Man killed because his cruise control wouldn't switch off!

[B'stard Child]

Zod said:

B'stard Child said:

CDP said:

FWIW said:

Zod said:

I don't believe there is a single car on the market now or in the past thirty years on which the accelerator pedal is moved by the cruise control.

I had a 1993 Granada Scorpio which did this...

My 1989 Granada Scorpio did it too.

Yes yes we've done that all now.......

Zod clearly started driving after DBW became the norm and thought that all cars since the year dot were the same

It doesn't make him wrong - he just hasn't driven enough cars from within the last 30 years to form a complete view

I started driving long before, but couldn't afford a car with cruise control until the late 90s.

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

[AW111]

B'stard Child said:

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

I remember a trip as a teenager with dad driving about 50 miles home in a Triumph Dolomite at about that speed on the choke when the throttle cable broke.

[B'stard Child]

AW111 said:

B'stard Child said:

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

I remember a trip as a teenager with dad driving about 50 miles home in a Triumph Dolomite at about that speed on the choke when the throttle cable broke.

I came back from Wales once after spectating at the RAC Rally of GB with a small screwdriver wedged in the throttle quadrant to hold a stupidly fast idle - around 6000 rpm in neutral after the throttle cable snapped on a modern FI car - it was enough to maintain just over 55mph on the motorways but shifting up was not fun to get into 5th

[Jos Notstoppen]

just a thought, I don't know the setup on the car in question, could the cruise control button on the steering be pressed by accident and the guy feeling the car go faster, then grips harder pressing the accelerate button on the steering wheel without realising?

[blueg33]

Jos Notstoppen said:

just a thought, I don't know the setup on the car in question, could the cruise control button on the steering be pressed by accident and the guy feeling the car go faster, then grips harder pressing the accelerate button on the steering wheel without realising?

No. Its turned on via a rocker switch on the top of the indicator stalk. It needs a very positive action to turn it on and set it. You then cancel it by moving the switch to the right

[TooMany2cvs]

blueg33 said:

Jos Notstoppen said:

just a thought, I don't know the setup on the car in question, could the cruise control button on the steering be pressed by accident and the guy feeling the car go faster, then grips harder pressing the accelerate button on the steering wheel without realising?

No. Its turned on via a rocker switch on the top of the indicator stalk. It needs a very positive action to turn it on and set it. You then cancel it by moving the switch to the right

And the accelerate/decelerate switch?

[blueg33]

TooMany2cvs said:

blueg33 said:

Jos Notstoppen said:

just a thought, I don't know the setup on the car in question, could the cruise control button on the steering be pressed by accident and the guy feeling the car go faster, then grips harder pressing the accelerate button on the steering wheel without realising?

No. Its turned on via a rocker switch on the top of the indicator stalk. It needs a very positive action to turn it on and set it. You then cancel it by moving the switch to the right

And the accelerate/decelerate switch?

Rocker switch on end of the stalk, you would really struggle to operate it by mistake, its hard enough to do on purpose

[moanthebairns]

so, he was driving a mark 3 Octavia. unlikely to be the vrs if it was only doing 117mph at the point of collision and his speed had been increasing for 8 minutes whilst on the phone.
Not going to be a dsg box on a taxi, it'll be manual.

So he failed to put it into neutral,
use the brakes with full force,
hit against the barrier,
turn the car off,
break the gear box,
dump it into a lower gear,
dip the clutch,

Verdict, Suicide or fking idiot.

[Jos Notstoppen]

blueg33 said:

Rocker switch on end of the stalk, you would really struggle to operate it by mistake, its hard enough to do on purpose

OK thanks, just an idea. My car it is on the steering and could be easy to press by accident

[Ari]

moanthebairns said:

so, he was driving a mark 3 Octavia. unlikely to be the vrs if it was only doing 117mph at the point of collision and his speed had been increasing for 8 minutes whilst on the phone.
Not going to be a dsg box on a taxi, it'll be manual.

So he failed to put it into neutral,
use the brakes with full force,
hit against the barrier,
turn the car off,
break the gear box,
dump it into a lower gear,
dip the clutch,

Verdict, Suicide or fking idiot.

What makes you think it was a taxi (or that a taxi couldn't be a DSG if it was)?

Not that I think your conclusion is definitely wrong...

[moanthebairns]

Ari said:

moanthebairns said:

so, he was driving a mark 3 Octavia. unlikely to be the vrs if it was only doing 117mph at the point of collision and his speed had been increasing for 8 minutes whilst on the phone.
Not going to be a dsg box on a taxi, it'll be manual.

So he failed to put it into neutral,
use the brakes with full force,
hit against the barrier,
turn the car off,
break the gear box,
dump it into a lower gear,
dip the clutch,

Verdict, Suicide or fking idiot.

What makes you think it was a taxi (or that a taxi couldn't be a DSG if it was)?

Not that I think your conclusion is definitely wrong...

Taxi - slang for any Octavia.

oh how it winds up the middle aged tts on bri-skoda when you refer to their vrs as being just a "fast taxi".

I actually own a vrs taxi, oh the joys of waiting at train stations to pick your mrs up while pissed folk try to get in your motor or flag you down.

[anonymous-user]

B'stard Child said:

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

You sure about your fiat? The reason I ask is that we had a 128 about that time. It had a choke but also had a hand throttle, which looked like a choke control but simply held the throttle open and could/was used as a rudimentary cruise control.

Highly dangerous, god knows how anyone survived those times......

[blindswelledrat]

I cannot face reading 15 pages of bickering over cruise control but am interested enough to ask:

1) Have we concluded that this indeed happened? I was sceptical
2) If this did happen, do brakes not work?

[FredClogs]

blindswelledrat said:

I cannot face reading 15 pages of bickering over cruise control but am interested enough to ask:

1) Have we concluded that this indeed happened? I was sceptical
2) If this did happen, do brakes not work?

The general consensus is either he had a massive crippling brain fart or it was a elaborate suicide.

Most people agree that there should be no feasible reason why he could have not just braked to stall the engine, cut the engine with the ignition button, selected neutral or indeed crash in a safer manner had the car's accelerator indeed stuck open.

[blindswelledrat]

Thanks, I suspect as much.
Intriguing, I must say, because I wouldn't have thought if you were in a suicidal frame of mind you would give a fk about the elaborate ruse to make it appear not like a suicide, I wouldn't have thought. Perhaps I am wrong

[B'stard Child]

REALIST123 said:

B'stard Child said:

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

You sure about your fiat? The reason I ask is that we had a 128 about that time. It had a choke but also had a hand throttle, which looked like a choke control but simply held the throttle open and could/was used as a rudimentary cruise control.

Positive - starter and choke were Levers on the floor mounted by the handbrake - could pull it up by no more than half or the engine would choke and die

REALIST123 said:

Highly dangerous, god knows how anyone survived those times......

Fiat 126 - RWD, Rear engined and dwarfed by most cars around it - how I didn't die in a ball of flames I'll never know - gods must have smiled on me I guess

[Ayahuasca]

FredClogs said:

blindswelledrat said:

I cannot face reading 15 pages of bickering over cruise control but am interested enough to ask:

1) Have we concluded that this indeed happened? I was sceptical
2) If this did happen, do brakes not work?

The general consensus is either he had a massive crippling brain fart or it was a elaborate suicide.

Most people agree that there should be no feasible reason why he could have not just braked to stall the engine, cut the engine with the ignition button, selected neutral or indeed crash in a safer manner had the car's accelerator indeed stuck open.

Could be a third option - that he was relatively calm about the failed cruise control, and thought he could sort it, or that it would rectify itself, or that the person on the other end of the phone would tell him what to do, so he did not take the destructive measures (controlled crash, jam on brakes, etc) to stop. While he was having these happy thoughts he lost concentration and smacked the stationery truck.

[speedking31]

xjay1337 said:

I tried electronic handbrake at 70mph once. I had hoped for many skids but I ended up with a bong of disapproval as the computer said no.

Police collision investigator Andrew Evans said:

... applying the handbrake could have saved Mr Gandhi's life by forcing the car's rear wheels to lock up and turn it around so it skidded backwards.

Not if he drove the same car as xjay1337.

[CDP]

B'stard Child said:

REALIST123 said:

B'stard Child said:

Thanks for clarification - I can assure you that many cars from 1986 onwards right up until 2006 have pedals that are moved by cruise control as a by product of having cable actuated throttles and regardless of system used to control cruise.

Break the link with a "DBW throttle" and the pedal no longer moves as there is no physical link to the throttle butterfly.

My very first car back in 1982 had cruise control - Fiat 126 - you just pulled the choke lever up from the floor about half way and it would happily cruise at 45 mph with no feet on the throttle pedal

You sure about your fiat? The reason I ask is that we had a 128 about that time. It had a choke but also had a hand throttle, which looked like a choke control but simply held the throttle open and could/was used as a rudimentary cruise control.

Positive - starter and choke were Levers on the floor mounted by the handbrake - could pull it up by no more than half or the engine would choke and die

REALIST123 said:

Highly dangerous, god knows how anyone survived those times......

Fiat 126 - RWD, Rear engined and dwarfed by most cars around it - how I didn't die in a ball of flames I'll never know - gods must have smiled on me I guess

Because the 126 was so slow you got more flies on the rear number plate than the front where they'd misjudged overtaking manoeuvres...

(I had a 126 "Brown", my brother attempted to time the 0..60 on the Acle Straight near Gt. Yarmouth and failed. 7 miles long and completely flat)

[amancalledrob]

Ayahuasca said:

...While he was having these happy thoughts he lost concentration and smacked the stationery truck.

No wonder it ruined his car. A truck filled with stationery would be pretty heavy