4 ms·

I don't understand how this worked. If Pace's foot was still on the accelerator, wouldn't it be difficult to get his truck to slow down?

ynniv 16y ago
Yes. Impossible? No. The force that your car is capable of exerting on your tires is far less than the engine is capable of producing. You can see this in performance stats, where 100 to 0 braking always takes much less time than 0 to 100 acceleration. We don't generally quote braking power for cars, but given the increasing attention to safety it is much higher now than it has been historically. Of course, this would not work well if the other vehicle was substantially heavier (best indicated by the number and size of tires). You would have a difficult time stopping a tractor trailer with a minivan, possibly causing your brakes to fail or your tires to melt.
- ynniv 16y ago
  The force that your car is capable of exerting on your tires is far less than the engine is capable of producing. s/less/greater/ I guess people got the gist anyway.
gabea 16y ago
I agree. That part confused me a bit. Was Pace's foot on the accelerator when Innes got out of the car to check on him as well?
- Periodic 16y ago
  Since the car was in gear I wouldn't be surprised if a slow and controlled breaking would cause the engine to stall. He passed out because his circulation was poor, which I take to mean that his foot was resting on the accelerator, not that he was pushing it to floor.
  - gabea 16y ago
    That makes sense.
laut 16y ago
Have you ever driven a car with a manual transmission and tried to set off with the handbrake pulled? Brakes can bring a car to standstill even fighting the engine. The brakes in the SUV in front are dimensioned for that SUV and I assume those brakes are not worse than the ones in the truck behind it.
- robgough 16y ago
  Actually it's not difficult to set off with the handbrake on at all.... That's why so many people do it accidentally. You do feel it though.
  - lkjhygtfrghj 16y ago
    the handbrake is a lot less effective than the main brakes. Especialy on cars with all round disks. The handbrake only puts a small brake on the rear axle.
  - BlazingFrog 16y ago
    Personally I didn't "feel it" that one time, but I did smell it...
Dove 16y ago
Consider that most the acceleration you can possibly exert is the friction between your tires and the road. Consider that your brakes are almost always powerful enough to hit that max (and more -- you can induce a skid). Consider that your engine sometimes is powerful enough to hit that max, but it usually isn't, especially at high speed. Consider some advice from my driver's ed teacher long ago: "Some folks may have 4 wheel drive, but everybody has 4 wheel stop." So we have two vehicles duking it out high speed (where braking power >> acceleration power already). It's probably no contest. But at worst, it's a high mass minivan with 4 wheels saying "stop" in a friction-with-the-pavement contest with a medium mass pickup with (probably) 2 wheels saying "go". The minivan should win handily. Even if the pickup has it floored the whole time.
pertymcpert 16y ago
I think what may have helped was the fact that at 40mph, the vehicle was likely in 3rd gear or so. After initially slowing it down, the higher gear would mean that the engine would produce less torque and make it easier to slow down.

ynniv 16y ago

Yes. Impossible? No. The force that your car is capable of exerting on your tires is far less than the engine is capable of producing. You can see this in performance stats, where 100 to 0 braking always takes much less time than 0 to 100 acceleration. We don't generally quote braking power for cars, but given the increasing attention to safety it is much higher now than it has been historically. Of course, this would not work well if the other vehicle was substantially heavier (best indicated by the number and size of tires). You would have a difficult time stopping a tractor trailer with a minivan, possibly causing your brakes to fail or your tires to melt.

ynniv 16y ago
The force that your car is capable of exerting on your tires is far less than the engine is capable of producing. s/less/greater/ I guess people got the gist anyway.

gabea 16y ago

I agree. That part confused me a bit. Was Pace's foot on the accelerator when Innes got out of the car to check on him as well?

Periodic 16y ago
Since the car was in gear I wouldn't be surprised if a slow and controlled breaking would cause the engine to stall. He passed out because his circulation was poor, which I take to mean that his foot was resting on the accelerator, not that he was pushing it to floor.
- gabea 16y ago
  That makes sense.

laut 16y ago

Have you ever driven a car with a manual transmission and tried to set off with the handbrake pulled? Brakes can bring a car to standstill even fighting the engine. The brakes in the SUV in front are dimensioned for that SUV and I assume those brakes are not worse than the ones in the truck behind it.

robgough 16y ago
Actually it's not difficult to set off with the handbrake on at all.... That's why so many people do it accidentally. You do feel it though.
- lkjhygtfrghj 16y ago
  the handbrake is a lot less effective than the main brakes. Especialy on cars with all round disks. The handbrake only puts a small brake on the rear axle.
- BlazingFrog 16y ago
  Personally I didn't "feel it" that one time, but I did smell it...

Dove 16y ago

Consider that most the acceleration you can possibly exert is the friction between your tires and the road. Consider that your brakes are almost always powerful enough to hit that max (and more -- you can induce a skid). Consider that your engine sometimes is powerful enough to hit that max, but it usually isn't, especially at high speed. Consider some advice from my driver's ed teacher long ago: "Some folks may have 4 wheel drive, but everybody has 4 wheel stop." So we have two vehicles duking it out high speed (where braking power >> acceleration power already). It's probably no contest. But at worst, it's a high mass minivan with 4 wheels saying "stop" in a friction-with-the-pavement contest with a medium mass pickup with (probably) 2 wheels saying "go". The minivan should win handily. Even if the pickup has it floored the whole time.

pertymcpert 16y ago

I think what may have helped was the fact that at 40mph, the vehicle was likely in 3rd gear or so. After initially slowing it down, the higher gear would mean that the engine would produce less torque and make it easier to slow down.