Posted on 03/07/2010 11:12:34 AM PST by Oklahoma
How to Handle Sudden Unintended Acceleration: Video
In this video, PM senior automotive editor Mike Allen accelerates his car to 55 and then stops it—while the throttle is still open.
DO • Brake. Brake once, don't pump or ride the brakes. This will only heat up the brake pads, potentially overheating them and making them fail. It will take more force than you're used to to make the vehicle stop. Use both feet if you need to. • Shift. Move the gearshift into neutral. If the throttle is truly stuck, the engine will redline and make a lot of noise, but it won't be damaged. The injection computer will keep it from over-revving. Leaving it running will keep the power brakes an power steering working normally. Obviously, if your car has a manual transmission, simply stepping on the clutch pedal will slow the car. • Steer. Steer your car to a safe place off the road and away from traffic.
DON'T • Pump the brakes. • Shift into park. (Which won't engage at speed anyway.) • Drag the brakes. • Shut off the engine. (Well, shut off the engine as a last resort, but it may affect the brakes and steering, which will become heavier, although they'll remain operational.)
No Japanese government, person or corporation in the 21st century has harmed America in any major way. The UAW and their ‘Rat minions have harmed this country for decades.
My 2001 TOYOTA Camry CE turned 250,000 miles on it a few months ago, it’s replacement a 2008 HONDA Accord EX-L (w/o nav) that I purchased new two years ago this month, sets in my garage with only 5400 miles on it waiting for the TOYOTA to bite the big one.
I suspect that HONDA is going to be waiting for a few more years before the TOYOTA gives up the ghost...!
Decades of vehicle ownership (often 3-4 at a time) and I have never a vehicle recalled because it was killing people. But then I have never owned a Toyota.
The flaws were covered up for years. Then they blamed floor mats. When they still didn’t work they blamed the accelerator hardware. What are they going to blame now that some people with no floor mats and repaired peddles are having their riceburners accelerate on them? Oh, that’s right, now they will blame the government.
Poppycock. The Americans I know who work for Toyota are much more patriotic defenders of the United States than their UAW counterparts.
Two suggestions,
First, if you are on a long drive on an open highway, enjoy, you have a great excuse!
Second, Handle every stressful situation like a dog, if you can’t eat it or hump it. Pee on it and walk away.
>>And the second type is the UAW-loving, “buy the American brand” even when that car is mostly Canadian or Mexican.
I was comparing my American-made Camry to a liberal co-worker’s Canadian-made Chevy. He said his car was American because, even though it was built by foreigners, the “profits stay in the US”.
Now, this is a guy who says that Exxon and Blue Cross have no right to make a profit, yet suddenly profits are all that counts when you are employing foreign workers to build his “American” car.
The car companies have muddied the waters so much that there is almost no such thing as an “American” car. But, there is a clear distinction between a UAW car and a non-UAW car and that’s what matters to me.
There was a time, when autoworkers strongly supported president Ronald Reagan...
It is not so much that autoworkers are, (or at least were) the enemy. It’s sad to see so many on our side of the aisle, treat them as such. They’ve more in common with us, than to the various gay and marxist special interests whose arms our hostility has driven them into.
Your average UAW factory worker is a red-blooded, patriotic sob. Probably hunts, fishes and believes in most of the things FReepers hold dear. They’re not commies. Except those at the top.
The complication is of course, that American companies outsource at the drop of a hat, so one can really only feel so much loyalty back to them.
But still by choice, I own an American car. Made in the USA.
A good part of the problem was the floor mats and mistakenly hitting the accelerator instead of the brake. The problem wasn’t “covered up.” Everyone with any knowledge of automotive design and with common sense long ago “knew” what the problem was.
How many car owners have had the problem since replacing the mats and fixing the pedal, and, more importantly, how many can demonstrate the phenomenon since doing it? Once you have a bunch of crooked trial lawyers enter the picture truth disappears.
Are you and Cringing Negative Network both UAW members?
I wrote the post before your post cleared. I take back the crack about you being with Cringing Negative Network.
Ford is THIRD HIGHEST in unintended acceleration claims for the 2009 model year. Source: NHTSA.
GM is 6th, Chrysler is 8th.
Yeah, I’ll pass.
Your average UAW worker helped contribute $400 million to Obama and the Dems to get them elected, then got millions more in welfare from their buddies. Screw them.
Yeah, except there ARE no profits on the Chevy, so NOTHING stays in the US.
Aren’t the unintended acceleration incidents in Fords, the result of parts from Toyota?
(isn’t Toyota hardware, under the hood of the Escape hybrid?) I haven’t been watching this while thing real close, since I don’t drive a Toyota. :)
Those are actual questions, I’m not sure of the answer to either one. You seem knowledgable on cars.
Are the unintended Ford acceleration incidents, actually Toyota-related?
You are wrong again. The average UAW worker holds allegiance to the union above the corporate employer. Union workers who participate in work stop picket lines are extortionists as much as their union bosses.
I've heard of at least one.
And kiss the engine goodbye?
Why not just turn off the ignition?
(I had to do this once in an MG.)
ML/NJ
I’ve owned two of the Killer Camrys. No problems with either.
But, since the government and news media are the ones whipping people up into a lynch mob, I really doubt that the problem is as bad as people claim. I saw a commercial for an ambulance-chaser last week asking anyone that has had an accident in their Toyota due to stuck throttle to call them. How many people with a crashed Camry are going to claim a stuck throttle just to win the lawsuit lotto? Those claims will be added to the numbers of actual stuck throttle incidents to inflate the government/media’s claims.
With that said, I just want to say that I HATE the idea of throttle-by-wire (which is used by every car manufacturer these days—foreign and domestic) just because you never do know when a computer glitch is going to cause the car to go homicidal on you. I believe that EVERY car with TBW should have an emergency-override button on the dash that kills the accellerator actuator and returns the engine to idle.
Yea, I’m not bashing Toyota. I don’t believe the feds and I hate unions.
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