Re: Runaway Car - BMW Emulates Audi?

[Jason Cammisa <jcammisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:14 PM 12/15/98 , SMILLER@domain.elided wrote:
>Jason...
>Actually, Car and Driver did this same analysis less than a year after the
>big Audi "unintended acceleration" scare hit the public.  They came to the
>same conclusion:  Offset pedal placement caused drivers to hit the gas
>while they thought they were on the brake.  That is why I said, in my
>original post, that I knew that the Audi scare was just drivers getting on
>the wrong pedal.  Was the TV story current when you saw it a year
>ago?  It seems like kind of old news, at least as far as the Audi is
>concerned.

	Oops... Don't think I was reading Car & Driver when that whole scare
happened-- I was probably about 10 years old. :)  (I started at 13, FWIW) :)
	But about the TV story, yeah, it was current-- it was sparked by the Jeep
Cherokee recall to have them retrofitted with a shift lock because of
unintended acceleration reports... and they flashed back to the Audi incident.

>I was only interested in finding out if there have been instances of BMW
>throttles sticking open, and so far I've seen no responses that this is
>common.  I therefore conclude that  T.D of Virginia Beach, VA, the
>person who wrote the letter to the newspaper columnist, in fact did "an
>Audi" (i.e. hit the wrong pedal).  Except, as far as I know, the E30 with
>automatic does not have the pedals offset to the left like the Audi.


Sticky throttles can and do happen on any make or model... A frayed
accelerator cable can do it in a snap-- and it happens all the time (esp in
cold weather)...
	
In an instance like TD of Virginia Beach, VA, I would have to say that it
was indeed an "Audi" move.  Since the 'victim' claims that his foot was on
the brake and the "anti-skid system" failed, it's rather apparent that his
foot was actually hitting the accelerator pedal.  Now, if he said that the
car took off and he was too panic-stricken to hit the brakes, then I would
say it was a possible throttle linkage problem.  Under the circumstances,
though, not a chance.  The dude had his foot on the gas.

Also, there is no counter-spring (to my knowledge) on the E30's throttle
linkeage that could floor the gas pedal if a spring broke (like someone had
mentioned in an older car).  So TD would have had to press the gas pedal
all the way down by himself after engaging Drive... further proof (IMHO)
that it was, in fact, driver error.

And one more point, before half of the list wants to shoot me. :)  Why is
it that more than a handful of us have experienced a stuck throttle, and
yet none of us smashed through our garage, killing our kids in the process?
 The reason is that we're competent, attentive drivers who are in tune and
knowledgeable about our cars. It seems to me that the people who are having
these problems are (no flames please) skittish women drivers, and older,
non-technically savvy men.  You just don't hear about 30-year old yuppie
car enthusiasts crashing through buildings when their throttles get stuck.
So, to me, it seems like these "uncontrollable cars" are more a function of
the driver's ability to deal with surprises on the road than the car itself.

The soap box is getting wabbly... I best get down before I fall.

My $0.02
		Jason

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