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From: Brent on 14 Feb 2010 18:35 On 2010-02-14, Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Last time on rec.autos.driving, Brent ><tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> said: > >>Mechanically that 'stuck pedal' couldn't be severely stuck. Nothing a >>good hit with one's foot would jar loose. At least that's what the 'fix' >>seems to indicate to me. > > And so far nobody has reported having the presence of mind to try > sticking a toe underneath the pedal and lifting it up. Yep. Basically it's a plastic-on-plastic fiction sticking that's being claimed. I can't see how that would be so jammed that pulling it back up or giving it a good wack wouldn't work to free it.
From: Ashton Crusher on 14 Feb 2010 19:56 On Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:09:19 -0800, Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Last time on rec.autos.driving, Brent ><tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> said: > >>Mechanically that 'stuck pedal' couldn't be severely stuck. Nothing a >>good hit with one's foot would jar loose. At least that's what the 'fix' >>seems to indicate to me. > >And so far nobody has reported having the presence of mind to try >sticking a toe underneath the pedal and lifting it up. I saw one post from someone who said they had read a story about someone putting their foot under the pedal to pull it up and it not slowing the vehicle down. Not exactly a first hand account. I've always leaned toward this being at least partly a software issue.
From: Ashton Crusher on 14 Feb 2010 20:01 On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:47:52 -0800, Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Last time on rec.autos.driving, "Daniel W. Rouse Jr." ><dwrousejr(a)nethere.comNOSPAM> said: > >>> How did he manage to stop it? By throwing it into neutral and/or >>> turning off the ignition, I'll wager... >> >>I found the links to the Prius cruise control story and a similar issue >>brought up in the Lexus crash. Here they are, along with the relevant quoted >>excerpts. >> >>Prius owners blame wild rides on cruise control >>http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/11/prius.cruise.control/index.html > >The most interesting part to me was the analysis by Steve Wozniak, who >claims it's a software issue. He's by far the most credible source >that I've heard weigh in on this issue. > >>Grover Walton rode the brakes and looked for the best place to pull over. He >>turned onto a dirt road and popped the car into neutral. >> >>When the car stopped, the two front brakes "had a red glow to them," he >>said. > >OK, so why did he wait so long to shift into neutral? I would have >done that immediately, then coasted onto the shoulder and stopped. The >brakes were only glowing red because it took such a long time to >gather his wits. > >>Herb Kuehn of Battle Creek, Michigan, said the same thing happened to him in >>2005 on a two-lane highway. He said he tried to resume cruise control at 58 >>mph. >> >>"Instead, it just fully accelerated and kept going," Kuehn said. >> >>He frantically pushed the power button. It didn't respond. > >We all know by now that frantically stabbing at the button is not >going to work. The correct procedure is to hold the power button down >for 3 seconds to shut the car off. > >>The car wouldn't shift into neutral. > >I don't believe that for one second. Grover Walton, once he got his >panic under control, was able to accomplish it. > We have a Prius at work. I've only used it a couple times but the "shifter" is different them most. It's doesn't really go "into" a positron, you move it to different spots but it returns to the same "rest point". Quite honestly, just thinking without being in the car I have no idea what way to move it to "shift" it into neutral or whether you need to hold it there for some number of seconds before it actually does it. it would not surprise me at all if it immediately shifts to neutral when you are stopped but has some 2 or 3 second delay when moving so it doesn't "accidentally" get knocked into neutral while driving. >>His last hope: mashing on the brakes as hard as he could >>while speeding at 76 mph. >> >>The car came to a stop on the shoulder of the road. An overwhelming battery >>smell wafted through the inside of the car, he said. > >So here we have a guy who doesn't know the difference between a >BATTERY smell and a BRAKE smell. His credibility as an automotive >failure witness just dropped another notch. > Maybe it did have a battery smell, Maybe the brakes were in both regen mode as well as "real brake" mode and the prolonged regn part heated up some stuff hotter then it normally gets. >>[begin quoted text] >> >>One witness reported that she was driving north on state Route 125 at >>Grossmont College Drive when she saw a white Lexus going about 45 to 50 mph >>with its emergency flashers on, "surging like it was out of gas." She passed >>the car, then saw in her rearview mirror that it was pulling over to the >>right shoulder and lost sight of it. >> >>Seconds later, the car zoomed past her. >> >>"I've never seen a car go that fast," she told investigators. Another >>witness described the speeding sedan as a "white blur." >> >>[end quoted text] > >Was the Lexus named "Christine?" :) > >Seriously, this doesn't sound like a stuck accelerator. A stuck >accelerator would be expected to produce a steady acceleration, not >these wild fluctuations between 0 and 100 MPH.
From: root on 15 Feb 2010 06:34 Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > I've swapped out many batteries over the years and never noticed any > odors coming from any of them. When a lead/acid battery is rapidly charged it emits a sulfuric acid odor.
From: Ashton Crusher on 15 Feb 2010 12:37
On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:11:32 -0800, Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Last time on rec.autos.driving, root <NoEMail(a)home.org> said: > >>Scott in SoCal <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >>> >>> I've swapped out many batteries over the years and never noticed any >>> odors coming from any of them. >> >>When a lead/acid battery is rapidly charged it >>emits a sulfuric acid odor. > >And is this a smell that would be familiar to Prius owners? Possibly it will be!! |