Driver Stuck at 125mph

[grout]

I cannot imagine this,, guy hits cruise control after getting on the highway going 60. Once he set the cruise control his car speed up to 100mph. He tried to slow down and his car speed up to 125mph and stuck. This happened for 150 miles.

What would you do?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/speed-french-driver-gets-stuck-125mph-172604661.html

 

[NickNitro]

I would try and get Keanu Reeves on the phone, he seems to know how to handle these situations a lot better than I ever could.

 

[Drizzle]

 

[Mace Dolex]

There was a hilariously bad TV movie with Judge Reinhold that reminded me of this. Runaway Car

 

[NickNitro]

Really horrible though. If hes alive after this, he just drove 125 mph into the biggest pile of cash.

 

[grout]

I think it said the guy had 2 seizures over this,, i wonder if this happened during or after? Just saying if it happened during I have no clue how the guy made it..

 

[THE MR. TERRIFIC]

I would have been scared $#!@less

 

[Brain Damage]

There's a Scooby Doo episode where the Mystery Machine won't stop until eventually it runs out of fuel.

Having said that, I can't even imagine how panicked I'd be in that situation. Props to this guy for surviving, he must have some moves.

 

[NickNitro]

True, good call Brain Damage. I hope he had less than a half a tank of gas. Imagen if he just filled up?

Really though, this guys going to get a boat load of money. Between hospital expenses and psychological damage.

I'd never want to put a car in cruise control again.

 

[Hotwire]

Put it in neutral, apply the breaks, shut it off.

 

[NickNitro]

Quick go tell him!

 

[The Guard]

Yeah, umm...did he try turning off the ignition? Doesn't seem like he did based on the report.

 

[Marvolo]

The speed itself wouldn't bother me as much as the overall situation. I drive a manual transmission car so go to neutral. In an automatic it would be much harder depending on built in ecu safety features and overrides. On the interstate I would just try to keep it on the road, flashers on, lay on the horn and hope to god everyone got out of my way. I'd get on the phone and call 911, and hope for no traffic. If I absolutely had to stop I would try to get it in reverse and let the transmission eat itself then apply as much break as possible without losing control.

 

[grout]

Put it in neutral, apply the breaks, shut it off.

Seems the most logical lol... I think people just panic and think "oh shi*" instead of what do i do. I would like more on the story to see if he tried neutral or not..or if it would even allow

 

[Marvolo]

Put it in neutral, apply the breaks, shut it off.

I'm in my room, and that wasn't even my first thought. In the situation that might not come to mind right away.

Even then, back when Toyota was having those throttle hang-ups there was something I remember hearing about that kept you from just shifting into neutral. There was a safety feature in the ECU that would stop the transmission from accidentally being shifted into park or neutral at high speeds so that you wouldn't redline it. So if the person would move the shifter to Neutral at high speeds the ECU wouldn't actually allow the transmission to shift. You have to get below a certain speed before you can shift into neutral.

Automatic transmission cars have ECU software that links up with the shifter. Built in safety protocols kick in at certain speeds and under certain conditions so basically your shifter is switched off. This is so that if Little Jimmy decides he wants mommy's car to be in neutral or park at 70mph he can't just throw it into neutral or park.

 

[Beanjuice]

my sides

 

[The Guard]

Yes, that's true for shifting, but I'm fairly certain that with most cars you can shut off the engine at any speed.

 

[Wolfwood]

This would probably be the only time living in California would be a blessing, there wouldn't be enough room on the road to build up to 125 MPH.

 

[Marvolo]

Yes, that's true for shifting, but I'm fairly certain that with most cars you can shut off the engine at any speed.

I would like to think so, but honestly modern ECU's control so much of a car I wouldn't put it past the manufacture to have installed a starter safety of some sort that keeps the engine from being switched off while at high speeds. Everytime I turn around I find some new thing my car can do. While back I discovered their is a safety that keeps the power steering pump running until the wheels stop turning so that if the engine dies I don't lose power steering. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Baramos]

My first thought was to turn off the ignition. This will make the car quit going 125 mph.

My gas pedal got stuck one day while I was driving and I started going faster and faster...so I turned my car off and pulled off the highway. Put some WD-40 on the valve inside the engine compartment that controls that so it wouldn't get stuck again, although I have since quit driving that car anyway because it needs a new radiator.

This happened for 150 miles.

Um, yeah, he's an idiot to not turn the car off.

Did he maybe call somebody and ask what to do and they could have told him, "You can turn the car off..."

a starter safety of some sort that keeps the engine from being switched off while at high speeds.

Uh, no, there's usually a safety that makes it shut off if it goes up to 125 mph. There was clearly something wrong with THAT in this car, as well (well, some will go faster than 120, but not many if they are in proper working order because the computer shuts them off at 120 mph).

In the case of your power steering pump that is a positive safety that makes the car safer. A safety that prevented the car from turning off would make it less safe, ergo no one would think to have created it in the first place.

Also in the case of a safety to prevent the car being put into park from drive would first have to pass through neutral and then REVERSE, which will screw the engine up anyway so I would assume it would quit running at 125 mph that way, as well (yes, I did this by accident one time, though the car survived the ordeal with no apparent problems, the engine light came on and after I shut it off and waited a few minutes and turned it back on, it ran fine). Really I wouldn't see the point of a safety that prevented it from going into neutral (preventing it from going into reverse would be good, of course, and I'm sure that car I accidentally did it in had that since it continued forward after a large WHUMP and jerky motion, presumably the computer overriding the automatic and putting it back out of reverse) and hope that Toyota no longer installs them as it is making the car less safe to do so. I would rather my engine redlined and burnt up than be unable to put it into neutral in the case of the gas getting stuck, which is a common problem in many cars, especially as they age.

 

[Anita18]

DOT standards apparently say the transmission of any car MUST be able to disengage from drive into neutral even when the car is moving.

My fiance almost accelerated INTO the back of a truck once on the freeway in order to pass someone in the left lane, because he severely overestimated how fast the truck was going. Next time that happens, I'm shifting that thing into neutral and then having him pay any possible transmission damage to my car. It was a really close call. And no, anything I do as a female Asian driver will never equal the utter stupidity of that move.

Also, any car is supposed to stop if the brake is applied, even if you're pushing down on the accelerator along with the brake. Brake always takes precedence. DO NOT pump your brake, it will deplete the vacuum assist and then you won't be able to brake at all. Just apply constant pressure on it.

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/if-you-...g--will-you-damage-your-engine--20120809.html

 

[Mad Love]

I don't think I ever went past 90

 

[Thundercrack85]

No one would have noticed if he had been on the Autobahn.

 

[redmarvel]

Yeah, umm...did he try turning off the ignition? Doesn't seem like he did based on the report.

You wouldn't want to succeed in turning off the ignition. You lose steering control if the engine is not on. Neutral and brakes are the way to go.

 

[James]

No one would have noticed if he had been on the Autobahn.

They'd have all been cruising past him.