Over rev protection: Safe Shifting

["Phemister, George - AFN" <PHEMISG@xxxxxxxx>]

>>>John Miller writes:Oh, this'd be comical.  You're downshifting 3-2, ease
out the clutch to get
the engine braking, the computer decides the engine's overreving and stuffs
the clutch in on you.

What happens?  You clobber whatever's in front of you, or end up in a
ditch.

Please, no more 'solutions' for problems that don't exist.  Auto cars still
have the bloody shift-interlock brought on by the "unintended acceleration"
crap a few years back - all because ex-Oldsmobile owners (I think the term
'driver' implies too much here) who bought Audis couldn't find the stinking
brake pedal.

I appreciate the DSP on our new 540ia (especially first time out on a
half-wet Nordschleife), but I also appreciate the 'off'
switch.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I think the idea was for the clutch release to occur at something above the
point where the rev limiter kicked in, so that as the engine passed say 7500
rpm, the clutch would release in conjunction with the rev limiter and
perhaps save the engine. However, I'm not convinced that the release could
occur fast enough to do much good. The problem of misplaced downshifts does
occur, as one driver recently discovered at the same Nordscheife, with a
blown engine as a result.

I'm inclined to use the brakes to slow the car, and select the appropriate
gear to accelerate, not slow the car down. 

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End of bmw-digest V9 #598
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