Sudden Acceleration Verdict Is in - its not a electronic issue

Not for me. I've done it, and my reaction is to let up. On the other hand, I've had a lot of training, and driving in this part of the world is very civilized, so we don't usually have someone riding six inches behind the rear bumper.

Tom

 

Having been in NW MI 3 or 4 times, I can agree with that. In fact, I was often the one driving aggressively compared to those that lived in the area. Most people were also very friendly compared to what I'm used to here, in general.

 

Unintended braking isn't a problem for manual cars. Often you don't have cruise control with a manual, which makes your right foot occupy the speeder most of the time. And with the clutch and brake feeling very different, you don't mistake those two with your left foot either.

Besides. When you brake in a manual, you normally step on the clutch too, thus making unintended acceleration impossible. Your legs are like coded to make your feet be right next to each other when braking, so even if you really mess up, you would simply press both the speeder and the brake at the same time. The brakes would win and you would eventually stall.

Is UA even a problem outside of USA, that is, in countries where manuals are standard?

 

So what's to stop someone from hitting the brake instead of the clutch with their left foot? If people are uncoordinated enough to hit the gas instead of the brake with their right foot, surely they would make the same mistake when using their left foot.

 

maybe it's a left foot right foot thing.

 

no, but then, we have more lawyers per capita than any other country.

 

The pedal feel is utterly different and when the pedal doesn't go the floor and the car stops faster the more you push the clues are pretty much unmistakable.

Have you driven a manual?

 

Doesn't the same explanation apply to the brake and gas? And the gas/brake are completely different sizes, and completely different heights from the floorboard. But apparently a lot of people still manage to hit the wrong pedal.

 

FWIW I think manual drivers are better drivers. One could even say they are simply better people.

BTW It's also a fact that some people drive automatics using BOTH FEET. I know a woman who did this and that is an absolute recipe for disaster. I'd love to know what percentage of people who have UA events fall into the category of two feet driving.

 

No, the same explanation does not necessarily apply.

The feel of the clutch is very distinct. It has initial resistance and then without significant increase in pressure, travels relatively freely to the floor. Both the brake and accelerator offer steadily increasing resistance as you push further.

Other cues are:
- pedal placement on the other side of the steering column
- the car suddenly coasts when you depress the clutch
- the audible connection between engine noise and and car speed is lost

If you have not driven a manual or not driven one much, you may wish to do so and see what you think.

 

Just like the top race drivers in the world. WRC, F1, you name it, they all use both feet.

 

But the brake and gas feel even more different. The gas pedal is a small vertical rectangle located next to the center tunnel and a few inches closer to the floorboard than the brake pedal. It has a very light linear feel. The car accelerates when you hit the gas, which is a very distinct feeling compared to braking.

The brake pedal is a large horizontal rectangle located under the steering column and sits further from the floorboard than the gas pedal. It has a non-linear feel, the harder you push the stiffer it gets. The car decelerates when you hit the brake, which is a very distinct feeling compared to hitting the gas.

Same thing for the gas pedal, it's on the right side of the column

The car suddenly accelerates when you hit the gas.

The brake and the gas both change the audible engine noise and car speed when they are depressed.

I've owned several cars with manual transmissions, autocrossed, raced on tracks, high performance driving schools etc. Any way you look at it a manual transmission is more complex to drive. They force you to use both feet. They add another pedal to confuse people. They force you to modulate the clutch to get the car to move. Manual transmissions are dinosaurs and will be extinct in the near future.

 

Nope. Manuals will stay. They are cheaper, cheap to maintain/repair, light and efficient.

Can anyone find an example of UA in a manual car?
You simply have more control in a manual. Even if you hit the speeder by mistake, the car doesn't downshift to make the mistake worse. These two reasons alone lead me to think that there is no case of UA with a manual.

 

It does happen. I know of a few cases involving broken throttle return springs on carburetors. None ended in disaster, as the drivers clutched out and then switched off the engines.

Tom

 

From the earliest hand crank start cars, if you started them in gear, off they would go. Not until starter-clutch interlocks were developed did this problem go away. Automatics could also be started in a forward transmission range for a while. Brake over-rides will not solve the problem because it's all pedal mis-application. The incidence if UA is six times larger in ages 60 - 70 than in ages 20 - 30. It's almost diagnostic of approaching mental deterioration.

 

That is an interesting tidbit of information.

 

ugh. less than four years before i blow myself up.

 

I've already fessed up to it, in my old Honda Accord MT.

It was triggered by serious fatigue. But that parking lot event was terminated very quickly, without damage and without any reason to file a NHTSA report. The clutch reflex alone was sufficient to stop it. But another simultaneous reflex was also sufficient, and didn't require a clutch.

Transmission type doesn't protect against the many mechanical faults that afflicted older designs -- broken springs, jammed cables and mechanisms, broken motor mounts that pull on the throttle cable, carburetor icing. Broken vacuum connections have also caused problems, though at the moment I don't know how much power this could apply to the engine.

I have no reason to believe that pedal misapplication or mechanical / electrical faults happen any less often MTs than with ATs. But the clutch does provide an additional tool to stop a runaway. And helps provide more clues about what happened.

 

True. If parts are malfunctioning, you might simply be unlucky.

And I'm pretty sure the media still would have targeted Toyota in the "Runaway Prius" scam, even if it did have a clutch! :-P

 

True, but the good news is the California Highway Patrol will now arrest anyone on the spot if someone tries to Sikes them, now that the Toyota scare is over and authorities know what's going on.