Unintended Acceleration

[Greg Johnson]

Q-Fans,

Somewhere, in a box, are many of the articles from the UA time.  The DOT 
did a major investigation and report and said the UA problem arose from 
"pedal missapplication."  One of the most telling pieces of evidence was 
set forth in a Car & Driver article which established that a 5000's 
brakes are stronger than it's engine and if you apply the gas and the 
brakes when the car is stopped, the car will not move until you release 
the brakes.  Moreover, if you apply the gas and the brakes while the car 
is travelling, the brakes will overcome the engine and stop the car.  
Road & Track did a big article as well.  All of the evidence came down 
on Audi's side.  In sum, UA simply could not happen in the way that  60 
Minutes said it had.  To this day, I wish Audi had taken CBS to court.

In this day and time 60 Min never would have gotten away with its BS.  
C&D, R&T have their own TV programs and then there's the internet and 
everyone with a brain would have cried "foul" and CBS would have had to 
back pedal.   Back in "the old days," 60 Min had the only real TV 
access; there was no I-net; and it took months for the auto press and 
government to respond, and by that time the damage was already done.   
BTW, since that time, I've watch 60 Mins but once, when a friend 
happened to be on it.

Historically,

Greg J
BIRA.ORG

Brendan wrote:

>yup that was it, i did some looking around the web today for curiosities 
>sake(google audi unintended acceleration). couldn't find the specific 
>article i read, but everything you said jives with what i found.I also found 
>it interesting some released court documents for Illinois (Ithink)came up. 
>People were still in court with VAG in 1998 apparently. i scanned through, 
>and to my shock and suprise the case was dismissed due to insuffucient 
>evidence of direct negligence on audi's part... apparently this case was 
>filed after the AT lockout was added,the car in question was produced with 
>it factory installed, leaving only (insert score for dramatic effect) driver 
>error!!! I was only a kid at the time(4 or 5) but i remember my parents 
>freinds selling there car because of the whole mess, I think it was actually 
>a 4k, but it amazes me the panic that runs through the masses. 1800 
>questionable cases out of how many cars produced? numbers of unintended 
>acceleration that were not statstically higher than the case with z cars 
>etc? THat's why you can't believe everthing you read...
>brendan
>