Cruise control fails at 138kph

[Woody]

Guys,
Not seen this posted, but thought it was worth showing.

emirati woman saves family after cruise control fails at 138kph

Glad no one was injured but why didn't the Police tell her to put it in neutral or turn the engine off?

And I also like the comedy quote:

emerati woman said:

“I prayed to God and burst into crying just before reaching the roundabout which was very busy at that time… I unleashed my car honk to alert the other drivers”

Chris

[Dracoro]

Hmmm, I rather suspect driver error.

CC "failed"?? Don't these systems all have failsafe, so the worst that happens if it fails is that it just stops trying to maintain the speed?

But cynicism aside, if it did fail such that braking make no/little difference, it would be pretty scary at those speeds hurling towards traffic.

[quote]Iman said she had a similar problem last year when her car accelerator failed inside RAK, adding that she managed to stop it with the help of her brother, who told her by phone to move the gear to the neutral position.
[/quote]

Sounds like a car with serious problems, I wonder what Mazda did when she reported to them the car accelerator problem (if she did of course...). A duff car or a serious design issue and a recall on the way?........

Edited by Dracoro on Wednesday 13th February 09:49

[Pints]

Thank goodness for her car honk which saved the day.

Any chance this could be another Toyota type scenario?
Did she try braking?

[AndyDRZ]

Hmmm.

[Woody]

Yeah, she (or the car...) don't have a very good track record.

Seem's too that her borther is more switched on than the police with regard to stopping a car!

[Dyl]

"I suffered from medium injuries in the head and right shoulder…this is because the air bag did not open and this proves that there was a technical problem in the car.”

So...she was bruised from the seatbelt?

Mad story, seems made up!

[TheHeretic]

I'd like to see a test to see if planting the brakes would actually overcome the engine?

[new_bloke]

Looks to have held up well having rear-ended something at 90mph. Thank goodness the housemaid wasn't driving - who knows what might have happened!

[hman]

I laughed at her deciding to ram other vehicles, then worry about the families they contained - that seems the wrong way around.


Its ALWAYS someone elses problem/fault isnt it.

[lestershaw]

i think she had a spider in the car and she was suffering from Iraqnophobia and she panicked

[Birdster]

I'm guessing that she used other vechicles moving in the same direction to bring her speed down as I can't imagine her just ploughing into something.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else was injured, the story seems to leave that out.

[hairykrishna]

TheHeretic said:

I'd like to see a test to see if planting the brakes would actually overcome the engine?

I always thought if you put them hard on and held them on they'd stop it. If you had a few goes at it, slowing down then speeding up I bet you'd cook them though. Hence 'the brakes did nothing' comments that tend to accompany stories like this.

However, consumer reports tested it; http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/10/toyot... their conclusion was that they wouldn't stop you.

[Prof Prolapse]

Whilst I appreciate she prayed to Allah, perhaps she should have first tried turning the ignition on/off, braking, or taking the car out of gear?

hairykrishna said:

However, consumer reports tested it; http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/10/toyot... their conclusion was that they wouldn't stop you.

Not dependent on speed / gear / car?

I'm going to try this.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Car brakes are more powerful than car engines - that's why they generally stop quicker than they accelerate.

[hairykrishna]

Prof Prolapse said:

Not dependent on speed / gear / car?

I'm going to try this.

They did it in an auto at low speed. If you did in staying in 5th I'm sure it'd stop, but stopping a manual car with a stuck throttle is fairly trivial...

[callmedave]

I remember watching a USA 'police, camera action!' type show, a lady in a black 4X4 the engine was on WOT and the vehicle was accelerating on the 'free way'

i think the car got to just over a ton before the engine cooked and stopped, luckily no one was hurt! was pretty scary to watch!

[ging84]

what the fk is wrong with people, i hate these stories
In a modern car with a fully electric ignition, transmission, and throttle it's just about possible to get into a run away situation like this, but you still have the brakes.
You would need to have a lot of power and worn out brakes or a driver so weak they can barely press the pedal down.

The funny thing is in the picture there is a central reservation made of sand, surely that would have been better use at slowing down the car rather than crashing

[R12HCO]

callmedave said:

I remember watching a USA 'police, camera action!' type show, a lady in a black 4X4 the engine was on WOT and the vehicle was accelerating on the 'free way'

i think the car got to just over a ton before the engine cooked and stopped, luckily no one was hurt! was pretty scary to watch!

140 it said, before it overheated.

She was riding the verge at 120 for some time.

I struggled to see how it can happen though. Obviously at 140 and full throttle I don't expect the brakes to be brilliant, but surely when she first knew it was acclerating some form of handbrake and steering into a barrier in a progressive manor would have stopped it?

[Captain Muppet]

R12HCO said:

callmedave said:

I remember watching a USA 'police, camera action!' type show, a lady in a black 4X4 the engine was on WOT and the vehicle was accelerating on the 'free way'

i think the car got to just over a ton before the engine cooked and stopped, luckily no one was hurt! was pretty scary to watch!

140 it said, before it overheated.

She was riding the verge at 120 for some time.

I struggled to see how it can happen though. Obviously at 140 and full throttle I don't expect the brakes to be brilliant, but surely when she first knew it was acclerating some form of handbrake and steering into a barrier in a progressive manor would have stopped it?

Yes, that would work, if the driver wasn't stupid.

But then if the driver wasn't stupid they'd have just used neutral.

[DrTre]

TheHeretic said:

I'd like to see a test to see if planting the brakes would actually overcome the engine?

I thought brakes were way more powerful than an engine?