Unintended acceleration

[Ed Kellock]

An interesting read... it discusses vacuum assisted braking systems and the
inability of a car's brake system to stop it at full throttle, regardless of
assist.

Kind of puts the hydraulicly assisted brakes in many of our Audis in a
different perspective.

Didn't Audi's thorough, though misguided from a marketing point of view,
response to the UI debacle prove that the brakes were strong enough to stop
the car, even at full throttle?  I will hastily concede that the cars in
question then had nowhere near 272hp, but neither does an '07 Camry that
"held hostage" a driver for 20 miles.  

Sadly in the CHP officer's case, regardless of training and wherewithall, he
was in an unfamiliar vehicle.  The article doesn't mention what model of
Lexus he owned or if it was also equipped with a start button.  I had never
though about how to shut off the engine of a car with a start button before
reading this article.  I would like to think I could still find neutral
though.  I have no idea how I would react in such a situation though and
will not second guess his actions any further.

Also interesting that Audi already has, at least in some models, technology
that disables the signal from the drive-by-wire accelerator pedal when the
brakes are applied.  That may not be the whole solution that Toyota is
considering, but it's the most direct solution to the proposed malady of
mats on pedals.

I hope I am never tested in the way these drivers were.  I do feel a little
bit better about maintaining the hydraulic systems on my Audis though.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com] On
Behalf Of cobram at juno.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:06 PM
To: chris at nmedia.net
Cc: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Unintended acceleration


 Chris Cappuccio <chris at nmedia.net> writes:
> Now it's Toyota's turn
> 
>
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-recall18-2009oct18,0,2352642
,full.story
> 
> --
> The past cannot be changed.  The future cannot be guaranteed.


Wow, not ONE mention of Audi in that entire article.  Audi seems like
it's finally vindicated in the press, only took a couple decades or so.
 
BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government
big enough to take from you everything you have.
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