Unintended acceleration

[Andrew Buc <72220.443@compuserve.com>]

 > the Audi 5000 had been driven through the garage door while being 
 > checked over for my arrival. Speaking with the man who did it, I 
 > learned he had been a professional test driver for over 20 years, 
 > and he told me to my face that he'd simply put his foot on the 
 > wrong pedal.
 
I understand the early-70s Audi 100 (the first Audi we got in the States) also 
had a trap for the inept: shifting into 3rd required a "jog" in your hand's 
path that wasn't required in most cars, and it was easy to shift into 1st 
instead. In fact, _Road & Track_ said in their first Audi 100 test that this 
happened on one of the acceleration runs, and there was the test driver w/all 
the valves bent, to his embarrassment. They commented that the transmission 
must have good synchros to allow this!
 
A few years later R&T's "Technical Correspondence" column got a letter from a 
lawyer representing a client who'd experienced this w/his 100.
 
--Andrew Buc, Seattle, WA; Internet: 72220.443@compuserve.com