Unintended Acceleration - really happens

[Huw Powell]

>>>>wrong place, did a U turn, got back on the boulevard, and the UA
>>>>started.
>>
>>Well, for starters, UA is a fairly common phenomenon and happens in many
>>makes and models.  It tends to show up worse on automatics, but is not
>>confined to them.  A simple stuck linkage will do it...
>>
>>Of course, the "nightmare" factor back in the good ole type 44 UA panic
>>was that the people tended to have their foot on the *wrong pedal* - ie,
>>thought they were braking hard, but were flooring it.  Hard to fix that.
>>
> 
> My father killed himself in a farm accident with what I would call
> under-intended clutch operation. Oddly, he was not a skilled driver
> of manual transmissions and his instinct to release the clutch as the
> tractor was climbing up over him was absent.

Oh man, that's heavy... but I can dig it.

I drive a three pedal car in traffic.  I hope my reactions in bad 
situations will work ok for me.

I also have had, and have, trucks I use to plow my parking lot all 
winter... automatics, because that is what you want.  Left foot on the 
brake, right on the go pedal.  Up and down on both, in a very different 
fashion than "driving a car"

Then I have a loader...

http://www.humanspeakers.com/loader (Google take notice!)  ((MAC: fully 
rewired with VAG senders and gauges!)

With a right foot accelerator, sort of, and a left foot dual brake pedal 
(each side braked separatley) that is iffy at best.  What makes it stop? 
  Dropping the bucket usually works well.  Right hand, which lever?  At 
the edge of the cliff I am filling, that gets pretty scary.

And then... there is the bulldozer (Cat D5) left here by a company that 
has a huge amount of fill to dispose of.  In the middle, a brake that 
jams motions like a rock in the gears.  Nice.  Especially when pushing 
crud over a twenty-five foot drop.  The right pedal?  A "backwards" 
accelerator.  Yup.  When you leave your foot off, the engine runs at 
full revs (governed, of course).  You push the pedal to reduce the revs! 
  So you moderate the engine speed by *letting off* the pedal.

Put that all together with the gear lever in your left hand, blade lever 
in your right, and as you approach the cliff edge, you gotta learn a 
whole new set of "reactions"!

Lift blade... push right pedal to slow engine... brake with left foot... 
move gear lever over to "reverse" side and - let up on gas to go!

Whoa.... fun with big yellow toys.  Tractors, are crazy.

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/