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The Toyota Circus...

seriously... when they first mentioned this stuck throttle thing, i immediately thought "Put it in neutral!" This is what happens when people entrust their lives to a piece of machinery

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Old 02-24-2010, 05:02 PM   #1 (permalink)
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seriously... when they first mentioned this stuck throttle thing, i immediately thought "Put it in neutral!" This is what happens when people entrust their lives to a piece of machinery they don't understand. i'm not saying you should need to be a mechanic to drive a car, but you should at least know that when a car is in neutral, no matter how much gas you give it, it's not gonna move. Obviously, none of the people who died would have died had this throttle issue not happened in the first place, however if they remembered the basic bits from drivers ed they would still be alive.

I guess this is what happens when a driver is more concerned with 'cars that can park themselves' than actually knowing how to control their vehicle and save their own, their family members, and other drivers lives. sorry if that sounded snide, but what i mentioned earlier should have been anyone's first impulse
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:15 PM   #2 (permalink)
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seriously... when they first mentioned this stuck throttle thing, i immediately thought "Put it in neutral!" This is what happens when people entrust their lives to a piece of machinery they don't understand. i'm not saying you should need to be a mechanic to drive a car, but you should at least know that when a car is in neutral, no matter how much gas you give it, it's not gonna move. Obviously, none of the people who died would have died had this throttle issue not happened in the first place, however if they remembered the basic bits from drivers ed they would still be alive.

I guess this is what happens when a driver is more concerned with 'cars that can park themselves' than actually knowing how to control their vehicle and save their own, their family members, and other drivers lives. sorry if that sounded snide, but what i mentioned earlier should have been anyone's first impulse
Just look at this forum and all the people who have crashed their cars as a result of switching their VDC off. As someone who never even drove a car with any form of traction control until 3 years ago, I just don't get it. Are people really so reliant on technology now that they can't even control a car unless there's an electronic nanny to cut the power to the wheels? I'm 39. Been driving since I was 14. The only traction control I ever knew of up to the age of 36 was my right foot and the gray matter inside of my skull. And guess what? It worked just fine.
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:24 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Just look at this forum and all the people who have crashed their cars as a result of switching their VDC off. As someone who never even drove a car with any form of traction control until 3 years ago, I just don't get it. Are people really so reliant on technology now that they can't even control a car unless there's an electronic nanny to cut the power to the wheels? I'm 39. Been driving since I was 14. The only traction control I ever knew of up to the age of 36 was my right foot and the gray matter inside of my skull. And guess what? It worked just fine.

Aaaaammmmeeeennn! Good call Semtex. And if someone you know doesn't know how to drive a car, now's a good time for a little review. I just told my fiancee this morning, "If this happens to you, put it in park. (Yukon Denali Auto) That's simple. Don't even go for neutral. You never use it, but you know where park is. It won't ruin your car." (Girl speak) She asked if she should use the e brake. I said no.

A lot of people have forgotten because of the electro-stuff. Semtex, good call again. I don't find my girl to be an idiot, but just thought this is a perfect time to brush up on some skills. Spearfish on this board has talked about he being afraid of his girl. Yeah, I get that, but hey, let's give them a quick lesson and move on, right?

No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're a bunch of babies. With things like this, yeah, we are.
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:33 PM   #4 (permalink)
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I'm 39. Been driving since I was 14.
Goddamn it, Semtex, I knew things were loose in the Lone Star State, but this is ridiculous.
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:33 PM   #5 (permalink)
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automatic transmission, traction control, all wheel drive. All of these are advances in technology that have allowed more people to drive in ways they would not have been able to with RWD/manual transmission with no traction control. traction control and awd have probably helped avoid many accidents. However, in the past, when theres snow and black ice all over the road one might say 'Not a good time to drive!' but now people just say 'who cares! i have VDC i'm fine.'

even though a z is probably worse in snow than most 4x4s, you'll see fewer crashed Z's in the the winter (obviously less people drive Z's in winter than 4x4's but just think proportionately) just by virtue of 2 things. A: The Z drive is well aware that his car isn't renowned for its performance in winter weather. so he buys winter tires etc and has great respect for the road conditions in which he is driving, and is especially careful B: the 4x4 driver says 'HAH i can drive just like its summer, even though its snowing because i have "ALL SEASON" tires, four wheel drive, and traction control
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:44 PM   #6 (permalink)
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I had CNN on this afternoon for about 20 minutes. During that time, some Congressman made the point that more deaths have already been caused by unintentionally accelerating Toyotas than were caused by exploding Pintos back in the 70s. I have no idea if that's true or not. But if it is, then that does kinda put things in perspective as well.
Natural selection at work. Like Weatherman stated it should be pretty damn apparent how to stop or slow the car. There are 2 obvious solutions that any driver should know, jam on the brakes or bump it into neutral. The brakes will stop any car, even if the throttle is pegged, and unless it is a supercar with 500hp it will have little impact on stopping distance. The quote from C&D was "A Camry with the throttle pinned to the floor stopped shorter than a Ford Taurus under regular braking". I've had it happen to me back in the day of throttle cables, and while it is a shock for a second you react and take care of it quickly.

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Originally Posted by semtex View Post
Just look at this forum and all the people who have crashed their cars as a result of switching their VDC off. As someone who never even drove a car with any form of traction control until 3 years ago, I just don't get it. Are people really so reliant on technology now that they can't even control a car unless there's an electronic nanny to cut the power to the wheels? I'm 39. Been driving since I was 14. The only traction control I ever knew of up to the age of 36 was my right foot and the gray matter inside of my skull. And guess what? It worked just fine.
Probably some luck too. I know I did my fair share of stupid stuff when I was 18, just made sure I did it by myself with no traffic. Most of the crashes were from drivers inexperienced with powerful RWD cars, that chose the wrong way to learn. Remember our accident and fatality rates are the highest per-capita of any of the developed nations. The countries with the best driver education programs have only 1/3rd the amount of deaths. So obviously education and experience are very important factors.
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Old 02-24-2010, 06:32 PM   #7 (permalink)
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jam on the brakes or bump it into neutral. The brakes will stop any car, even if the throttle is pegged, and unless it is a supercar with 500hp it will have little impact on stopping distance.
Really!


Friends believe CHP officer did all he could to avoid crash - SignOnSanDiego.com


“The brakes were on fire,” Concepcion said.
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Old 02-24-2010, 08:21 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Really!


Friends believe CHP officer did all he could to avoid crash - SignOnSanDiego.com


“The brakes were on fire,” Concepcion said.
He didn't press them hard enough. If he just road the brake enough so that it maintained speed but didn't slow down then he would of smoked the brakes. At that point the brakes wouldn't have been very effective and the only option would have been to select neutral or park. Why he didn't think to do that nobody will ever know.

C&D repeated the test and managed to stop their car from 70 mph in 190 ft with the throttle pinned using only the brakes.
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