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Exactly. And not only that it was PROVEN it was the WRONG floor mat in the WRONG car and the DEALERSHIP was sued and was to blame. Not Toyota.
Amazing to that this "expert" couldn't figure out how to put the car in neutral or that applying the brakes would eventually stop the car.
What kind of gutless car do you drive that if you floor it you can overpower the engine with your brakes? Go try it in your car tomorrow.
Either way some answers...
Quote:
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington, said shifting the car into neutral at that speed would be “difficult at best.”
Ditlow said the configuration of the gear shift panel, as outlined in a 2008 highway administration report, showed that the neutral position in the gear shift pattern was not immediately obvious, which led to unsuccessful attempts to disengage the engine.
A driver who is speeding down a crowded highway would have both hands on the wheel and would have to take his eyes off the road in order to see where neutral was, Ditlow said. He surmised that Saylor was trying not to hit anyone else on the crowded highway.
Quote:
It also looked at the brake pads and rotors, which showed signs of significant and heavy braking. Witnesses saw flames coming from the front and rear tires of the speeding Lexus before it crashed.
The rotors were discolored and heated with very rough surfaces. The pads were melted and the edges were bubbled and the friction surfaces were burned, the report said.
What kind of gutless car do you drive that if you floor it you can overpower the engine with your brakes? Go try it in your car tomorrow.
Either way some answers...
The brakes are designed so that they overpower the engine while at a standstill, but once moving it takes time to slow momentum. The emergency brake alone can lock the wheels and stop the vehicle.
The same thing for aircraft. For example, when running engines at full trust on an A-10 aircraft, you stomp and hold the brakes down, and move the throttle's handles forward (two engines). You can feel the aircraft engines trying to move the aircraft, but the brakes hold.
Certainly the most natural reaction to a stuck-throttle emergency is to stomp on the brake pedal, possibly with both feet. And despite dramatic horsepower increases since C/D’s 1987 unintended-acceleration test of an Audi 5000, brakes by and large can still overpower and rein in an engine roaring under full throttle. With the Camry’s throttle pinned while going 70 mph, the brakes easily overcame all 268 horsepower straining against them and stopped the car in 190 feet—that’s a foot shorter than the performance of a Ford Taurus without any gas-pedal problems and just 16 feet longer than with the Camry’s throttle closed. From 100 mph, the stopping-distance differential was 88 feet—noticeable to be sure, but the car still slowed enthusiastically enough to impart a feeling of confidence. We also tried one go-for-broke run at 120 mph, and, even then, the car quickly decelerated to about 10 mph before the brakes got excessively hot and the car refused to decelerate any further. So even in the most extreme case, it should be possible to get a car’s speed down to a point where a resulting accident should be a low-speed and relatively minor event.
There is one D in Duh. Are you a 14 year old teenage girl or something?
I still call total bull**** on overpowering an engine with brakes.
ARe these the new toyotas with the brake override software included?
Just to clarify, you can be driving pin the gas at 50 mph, get up to about 65-70, hit the brakes all the way down to a complete stop in your car? I don't believe it.
Car and driver, why shouldn't I believe them, its not like the toyota ads on the same page as the article pay their bills or anything.
Being #1 is important to some, it makes for a reasonable headline and gets some people's jucies flowing, but those of us with a little more common sense will not get caught up in it.
There are some markets where American automakers don't participate at all, you know - those pesky terrorist countries and embargoes and all.
Oh and don't forget the very closed home market of Japan where foreign cars don't compete on equal footing. Even Hyundai had to pack it in and retreat.
I would also note it seems historically some companies when they become the largest they seem to not fight so hard for quality, and just keep pushing the money.
Last edited by MustangEater82; 05-30-2012 at 11:52 AM..
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