This is just... stupid

Runaway Prius

Another stuck pedal.

Why doesn't anybody think to throw the car in neutral and turn off the engine? How thick are these people who let their cars get away from them so easily?

"After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt."

doesn't your steering wheel lock if your turn off your engine?


Edited by FROG MAN - 09 March 2010 at 11:06am

Tolgak wrote: .Why doesn't anybody think to throw the car in neutral and turn off the engine? How thick are these people who let their cars get away from them so easily?

Doesn't work that way

While driving her car near her home in Tennessee in 2006, Rhonda's Lexus ES350 began to accelerate quickly and without warning. "I put the car into all available gears, including neutral," she recalled about her fruitless attempt to slow the car down. Ms. Smith says she even put the car into reverse, in which position the gearshift remained as the car quickly reached a speed of 100mph. After putting both feet on the brake and employing the emergency brake to no avail, Ms. Smith began to think that her only choice was to run her car into the guardrail, if only to save the other drivers on the highway. Fearing death, she called husband. "I knew he could not help me, but I wanted to hear his voice one more time," she recalled. "After six miles later, God intervened," and the car began to slow on it own, though the engine continued to rev itself in cycles. When the vehicle had finally slowed to around 35 mph, she was able to stop the engine. Upon her husband's arrival on the scene, they looked at the accelerator and found nothing amiss about it or the floor mats. They did however make a note that the car's radio was still operating. As he helped the tow truck driver with the Lexus, Ms. Smith's husband switched the car into neutral, causing it to lurch forward suddenly.

You're taking the complex computer controlled integrated systems in today's automobiles and trying to equate them with older technology or manual systems which, quite frankly, is like trying to compare a fly-by-wire modern Airbus with an old Ford Tri-Motor. Apples to oranges Tolga.

The systems in modern automobiles, especially in technologically "advanced" vehicles like hybrids, are controlled by a central computer system which has virtually no redundant back-ups. It simply doesn't make any sense these days to not have backup systems in automobiles. While some systems such as the power steering are self-redundant (power steering isn't a critical system, it isn't even a primary system, it's a secondary system to the driver's own muscle-power) things like the throttle, brakes, and even the gear-box in an automatic aren't backed up by anything if the computer fails. Which brings me to ask this. Most all of us have back-ups for our computer systems because we know that computers crash. I store my valuable information on a solid-state hdd in another box which isn't hooked up to anything other than a power source to keep everything in working order. Why would a company such as Toyota, which I guarantee you backs up all of its computer systems at its offices, rely solely on computers to keep its customers safe? This is a big wake-up call for the whole industry. First and foremost, Chinese components can't be trusted to meet the standards of developed countries such as Japan and the US. Secondly, redundant safety systems are a must in cars, especially with the millions of people out there driving every single day.

My Mazda has redundant back-ups. My Subaru had amazingly good redundant back-ups. Even my old '90 Camry had redundant back-ups.

My Subaru had a shredded propeller shaft and it still worked. The teeth on 3rd gear had literally been stripped off and the propeller shaft snapped, but that car would still drive, and did drive for a week before I could get it back to the shop (200 miles away) albeit, it made some really really bad sounds. But Subaru has a build requirement in all of its cars since the mid 1990's when they started incorporating more technologically advanced systems. That requirement is a "limp home" ability which allows the driver to get the car where it needs to go even with the most catastrophic of failures. Why can't Toyota do this? Why can't they build in safety systems to back up their computers, especially in $30K-$40K cars which are considered "luxury" cars by the public?

Edited by tallen702 - 09 March 2010 at 11:59am

Tallen She still didn't turn the engine off. Now, maybe there would be an issue if it was a push button starter, but I've never heard of a car that wont turn off when given the command to.

Aside from that issue with the neutral position not working, I think people panic too much in these situations and just don't see the simple solutions.

I like of the redneckish sloagans coming out of this. "Toyota: Moving Foward, even when you dont want to" and "Toyota: making me buy American one recall at a time".

This is why everyone should drive manual transmission.  Just smack it out of gear and let the engine rev like crazy.

Tolgak wrote: Now, maybe there would be an issue if it was a push button starter,

Prius's are push-button starts. My dad owns one.

Anyway...As posted, the problem is that a Prius is very computer-controlled. In even a modern non-hybrid the gas pedal just operates a cable that opens the throttle butterfly valve. On a Prius the gas pedal tells the computer to adjust the engine.

I've been saying since this started that this is a software glitch. If the computer wigs out, the gas pedal physically does nothing because it's just a pedal on a potentiometer. If the computer wigs, the brakes on a hybrid will be compromised because a good portion of a hybrid's braking power is supplied by shutting down the engine and using the cylinders as air cushions, and switching the motors to generator mode, which induces drag.

I should take my dad's Prius out and see if I can shut the car off while driving. Hell even a modern car will do nothing if you're desperate enough to try to drop it in park at speed.

Times im glad I can shift the transfer case on my jeep into nuteral if for some reson I cant shift the tranny.

usafpilot07 wrote: ammolord wrote: Times im glad I can shift the transfer case on my jeep into nuteral if for some reson I cant shift the tranny. Just hire smaller ones, and stop killing them while you're on the bottom.

OK. I'll admit it. Maybe them's ain't so stupid.

All the previous being said, I never knew there were cars out there that wouldn't turn off when given the command.