Re: 82 Coupe GT

[Chris Idleman <cidleman@PICA.ARMY.MIL>]

"Unintended acceleration" affected Audi 5000's with slushboxes.  The driver 
error that the gov't investigation revealed was inadvertant pressing of the
accelerator pedal in the mistaken belief that the driver's foot was on the
brake pedal, predominantly due to the similar pedal size and minimal distance
between the pedals both horizontally and vertically.  (Did 60 Minutes bother 
to check whether UI occurred more often to people with wide feet?)  Audi's
solution to all of this was to install the shift lock mechanism in '86 5000's
on.  It has also been hypothesized that Audi dumped the "5000" nomenclature
in favor of the European "100" & "200" nomenclature to eliminate consumer's
awareness that there was a "child-murdering killer car" in Audi's lineup, 
though I don't recall any of the cars' occupants being injured in UI events
(only pedestrians).  As for the on-camera demonstration of an Audi 5000 going
ballistic, apparently it was accomplished by tapping into and pressurizing
various passages in the auto transmission - something on the order of several
hundred psi. above operating pressure.

The pedals in the 4000s and Coupes are more conventional in layout and design,
and were not considered to be candidates for UI.  

By the way, my father's Honda (with auto trans) also experienced unintended
acceleration once.  My father said he had coasted down to 20 mph for a toll
plaza and stepped on the brake --- VROOM!!!  He said the revs shot up to 5-6K
despite his full pressure on the "brake" pedal.  Right before he was going to 
hit the car in front of him he turned the steering wheel and lifted his foot 
off the "brake" to allow the car to run onto the shoulder.  Wonder of wonders,
the engine dropped to idle and the car coasted to a stop.  A check of the 
trans and the brakes revealed that everything worked perfectly, so the con-
clusion was "erroneous application of accelerator pedal."  BTW, my father has
big feet.  ;->

					- Chris

MORAL OF STORY:  Your '82 Coupe should pose no danger of UI.  Happy motoring!