Quote:
Originally Posted by m4a1mustang
Well most people don't know a thing about cars... in a panic situation they just stand on the brakes.
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Yes, they stand on the brakes, which of course promptly overheat and stop working thanks to their low noise, low dust organic formulation. Actually it's because they don't hit them hard enough, you need to stomp them hard, probably with both feet if you are a girl or a
girly man. Of course the other obvious alternative is to shift to neutral or even shut of the ignition (although that's probably the last thing you want to do in a panic situation).
Here's an except from C & D this month. Surprisingly they could stop the cars only a few feet longer than in the regular braking test.
Quote:
Hit the Brakes
Certainly the most natural reaction to a stuck-throttle emergency is to stomp on the brake pedal, possibly with both feet. And despite dramatic horsepower increases since C/D’s 1987 unintended-acceleration test of an Audi 5000, brakes by and large can still overpower and rein in an engine roaring under full throttle. With the Camry’s throttle pinned while going 70 mph, the brakes easily overcame all 268 horsepower straining against them and stopped the car in 190 feet—that’s a foot shorter than the performance of a Ford Taurus without any gas-pedal problems and just 16 feet longer than with the Camry’s throttle closed. From 100 mph, the stopping-distance differential was 88 feet—noticeable to be sure, but the car still slowed enthusiastically enough to impart a feeling of confidence. We also tried one go-for-broke run at 120 mph, and, even then, the car quickly decelerated to about 10 mph before the brakes got excessively hot and the car refused to decelerate any further. So even in the most extreme case, it should be possible to get a car’s speed down to a point where a resulting accident should be a low-speed and relatively minor event.
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Full article:
How To Deal With Unintended Acceleration - Tech Dept.