unintended acceleration

Thu Oct 21 08:24:45 EDT 2004

OK folks, it was just a joke.  I won't carry it out for several days like
the joke I played on the V8 forum.  Some people replied directly to me, so
I'll cut and paste their responses here.  Jeez, some people don't have much
of a sense of humor.  I wasn't trying to be 'cute' (since I'm a man, I
consider myself exempt from that title; ruggedly handsome maybe, but not
cute) I was trying to be 'funny.'  Oops!  There I go again.  Maybe I'll buy
a Saab 900 and join their message board--those guys HAVE to have a sense of
humor.  Oh, and what's a "Murkin"?

Anyway, here are the responses.  Tony Lum was trying to be most helpful, so
I'll put his first:

Hi Nadj,

First of all the unintended acceleration thing was associated with automatic
transmissions, something you obviously don't have.  The whole thing was
later revealed to be a crock, but the damage was already done.  Audi came up
with a transmission interlock servo that forced you to put your foot on the
brake before you could shift into DRIVE.

As for your car, the engine only puts out 110 HP which is not a whole lot.
The clutch could be slipping making you think you have a slow take off, or
you may have a fuel problem preventing the engine from making any power.  A
good tune-up may help in getting maximum power out of the engine.  A Bentley
manual, which is the factory manual, is really helpful here.  At a minimum
get yourself a Haynes manual, they only cost about $15.  Stay away from
Chilton manuals, they're garbage.

One quick thing you can test is to remove the vacuum hose from the
distributor advance and apply a hand vacuum pump to the nipple.  If you
can't hold a vacuum here, the advance diaphragm is ripped which means you
can't get any ignition advance.  That will kill a lot of power.  Your
engine's compression ration is only 8.5:1 which means you only need regular
(87 octane) gas.  The fuel pump relay must be the correct one for 5 cylinder
engine.  If the fuel pump relay from a 4 cylinder car is used, the engine
will run, but not over 4600 rpm.

HTH,

--
Tony

'80 5KS
83 urquattro #DA900302
'85 4kq
'87 5kcstq
'87.5 coupe GT

Next, we have Paul R Cole.  No Paul, I'm not serious.  But I did sleep at a
Holiday Inn Express last night.

Your not serious , right.
The UA fiasco was CBS's 60 Minutes ( you know- the folks who can't tell a
fake document from real one) attempt to "blame" some terrible accidents
involving Audi 5000 automatic transmission cars on the engine control and/or
transmission control designs. 
Report involved rigging a transmission ( via external hoses, safety
bypassing, etc) to "show" how the transmission "kick down" valve could
actuate the throttle with no driver input or control.

The report was debunked by multiple national testing authorities (
NHSB,NTSB,Canadian TSB, German TUV etc etc) Came pretty close to putting
Audi out of business in the USA in the late 80's to mid 90's.

Audi modified the cars to force drivers to engage the brake before the car
could be started.

Basically the "failure" was "driver error" ie mashing the THROTTLE instead
of the brakes and then suing Audi because you ran over some kid or hit
someone or thing.

Issue traced to NEW Audi owners transitioning from American ( in particular
GM large body cars) cars with LARGE center placed brake pedals.

Do a "google" search and see the evidence.

>it seems I understand--I intend for the car to accelerate briskly, but 
>unintentionally (?) it doesn't do that.  Can anyone confirm this?
>

I'd suspect your clutch is failing and/or the throttle secondaries are not
working or the CIS isn't working correctly.

Could be any number of component problems. Get a good book of CIS trouble
shooting and have fun.

>nadj
>proud '84 5000S wagon avant front wheel drive five speed owner, yo!
>
>

If you want to ask the question -why is my car doing "X"  
just ask the question - get rid of all the "cute" stuff.

Next, Robert Myers (the first to respond, by the way) says this:

Unintentional acceleration was a result of stupid fat-footed Murkins who
mistakenly planted their right foot on the accelerator instead of the brake
and ended up driving through the back wall of their garage out of sheer
stupidity.  Of course no driver ever did something stupid, it's the fault of
the car.  :-(  AoA did not fight it in court like they should have but,
instead, just rolled over and gave in.

Finally, Frederick Smith (who apparently DOES have a sense of humor) says
this:

Unintended acceleration was only attributed to fwd 5000's (auto trans). 
Allegedly................ cars would
accelerate out of control, with the brakes unable to stop them. 
Vindication arrived in the form of an investigation showing that in
"acceleration incidents" the brake and the gas were being applied
simultaneously due to the closeness of the accelerator and brake pedals in
european (Audi) cars. All the incidents occured when shifting from park to
drive (or rev.?). a lock for the transmission (hold the brake to shift from
park) was the retrofit from Audi.

You have "recalcitrant acceleration), a totally diferant malady!! :-P