is less likely to be deadly.

The natural response to UA is to mash the brakes, which is completely wrong if your foot is on the gas. On the other hand, if a car isn't accelerating as much as expected, you don't normally mash the gas; you usually press just a little bit harder.

Tom

 

when i was driving my miata every day, if i borrowed my wife's camry, i would invariably step on the brake with my left foot just before turning the key. when it didn't go to the floor, my brain would reset and i would be okay after that.

 

IE on UA and Bored Spitless

I think it is clear that what evpv is demonstrating here,
well beyond any justifiable or credible reason to continue,
is failure at Intended Elucidation on Unintended Acceleration.



And:

"Note: Don't give in to habit. Your finger goes to the side of your
nose. If you use a double twist it means "boring." I single twist means
I'm bored. A single twist that starts at the side of the nose and moves
out away from the face a foot or two with a flourish means 'I am bored
spitless.' " "bored" ASL American Sign Language

The word pedantry also comes to mind.

 

get's a p for persistance tho...

 

NASA should look into his brain cells. There may lie the root cause of SUA.

 

Re: IE on UA and Bored Spitless

How old are you Rokeby?

 

Old enough to say what 99.999999999999999% of the rest of PriusChat is thinking, methinks.

 

Unintended braking on the freeway would be pretty scary, at least here in southern California. And it would cause of a lot of accidents.

I think the natural reaction would be to mash even harder if the car didn't accelerate as intended. Especially if you need the power to merge, pass, or go up a hill.

 

So 99.9% of you are thinking you should post a drawing of someone picking their nose? That would be a very sad indictation of the type of person who drives a Prius.

 

Re: IE on UA and Bored Spitless

Jumpin' jehosafat!

And just what does my age have to do with
anything
even vaguely germaine to IE and UA?