Unintended acceleration again
Discussion
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/09/25/tesla-model-s...
This time it is a tesla model S that a yank has crashed when the accelerator has mysteriously gone to the floor all by itself.
So why does this only ever happen in America?
I've never heard of it in the UK.
This time it is a tesla model S that a yank has crashed when the accelerator has mysteriously gone to the floor all by itself.
So why does this only ever happen in America?
I've never heard of it in the UK.
The throttle momentarily jammed on my TVR the other day. This was somewhat disconcerting as I was driving it down to the garage to have the clutch hydraulics looked at, and I wasn't sure if the clutch would disengage! Fortunately it did and a quick prod un-stuck the throttle. May just have been a mat trapped underneath or something - had that happen a couple of times in other cars.
Why in America? Because 'I stupidly hit the wrong pedal' can mysteriously morph into 'the car did it all by itself and now you owe me $250,000 compensation' when the lawyers are in charge.
Why in America? Because 'I stupidly hit the wrong pedal' can mysteriously morph into 'the car did it all by itself and now you owe me $250,000 compensation' when the lawyers are in charge.
Possibly because American cars tend to be Autos so if the car starts to accelerate it doesn't run into the redline in the gear it's in. From a study I heard the acceleration thing also tends to happen to people who are unfamiliar with the car they are driving, it has been suggested that it could be people think they're on the brakes but are actually mashing the accelerator into the carpet and as it speeds up they push harder.
Engineer1 said:
Possibly because American cars tend to be Autos so if the car starts to accelerate it doesn't run into the redline in the gear it's in. From a study I heard the acceleration thing also tends to happen to people who are unfamiliar with the car they are driving, it has been suggested that it could be people think they're on the brakes but are actually mashing the accelerator into the carpet and as it speeds up they push harder.
I love how simple minded the majority of Americans are.We must have only sent across our stupid people all those years ago, leaving just the smart ones back in the UK...
Having said that, I asked a friend what part of the animal Chicken Wings were the other day, so maybe not.
Happened to me not long after I passed my test in a mighty Skoda Estelle 1.2 (can't remember the trim level). Fortunately you had to drive it flat out everywhere anyway so was able to limp it home, turning the engine off where necessary as it didn't have a rev limiter. It was a buttock clenching few miles.
The throttle jammed open on the wife's Clio a few weeks ago.
I was changing from 2nd to 3rd when in happened.
I just pulled over and turned it off.
The alternative was to continue gathering speed for the next quarter mile before shooting across a junction, flying over a low wall and embedding the car half way up the front of a detached 30's villa. As I wasn't in Florida I decided not to take that option.
I was changing from 2nd to 3rd when in happened.
I just pulled over and turned it off.
The alternative was to continue gathering speed for the next quarter mile before shooting across a junction, flying over a low wall and embedding the car half way up the front of a detached 30's villa. As I wasn't in Florida I decided not to take that option.
AC43 said:
The throttle jammed open on the wife's Clio a few weeks ago.
I was changing from 2nd to 3rd when in happened.
I just pulled over and turned it off.
The alternative was to continue gathering speed for the next quarter mile before shooting across a junction, flying over a low wall and embedding the car half way up the front of a detached 30's villa. As I wasn't in Florida I decided not to take that option.
That explains the YouTube videos of doing 200MPH over the Gandy Bridge, it was a jammed throttle.I was changing from 2nd to 3rd when in happened.
I just pulled over and turned it off.
The alternative was to continue gathering speed for the next quarter mile before shooting across a junction, flying over a low wall and embedding the car half way up the front of a detached 30's villa. As I wasn't in Florida I decided not to take that option.
It might be worth noting that a lot of stories around Tesla cars are being pushed/promoted by anyone with the vaguest vested-interest in the rest of the car market.
Tesla have pissed-off pretty-much every manufacturer and dealer in the US by selling their own cars in their own stores (where it's legal to do that - in some States it's illegal - land of the free eh!?)
Thing is - they have THE most exciting car released in the last 10 years in the Model S - it's a genuine step-forward moment. It's not only pretty amazing as-is but it will be the car which makes Tesla into a household name and electric cars into a serious alternative rather than a niche for Californians aging hippies...
People seem threatened by that - so I'm wary of any and every story about Tesla because the car/oil advertising market is competitive and if you run an anti-Tesla story you'll almost certainly see money raining upon you.
p.s. I assume you all read the story about the Model S which caught fire - Tesla's response was awesome and their comment that driving a car with batteries is pretty-much always going to be safer than driving with a tank full of highly flammable liquid
p.p.s. also, perhaps because "unintended acceleration" is genuinely a rare thing but it might show-up in a population of 280 million with super-high car ownership more than anywhere else?
Tesla have pissed-off pretty-much every manufacturer and dealer in the US by selling their own cars in their own stores (where it's legal to do that - in some States it's illegal - land of the free eh!?)
Thing is - they have THE most exciting car released in the last 10 years in the Model S - it's a genuine step-forward moment. It's not only pretty amazing as-is but it will be the car which makes Tesla into a household name and electric cars into a serious alternative rather than a niche for Californians aging hippies...
People seem threatened by that - so I'm wary of any and every story about Tesla because the car/oil advertising market is competitive and if you run an anti-Tesla story you'll almost certainly see money raining upon you.
p.s. I assume you all read the story about the Model S which caught fire - Tesla's response was awesome and their comment that driving a car with batteries is pretty-much always going to be safer than driving with a tank full of highly flammable liquid
p.p.s. also, perhaps because "unintended acceleration" is genuinely a rare thing but it might show-up in a population of 280 million with super-high car ownership more than anywhere else?
Edited by 405dogvan on Monday 14th October 14:53
Chris71 said:
The throttle momentarily jammed on my TVR the other day. This was somewhat disconcerting as I was driving it down to the garage to have the clutch hydraulics looked at, and I wasn't sure if the clutch would disengage! Fortunately it did and a quick prod un-stuck the throttle. May just have been a mat trapped underneath or something
Now you've mentioned TVR's, yes, this has happened and still happens occasionally.The pedal box can get a bit of corrosion on the pedal pivot shaft bushes so making the pedal stick.
tapping the brake or clutch pedal releases the throttle.
Depends which model, but if your TVR stands unused for a while, this is what csn happen.
Was in California last week and have to say that the Tesla looks great, seems to have the corner of the market licked and is doing very well there!
But, they are still treated with a little scepticism though. They are still an "early adopter" product and clearly conventional cars still outsell them, a lot. Lets see what happens, but I am hearing stories already about bugs and issues. And the recent fire of a crashed one saw the Tesla stock drop 5%! Madness.... I mean, does Lambo or Ferrari drop in value because 10's of their cars burn up on the highway around the world? Clearly not, but it shows the caution that people still have.
Interesting and I would assume that the Tesla throttle will be a similar system to the "drive by wire" mechanism that is widely available now. Not seeing other cars have this issue, so wondering if this is an early logging of a court case on the hope that Tesla will settle? I mean, the Toyota Prius one was proven to be rubbish in the end!
But, they are still treated with a little scepticism though. They are still an "early adopter" product and clearly conventional cars still outsell them, a lot. Lets see what happens, but I am hearing stories already about bugs and issues. And the recent fire of a crashed one saw the Tesla stock drop 5%! Madness.... I mean, does Lambo or Ferrari drop in value because 10's of their cars burn up on the highway around the world? Clearly not, but it shows the caution that people still have.
Interesting and I would assume that the Tesla throttle will be a similar system to the "drive by wire" mechanism that is widely available now. Not seeing other cars have this issue, so wondering if this is an early logging of a court case on the hope that Tesla will settle? I mean, the Toyota Prius one was proven to be rubbish in the end!
405dogvan said:
People seem threatened by that - so I'm wary of any and every story about Tesla because the car/oil advertising market is competitive and if you run an anti-Tesla story you'll almost certainly see money raining upon you.
You've got to be joking if you believe the oil companies are against it, do you know just how vast the quantities of oil are that are used to produce all those plastics, cables, dig out all those rare earths for the motors and batteries?It's probably way past a normal car, I don't the oil companies give a fk.
Apparently this has happened in the UK previously, fortunately very infrequent, hence you may not be aware of it.
Ford had a problem with some of theirs, but rather than speeding up as the Tesla did, and maybe she hit the wrong pedel, the Fords wouldn't slow down.
Ford then published some facts of how much force you needed to slow the car down using the foot brake, fine till the whistle blower spilt the beans of the false figures, they quoted a lot less than it actually needed.
Ford had a problem with some of theirs, but rather than speeding up as the Tesla did, and maybe she hit the wrong pedel, the Fords wouldn't slow down.
Ford then published some facts of how much force you needed to slow the car down using the foot brake, fine till the whistle blower spilt the beans of the false figures, they quoted a lot less than it actually needed.
Edited by Vipers on Monday 14th October 15:22
PhillipM said:
You've got to be joking if you believe the oil companies are against it, do you know just how vast the quantities of oil are that are used to produce all those plastics, cables, dig out all those rare earths for the motors and batteries?
It's probably way past a normal car, I don't the oil companies give a fk.
Do you honestly think a Tesla S and a BMW M5 (or M550d) use the same amount of fossil fuels over their production and lifetime? It's probably way past a normal car, I don't the oil companies give a fk.
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