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What I don't understand, is why aren't drivers smart enough to just shift into Neutral and turn off the engine? I mean, it's not rocket science. I've had my t

by Osiris 17y ago

What I don't understand, is why aren't drivers smart enough to just shift into Neutral and turn off the engine? I mean, it's not rocket science. I've had my throttle stick on my floor mat in my 2002 Passat quite frequently and I've never freaked out about it or even had a problem regaining control. The real thing to do here is to make sure the drivers in the U.S. know how to properly operate a motor vehicle.

albertcardona 17y ago
I recall a sentence (cruelly) stating (paraphrasing): "The problem with country X is stupidity. Let's remove all safety labels from everything and let the problem get solved by itself." Well-prepared individuals who can stay cool in tense situations will always have an advantage.
Herring 17y ago
Well then they wouldn't get into an accident & you wouldn't hear about them. Look, things are different in the aggregate. You only hear about special results, so it doesn't make sense to wonder why they're special.
InclinedPlane 17y ago
A lot of the drivers affected appear to be older drivers. It's possible that more savvy drivers do just shift into neutral and just "handle it", and just chalk it up to a random occurrence rather than a life-threatening major defect. However, one thing that i don't think many people appreciate is that in some of these scenarios if the driver begins braking normally (i.e. to slow their speed rather than a full-on emergency stop) and they continue to do so for a little while they will very rapidly burn up their brake pads, and then they won't have the ability to use the brakes. This scenario may be frightening enough to induce panic, even though throwing it into neutral (or even, say, low) and applying the emergency brake would quickly resolve the situation. Note also that for these keyless vehicles turning off the engine is not as intuitive (or even possible) as it would be for a keyed ignition. I agree that the problem is not just a hardware issue, it's also the result of driver error, but even so you want to stack the deck in favor of safety and make sure that you avoid these sorts of failures that will be more likely to result in driving mishaps, even if theoretically drivers should be able to recover from the situation if they keep presence of mind and know what they're doing.
- anamax 17y ago
  > However, one thing that i don't think many people appreciate is that in some of these scenarios if the driver begins braking normally (i.e. to slow their speed rather than a full-on emergency stop) and they continue to do so for a little while they will very rapidly burn up their brake pads, and then they won't have the ability to use the brakes. I don't think that brakes burn out that quickly. I once had a car with a brake problem such that the brakes were always somewhat on. They lasted for quite a while. (That car had a lot of horsepower so I didn't notice the extra drag. However, even it couldn't overpower its brakes, which were nowhere near as good as today's brakes, when I stomped on both pedals.)

by Osiris 17y ago

albertcardona 17y ago

I recall a sentence (cruelly) stating (paraphrasing): "The problem with country X is stupidity. Let's remove all safety labels from everything and let the problem get solved by itself." Well-prepared individuals who can stay cool in tense situations will always have an advantage.

Herring 17y ago

Well then they wouldn't get into an accident & you wouldn't hear about them. Look, things are different in the aggregate. You only hear about special results, so it doesn't make sense to wonder why they're special.

InclinedPlane 17y ago

A lot of the drivers affected appear to be older drivers. It's possible that more savvy drivers do just shift into neutral and just "handle it", and just chalk it up to a random occurrence rather than a life-threatening major defect. However, one thing that i don't think many people appreciate is that in some of these scenarios if the driver begins braking normally (i.e. to slow their speed rather than a full-on emergency stop) and they continue to do so for a little while they will very rapidly burn up their brake pads, and then they won't have the ability to use the brakes. This scenario may be frightening enough to induce panic, even though throwing it into neutral (or even, say, low) and applying the emergency brake would quickly resolve the situation. Note also that for these keyless vehicles turning off the engine is not as intuitive (or even possible) as it would be for a keyed ignition. I agree that the problem is not just a hardware issue, it's also the result of driver error, but even so you want to stack the deck in favor of safety and make sure that you avoid these sorts of failures that will be more likely to result in driving mishaps, even if theoretically drivers should be able to recover from the situation if they keep presence of mind and know what they're doing.

anamax 17y ago
> However, one thing that i don't think many people appreciate is that in some of these scenarios if the driver begins braking normally (i.e. to slow their speed rather than a full-on emergency stop) and they continue to do so for a little while they will very rapidly burn up their brake pads, and then they won't have the ability to use the brakes. I don't think that brakes burn out that quickly. I once had a car with a brake problem such that the brakes were always somewhat on. They lasted for quite a while. (That car had a lot of horsepower so I didn't notice the extra drag. However, even it couldn't overpower its brakes, which were nowhere near as good as today's brakes, when I stomped on both pedals.)