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In some cars there is electronics that will stop the gas when the brakes are applied, but many brans (including toyota) do not employ these electronics. So, if
by timwiseman 17y ago
In some cars there is electronics that will stop the gas when the brakes are applied, but many brans (including toyota) do not employ these electronics.
So, if the gas is stuck and the brakes are both applied they will act in opposition, and with most engines the engine will overpower the brakes. So, applying the breaks will slow it down (especially if you apply normal and emergency breaks together), but it probably will not stop.
I vaguely remember a newscast where someone did apply both brakes and it slowed them down from some extreme speed to somewhere around the 40s or 50s.
- joe_bleau 17y agoCome on people, let's see some cited examples of engines overpowering brakes! Car and Driver actually did a test (http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q4/how_to_deal_with_unintended_acceleration-tech_dept http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q4/how_to_deal_with_u...), and even a hot (540HP) Roush stage 3 Mustang didn't overpower the brakes at 70MPH.
- timwiseman 17y agoThanks for the link. I was unaware of the test. I was basing that on the news reports that said that was what happened when they tried to brake.
- lutorm 17y agoI don't believe for a moment that the engine will overpower the brake, for the simple reason that any normal car can stop faster than it can accelerate. That means the brakes are stronger. For sure a Camry or Prius can in no way accelerate faster than they stop. Yes, there is an issue with overheating the brakes, but that will take a fairly long time, certainly longer than the time it should take you to figure out wtf is going on and shift to neutral or turn the ignition off. IMHO, the outcome of these incidents being someone dying has driver error written all over it, even if the runaway acceleration actually is real.