Unintended Foot On Throttle

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

> From: LCSCHADT@aol.com

> Did Car & Driver also have an article on the subject June '87.  I have a
> xerox of their October '87 write-up of the '87 5000CQuattro, which references
> an article on that subject in "June". (atleast, I think it's Car & Driver,
> the xerox from the microfiche doesn't identify the journal,  the by-line is
> "Rich Ceppos"..)
> 
> I recall such an article, which did a nice job of shooting down the myth of
> unintended acceleration - while providing some meaningful insight into driver
> error that created the phenomenon.

C&D did indeed publish some excellent comumns on the subject - and I 
think Ceppos was writing for the them at that time.  I also recall 
Pat Bedard writing a great column on "unintended-foot-on-throttle".  
The point he made which I have repeated to people over and over is 
this:

In any stock passenger vehicle made, IF you have your foot planted 
firmly on the brake - holding it down hard - UNLESS the brakes suffer 
a catastrophic failure - THE VEHICLE CANNOT MOVE no matter how hard 
you nail down the throttle!  This is especially true (a redundancy, 
having just stated an absolurte) of automatics, which are limited to stall 
speeds designed into their torque converters.   It's that simple: 
Brake full on, vehicle no move!  Think about it.

A catastrophic brake failure CAN be detected after the fact...and the 
UA instances had no such failures.  

It's too bad that in the minds of those not "car aware" that this old 
Nader-nightmare still lingers.

My own theory is that a buncha folks started to make some money, and 
graduated from mid-size Ford/GM cars to Audis thinking they were status 
symbols.  Their old cars had brake pedals 5 inches away from the 
throttle, and couldn't be heel & toed if their lives depended on it.  
Then they got into a car with pedals set up the way they SHOULD be 
for a real driver, and just hit the wrong one.  Driver error.  End of story.

Sidebar: did you know that the vehicle with the SECOND highest 
reported incidence of "UA" was the Nissan 300ZX automatic??  I've 
driven Z-cars since 1974, and their pedals are IDEAL for heel & toe 
driving.  I think the driver profile of 300ZX automatic drivers (whom 
I tend to think castrated otherwise fine cars by getting them with 
automatics) matches the "moving up" theory I hold relative to Audi 
drivers.

OK - - - - anyone out there I have NOT offended with the above?????

It's just opinion.  Been wrong before, will surely be wrong again....

Ich bin eine "Bob".


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Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
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        "Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day."
                 - Sam Goldwyn, movie mogul.
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