Owls make as much sense as half of this thread to me. I'm no petrol head, I wouldn't have a clue what do do in such circumstances. I dare say I might've tried neutral, handbrake, ignition, keys and made the situation worse by applying steering lock etc. However, all that implies the ability for rational thought...I'd be too busy shitting myself and trying not to crash. I'm just impressed the victim of Christine was able to call emergency services.
All that said, if my 9 year old Punto hit 125mph it would most likely explode in a most dramatic fashion.
I hazard the car had an auto gearbox. Can you put an automatic transmission into neutral whilst moving (it'd certainly be worth a try at least)?
As other cars honked and swerved from his path, he managed to call emergency services who instantly dispatched numerous police cars. Realising Mr Lecerf's only option was to keep going until his petrol ran out, they escorted him at breakneck speed across almost 125 miles of French motorway, past Calais and Dunkirk, and over the Belgian border.
I'm guessing throwing it into neutral wouldn't work in this case.
Maybe it locks out being able to shift above certain revs, to stop the driver from bouncing it off the rev limiter and knackering the engine.
In the same way you can't go throwing it from D into 2nd above a certain speed.
I'm guessing nobody has actually tried throwing their automatic car into neutral at 60+ mph whilst under load.
A lot of new cars nowadays are a case of a driver controlling a computer which controls the car, and the computer won't let you do anything 'stupid'.
Of course, in this case, while 'stupid' it would've been the best option, but the computer isn't to know that.
Sometimes automation isn't for the better, but then how many incidents of this nature are there versus incidents which are avoided due to the computers?
Same fault as Toyota not so long ago?
I cant remember the details but many cars have a safety system called Brake to Idle for Just this situation. Toyota were so sure their cars wouldnt develope this fault they didnt see the need of Brake to Idle
Groovy does this mean we are going to whip out all the electronic nonsense stuck in cars today then
An Austin Ruby manages to potter about quite well without all of this safety nonsense, just re-release it - Ill buy one
The report seems to suggest he did it deliberately.
Maybe worth pointing out that the car WAS modified for a disabled driver so, depending on what modifications were made, it might not have been possible to put it in neutral or whatever.
He seems to be saying that the car actually sped up when he hit the brakes so perhaps the throttle, brakes and gears were rigged up to some kind of electronic hand-controls that went berzerko?
Owls make as much sense as half of this thread to me. I'm no petrol head, I wouldn't have a clue what do do in such circumstances. I dare say I might've tried neutral, handbrake, ignition, keys and made the situation worse by applying steering lock etc. However, all that implies the ability for rational thought...I'd be too busy shitting myself and trying not to crash. I'm just impressed the victim of Christine was able to call emergency services.
All that said, if my 9 year old Punto hit 125mph it would most likely explode in a most dramatic fashion.
As would most people not sitting in the safety of their home typing on a keyboard
As would most people not sitting in the safety of their home typing on a keyboard
I guess the moral here is that people SHOULD know their own vehicle.
I've actually fallen foul of the dreaded "Toyota Throttle Issue", purely because the throttle pedal of mt MR2 got snagged under the edge of the carpet as I accelerated out of a T-junction.
There certainly was about 2 seconds of "Holy Flurking Shnitz! WTF???!!!" before I turned off the ignition.
I was able to do that because I DO know that the steering lock doesn't come on until I turn the key all the way back to the "remove key" position of the ignition switch.
People really DO need to find out what their car does and doesn't do in emergency situations.
FWIW, I doubt that ANY car applies the steering lock as soon as the engine stops.
If it did, it'd be a huge safety hazard in cases where, say, the engine cuts out on a motorway due to faulty electrics etc.
I DO wonder what the deal is with modern cars that have keyless ignition though.
I'd bet that the steering lock only operates when the engine is off and the owner presses the button on the keyfob to lock the doors.
If I owned a car with keyless ignition, I'd sure as hell find out what happens when I press the "engine stop" button though.
My car is keyless and it has an eco-feature that cuts the engine if you stop for some reason. Once stopped, I cannot easily turn the wheel, so the thought of this happening at high speed would likely result in my not being able to steer the car very much at all.
As my car is a manual, I can't comment on throwing it into neutral, but I would suspect that there is something to prevent this happening. Also, as his car was modified for a disabled person to use, maybe he couldn't manage to do it.
The Police seemed to think that he had no options other than to drive, so I’ll go with their opinion for now.
My car is keyless and it has an eco-feature that cuts the engine if you stop for some reason. Once stopped, I cannot easily turn the wheel, so the thought of this happening at high speed would likely result in my not being able to steer the car very much at all.
As my car is a manual, I can't comment on throwing it into neutral, but I would suspect that there is something to prevent this happening. Also, as his car was modified for a disabled person to use, maybe he couldn't manage to do it.
The Police seemed to think that he had no options other than to drive, so I’ll go with their opinion for now.
When the car is stopped and the engine turns off, the power steering pump also stops as its powered by the engine. Unassisted steering however is relatively easy to use when the car is moving.
In all manual and automatic cars it is easy to put the car into neutral at any speed or revs, it's a safety feature.
It's more likely that the driver of the Renault panicked and never thought of that. Personally it would be my first though. "My car is accelerating uncontrollably, I better disengage drive to the wheels"
The report seems to suggest he did it deliberately.
Maybe worth pointing out that the car WAS modified for a disabled driver so, depending on what modifications were made, it might not have been possible to put it in neutral or whatever.
He seems to be saying that the car actually sped up when he hit the brakes so perhaps the throttle, brakes and gears were rigged up to some kind of electronic hand-controls that went berzerko?
It's more likely that the driver of the Renault panicked and never thought of that. Personally it would be my first though. "My car is accelerating uncontrollably, I better disengage drive to the wheels"
Awesome. Mine would be FUUUUUUKCITWONTSTOPMAKEITSTOPHELLLLPWHATDOIDOOO?! Or something similar.
Comments
Shift to neutral. You will continue slowing down.
Turn off engine. You will stop.
(Don't know about automatics but I'm guessing the same thing minus using the clutch would work)
In an auto you can easily flick it into neutral from drive.
Neutral would have been my first thought for slowing down.
Did you just mash the keyboard a couple of times and hope for the best??
I hazard the car had an auto gearbox. Can you put an automatic transmission into neutral whilst moving (it'd certainly be worth a try at least)?
Rear or Front drive the handbrake is going to lose at that sort of speed.
All that said, if my 9 year old Punto hit 125mph it would most likely explode in a most dramatic fashion.
As other cars honked and swerved from his path, he managed to call emergency services who instantly dispatched numerous police cars. Realising Mr Lecerf's only option was to keep going until his petrol ran out, they escorted him at breakneck speed across almost 125 miles of French motorway, past Calais and Dunkirk, and over the Belgian border.
I'm guessing throwing it into neutral wouldn't work in this case.
Maybe it locks out being able to shift above certain revs, to stop the driver from bouncing it off the rev limiter and knackering the engine.
In the same way you can't go throwing it from D into 2nd above a certain speed.
I'm guessing nobody has actually tried throwing their automatic car into neutral at 60+ mph whilst under load.
It was a Ford. Maybe Renaults are Owl proof.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21439857
You assume that the car has a key...
A lot of new cars nowadays are a case of a driver controlling a computer which controls the car, and the computer won't let you do anything 'stupid'.
Of course, in this case, while 'stupid' it would've been the best option, but the computer isn't to know that.
Sometimes automation isn't for the better, but then how many incidents of this nature are there versus incidents which are avoided due to the computers?
I cant remember the details but many cars have a safety system called Brake to Idle for Just this situation. Toyota were so sure their cars wouldnt develope this fault they didnt see the need of Brake to Idle
When the engine died I guess the steering locked.
An Austin Ruby manages to potter about quite well without all of this safety nonsense, just re-release it - Ill buy one
The report seems to suggest he did it deliberately.
Maybe worth pointing out that the car WAS modified for a disabled driver so, depending on what modifications were made, it might not have been possible to put it in neutral or whatever.
He seems to be saying that the car actually sped up when he hit the brakes so perhaps the throttle, brakes and gears were rigged up to some kind of electronic hand-controls that went berzerko?
As would most people not sitting in the safety of their home typing on a keyboard
I guess the moral here is that people SHOULD know their own vehicle.
I've actually fallen foul of the dreaded "Toyota Throttle Issue", purely because the throttle pedal of mt MR2 got snagged under the edge of the carpet as I accelerated out of a T-junction.
There certainly was about 2 seconds of "Holy Flurking Shnitz! WTF???!!!" before I turned off the ignition.
I was able to do that because I DO know that the steering lock doesn't come on until I turn the key all the way back to the "remove key" position of the ignition switch.
People really DO need to find out what their car does and doesn't do in emergency situations.
FWIW, I doubt that ANY car applies the steering lock as soon as the engine stops.
If it did, it'd be a huge safety hazard in cases where, say, the engine cuts out on a motorway due to faulty electrics etc.
I DO wonder what the deal is with modern cars that have keyless ignition though.
I'd bet that the steering lock only operates when the engine is off and the owner presses the button on the keyfob to lock the doors.
If I owned a car with keyless ignition, I'd sure as hell find out what happens when I press the "engine stop" button though.
As my car is a manual, I can't comment on throwing it into neutral, but I would suspect that there is something to prevent this happening. Also, as his car was modified for a disabled person to use, maybe he couldn't manage to do it.
The Police seemed to think that he had no options other than to drive, so I’ll go with their opinion for now.
When the car is stopped and the engine turns off, the power steering pump also stops as its powered by the engine. Unassisted steering however is relatively easy to use when the car is moving.
In all manual and automatic cars it is easy to put the car into neutral at any speed or revs, it's a safety feature.
It's more likely that the driver of the Renault panicked and never thought of that. Personally it would be my first though. "My car is accelerating uncontrollably, I better disengage drive to the wheels"
Might be worth pointing it out again!!
Awesome.
Awwww bless! Poor thing. Those big eyes keekin' oot the grille. Aw.