Re: UNINTENDED ACCELERATION (fwd)

[Phil Ethier <ethier@freenet.msp.mn.us>]

I wrote ;

;Nope.  It was GM trucks, and I think it was ABC's 20/20, but I am not 
;sure.  Might have been NBC, but it was not CBS.  

Then a person whom I will not identify (because it was private mail) told me \

\It was Dateline NBC.  A guy was filming the filming (?) with a camcorder 
\and 
\caught the fact that the gas cap on the GM truck was left purposefully 
\loose 
\and the tank was filled to the filler neck.  And just to be sure of a 
\fireball, there were 2 model ROCKET MOTORS that were mounted under the 
\truck 
\that were fired at the moment of impact.  This stuff was caught by the guy 
\and his camcorder.  He gave (or I hope sold) the tape to GM which filed a 
\gazillion dollar suit against NBC a couple days later.  NBC knew they 
\had no 
\chance and settled.  The settlement involved Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips 
\reading a total retraction on the show in which they called themselves poor 
\journalists and other nasty names and basically kissed GM's ass in public.  
\It was great.  Jane was on Letterman a couple days later and he was 
\needling 
\her about it.  She was getting pissed at him.  That was great too.  

Right.  Thanks for setting my memory straight.  I apologize for any 
embarrassment I might have caused Barbara and Hugh.

Dateline could have saved themselves the backpedaling by saying UP FRONT 
that that they had CREATED this scene for demonstration purposes and that 
it was not a TEST.  The trucks actually HAVE become fireballs in 
real-world conditions, but the wimps at NBC were afraid they might wreck 
the cars and not get the pictures they wanted, so they just made sure...

\Audi's fix (which fixed it) was the shift 
\lock where the driver's foot has to press the brake before it'll let you 
\shift out of park.  

Yes.  I have driven a Mazda with this interlock.  There is defeat switch 
for it.  I have no idea why.

Phil