This Company Sucks..

[utopiomania]

Well, I have tested my capitalist (US) made pick-up truck on the nearby highway, and I can shift it into
neutral at top speed, no problems.

The engine just revved up to the limiter, and I could stop it easily.

It was not possible to shift it into Reverse or Park at that speed, however, which is ok by me. (Thanks, GM )

[Joakim Christiansen]

Just found this Norwegian news article...
http://www.vg.no/bil-og-motor/artikkel.php?artid=591653
Happened with a Toyota Prius 2009 model. This is starting to get insane...

[Kuron]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-st ... d=10046912
This is new, there sure has to be a serious problem with the cars yes...

This driver gave into panic and it was up to the police officer to give him a kick in the common sense. The car was stopped in the same method I said it should and could be. Use the emergency brake to slow it down and then turn the ignition off.

[Trond]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-st ... d=10046912
This is new, there sure has to be a serious problem with the cars yes...

This driver gave into panic and it was up to the police officer to give him a kick in the common sense. The car was stopped in the same method I said it should and could be. Use the emergency brake to slow it down and then turn the ignition off.

Actually, you didn't. You claimed the problem was the floor mat and that to stop the car one should push back the mat with the heel. Just read through the topic. And if this didn't work, you claimed that in any case, the emergency brake would stop the car. Which it didn't.

Also, simply pressing the power button (electronic ignition) doesn't actually turn off the ignition when the car is running.

[Kuron]

t's clearly the cruise control.

If it was the cruise control, it wouldn't have continued to accelerate.

You claimed the problem was the floor mat and that to stop the car one should push back the mat with the heel.

You seem confused and are taking comments out of context. The initial video posted is indeed ruled to be floormats. There has been no ruling on this latest accident.

And if this didn't work, you claimed that in any case, the emergency brake would stop the car. Which it didn't.

Yes, if a floormat has shifted on your pedal, you do need to move it. And one of the ways for helping stop any runaway car is to use the emergency brake, which is what the police told this individual to do and it did indeed work and slowed the car down to half the speed and would have continued to slow it down to a stop if the driver had not turned off the ignition, which is also something I suggested.

My point is, the standard ways of stopping a runaway car do work, and the latest mishap is proof of that. Unfortunately, people overlook the obvious solutions when they panic or are just stupid and do not apply common sense.

[utopiomania]

people overlook the obvious solutions when they panic or are just stupid and do not apply common sense.

Kuron, Its you that do not apply to common sense. Toyota has acknowledged this problem. Here in Norway, they fix the pedal,not the floormat, as they do all over the world, so give us a break.

[Kuron]

This latest story is really fishy, the more that comes out about it. The driver refused to comply with police instructions during the "runaway" incident. He blatantly refused to put the car into neutral when the officer told him to:

Doubters have asked why Sikes didn't put the car in neutral as a California Highway Patrol dispatcher and an officer repeatedly urged him to do. Sikes said he considered going into neutral but worried he might go into reverse or flip.

"I had never played with this kind of transmission, especially when you're driving, and I was actually afraid to do that," he said Tuesday. "I was afraid to do anything out of the normal."

He also refused to push and hold the ignition button for five seconds when the dispatcher told him to.

Some are leaning towards this being a hoax, but I am willing to take the man at his word, and in doing so, his own words quoted above make it very clear that this man was very inexperienced with the car he was driving and probably should not have been behind the wheel of any car without a remedial driving safety course.

[Trond]

Some are leaning towards this being a hoax, but I am willing to take the man at his word, and in doing so, his own words quoted above make it very clear that this man was very inexperienced with the car he was driving and probably should not have been behind the wheel of any car without a remedial driving safety course.

I think he's very dumb too, if what you quote above is true. Still, even with dumb drivers, cars should not drive off on their own. If they are really that hard to operate properly, manufacturers need to make them easier to drive.

IMO it should not be allowed to get a driving license without being able to drive a manual transmission. But you really cannot blame people for taking the easy way out when everyone else does, and it's officially allowed.

I still something is wrong with the cruise control, though. Because I have never heard of the problem here in Norway (except from the article linked above), and most cars have manual transmission and no cruise control. When looking up this issue on youtube, I found almost all involved cars had cruise control, I could not find any incident when the car decidedly had no cruise control.
Besides, there's only two things connected to the throttle: the pedal and the cruise control. If the gas pedal isn't the problem, it's got to be cruise control. I seriously doubt the problem is in the stereo system. (Maybe some subliminal message telling the drivers to go faster, faster, faster?)

[Kuron]

IMO it should not be allowed to get a driving license without being able to drive a manual transmission.

I agree 100%.

I still something is wrong with the cruise control, though. Because I have never heard of the problem here in Norway (except from the article linked above), and most cars have manual transmission and no cruise control.

In the USA, you will find cruise control on cars with manual transmissions and automatic transmissions. It used to only be on the higher end models, but now it is somewhat of a "standard" on most cars.

[utopiomania]

Kuron, a Swedish lady started her Toyota, and it accellerated out of control and chrashed into her
neighbours garage in a few seconds.

She could have killed someone easily. And Prius is closed to beeing grounded in Norway pending
investigation.

[Kuron]

Kuron, a Swedish lady started her Toyota, and it accellerated out of control and chrashed into her
neighbours garage in a few seconds.

Here in the USA, things like this happen daily, people start their car and drive through a building. The cause is generally found to be they hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. This issue seems to affect the elderly more than any other demographic.

[UserOfPure]

cars should not drive off on their own

I've always seriously wondered why cars don't act like amusement park dodgem cars, ie. they ONLY accelerate if the pedal's being pushed, and if you remove your foot, it brakes quickly but smoothly, without jolting. (With of course a real brake pedal too for faster stopping). Would make sense, and would save lives, especially for people who collapse at the wheel on a highway.

[Kuron]

Nice video

[Kuron]

It seems this latest one is really "fishy"

Report: Probe Questions Account of Runaway Prius

"The Journal said three people familiar with the probe, whom it did not name, said Sikes' brakes didn't show wear consistent with having been applied at full force at high speeds for a long period. Instead, they may have been applied intermittently, the newspaper said."

[Kaeru Gaman]

This Topic Sucks..

I'm tired to see this suckin Title again and again as a new-post-title.