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Originally Posted by dalyduo
My question would be is it possible the ECU is set up not to accept or allow manually taking it out of gear above a certain speed. That would explain what happened to the tooper and also why it hasn't seemingly been repeated. The logic being to keep someone from throwing it into reverse by accident at highway speed where a loss of control would result. Wondered what speed you tried it in your mom's Lexus Doug? It didn't look like the Consumer Reports guy was going very fast when he demo'd the "putting it in neutral" procedure..
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I just went out and tried this in my '07 BMW (Already sold MY Moms car!) goes from D to N while moving with no problem. Don't know if it has an electronic throttle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dalyduo
As to the woman who put her Prius in a stream it's hard to imagine the brakes not being capable of overcoming the low powered hybrid.
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Again, I think that is easy enough to prove.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dalyduo
But it's very possible to imagine a driver with little training not realizing she could overcome the motor by pressing much harder on the brakes. When we do brake exercises in the drivers schools the first obstacle is teaching people to really stand on the brakes to get the car to stop in the shortest possible distance. Most have never done it and to think they'd figure it out in a panic situation is absolute folly. She swears she stomped the brakes and her husband who wasn't there is infuriated anyone would question or doubt what she did but real time data of the incident might tell a different story.
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Don't a lot of these newer cars have some memory in their computers that records a certain amount of data?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Pace
...Also think you give the brake system too much credit. Very rare for a car at sustained full throtle to NOT over power the brakes. After 2-3 applications they are done. They heat up, fade, actually catch fire (pretty cool to see brake pads flaming!!! Plays havoc on plastic wheelcovers) but they just can't stop the car. JP
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I don't know JP - I know what you are saying, but as a mechanical engineer, keeping in mind the way the general population drives their Toyotas and the factor of safety generally designed into consumer products, I just can't believe that you can't pin the throttle to the firewall at 50 mph then hammer both feet down on the brake pedal and stop the car in some distance - albieit pehaps a very long one. For sure I don't see it accelerating to 100 mph +. In the interest of the science, I Just reserved a Hertz Toyota Avalon for next week in San Francisco - sounds like a little Napa Valley engineering testing is in order... (Wanted to rent a Hertz Corvette - but Gwen's luggage wouldn't fit...)
Back in September 1997, during the uproar over barrel-rolling Ford Explorers and other SUV,s, I had just taken delivery of one of the first Mercedes ML-320 SUV's produced. I drove it to Road Atlanta for the vintage races in late October. The odometer rolled over 1,500 miles, the designated official break-in milage, right about the Georgia -Tenessee state line. Back then, (maybe still?) they had Quiet Time on the track Sunday mornings - no unmuffled racecars on the track allowed by local ordinance (guess they figured if you could drive your racecar you wouldn't go to church services?), so they sold lapping permits for $20, which I though was cheap enough. Supposed to follow the pace car, which sounded entirely reasonable. I pulled last into line behind a line of 20 or so Corvettes, Porsches, Miatas, etc - all gridded behind the track's Pontiac Trans Am pace car. Green flag flew and the pace car dissappeared in a cloud of white tire smoke. For the next 5 laps I tried to do everything I could imagine see if I could upset the Benz - I figured "what the hey - the ambulance and wreckers are already here, perfect place to find out if it's tipsy" - And I quit when I could smell the brakes.