Remember all of the drama that unfolded with the Toyota “unintended acceleration” controversy? It seemed that all of a sudden, Toyota vehicles were killing people left and right via unintended acceleration incidents. Even though Toyota swore up and down that the vehicles were fine, it was later discovered that floor mats could bunch up in a way that caused vehicles to take off and the company got hit with a $1.2 billion dollar fine. And I had plenty of fun with the “Moving Forward (unintentionally)” jokes for a little bit. But it did bring up the subject of what to do when the vehicle’s acceleration suddenly is no longer under your control. In a March 2010 test, Motor Trend performed a test: at just under sixty miles an hour, they pinned the throttle and two seconds later drilled the brakes with the throttle still matted to the floor. The worst performing vehicle out of the group, a 2010 Chevrolet Malibu, only needed 37 more feet than normal from it’s 60-0 braking test to come to a complete stop while revving it’s brains out. Additionally, during this time frame, many safety groups addressed what to do: shift to Neutral, apply service brakes, and turn off the engine. That’s all.
Keep all of that in mind as you read this story that happened in Florida a few days ago. A 911 operator gets a call from a panicking motorist in a 2003 BMW X5, saying that his SUV’s accelerator pedal is stuck at 100 MPH on an Interstate. Joseph Cooper, the driver, seems to have been genuinely panicked, and for finding himself in that position, we can’t say that we wouldn’t be at least a bit unnerved. (Then again, we might not have noticed until we hit the brakes, either…) As Cooper hauls the mail, the operator tried to offer up suggestions, as Matt Posky of the The Truth About Cars noted:
“Early in the call, which occurred around 12:46 in the afternoon, the operator suggest he place the car into neutral. Cooper responds with “Yeah but, Ma’am, I’m in a BMW and, if I swing that over, it’s going to drop down a gear. I really don’t want that to happen. It could spin me out.”
She then asks if he has tried the emergency brake. “Ma’am, I’m not pulling that at no hundred miles an hour,” he responded. “Ma’m, I’m sorry.”
Readers, one of my biggest pet peeves of all time is the absolutely lax standards that exist for getting your driver’s license. You aren’t required to know anything about the car you are driving except how to make it go forward, backwards, turn, and how to make the lights do what the laws tell you to do. The end. There’s a reason why manual transmission cars aren’t popular in the States…most drivers couldn’t be bothered to pay attention long enough to shift their own gears. Can you understand Cooper’s hesitation to perform seemingly questionable tasks while his BMW is rolling at triple-digit speeds? Yeah, for sure, especially when he genuinely believes that he no longer has control over a portion of his vehicle.
Do I believe that Cooper is an idiot for not knowing the difference between easing into the emergency brake versus a Fast and Furious-style drift yank? Yep.
Do I think that he needs remedial driver’s training in the least for not knowing the difference between shifting to a lower drive gear and shifting to Neutral? Yep.
Do I think he should’ve shut off the engine, or just stood on the brakes until the pads melted? Of course.
Do I think that there are folks like Joseph Cooper on the roads? EVERY-FREAKING-WHERE. And that scares the hell out of me. I’m not bothered by my own driving, but other people scare the shit out of me. You want to know what it took to stop the runaway BMW? Stop sticks. The Florida State Police used stop sticks to blow out all four tires on the X5 before pit-maneuvering the SUV off of the Interstate. And I’m willing to bet that when Cooper finally pried his fingers off of the steering wheel and an officer looked inside, he was able to bring the accelerator pedal into it’s standard resting position. I don’t know that for sure, but I’m betting on it.
BMW themselves have an opinion on this matter, too:
“All BMW vehicles, including the 2003 X5 described in this incident, employ an electronic accelerator pedal which uses software logic to override the accelerator whenever the brake pedal is pressed while driving. This fail-safe software means that if the vehicle detects that both pedals are depressed, the on-board electronics will reduce engine power so that the driver may stop safely.
Furthermore, the accelerator pedal in BMW vehicles is hinged at the bottom, and mounts to the floor. Therefore an object or floor mat cannot slide under the accelerator pedal and jam it. Original BMW floor mats are custom-fitted for each vehicle, and are installed with anchors to keep them properly located in the front footwells of each vehicle.
The vehicle could also have been stopped by two additional means: By placing the transmission in neutral and coasting to a stop and/or by shutting off the ignition without removing the key. This is accomplished by turning the key counterclockwise. The engine would have shut off and the driver could have safely coasted the vehicle to a stop.”
Or, in shorter, concise terms: “We call bullshit.”
I bet that guys one of those that would leave his steering armlock on for short drives too
Another candidate for autonomous vehicles.
When all that Toyota thing was going on.A local radio station for a couple weeks regularly had talks about it.I was flabbergasted as to how many people had no idea what “neutral” did. Others that called in had no idea what to do if you turned the engine off just to the first click,so you can still steer the car. And there was a big discussion about ” it would blow up your engine if you let it rev in neutral” And one caller did say .Blow up you engine ,or die .Witch should you do. There was a report I remember on the news that a police officer had crashed his Toyota .Because he had no idea what to do .This was a cop. What I took from all of that was there are a lot of mechanical morons on the road with us everyday,kinda scary.Durring all of that I was pulled over by a state trooper.He came up to my window laughing .He asked me were I had gotten my bumper sticker.I had some made up that said.” Officer I’m not intoxicated ,I’m dodging a Toyota ” He let me go with a verbal.
Remember the Audi 5000 even earlier, with the same problem? None of these have been proven defective. It was all user error. People don’t know shit about how their cars work. That’s why drivers are all accelerating towards red lights and stop signs. They think if they take the foot off the gas for a few seconds, they won’t get there.
A friend + I used to joke the Toyota issue was a psycho writing code bugs that
made the accel problem while wearing a white scarf and yelling ‘ Banzi ”
As a kid I liked to ‘ downshift ‘ the family 64 Galaxie – 289 auto trans
One day approaching a rotary around 60 or so I blipped the throttle and dropped it into second – and broke the return spring on the carb .
Now we are WFO in 2nd gear into a rotary – reached over to the key on the dash , switched her off , put it in neutral and coasted/braked to stop in the rotary . Hopped out , opened the hood , bent a new end on the spring and drove to the parts store for a new one .
I agree on the number of idiots that drive and don’t know you can slap most
auto trans cars into neutral without even looking……
and they let those people vote too !!
Reminds me of a Leno-ism regarding the usual entertainment biz types and their Lambo’s. V12? No idea what that is, but don’t it sound bitchin’?
That it never occurred to the guy that he could lean on the ol’ binders with both feet speaks volumes. BMW? No idea what that means, but the chicks seem to dig it.
I don’t know if the guy was putting this on for attention or if he really had a stuck throttle. Seems everything he was asked to do he refused so I’m skeptical.
Many years ago a similar thing happened and the guy wouldn’t apply the brakes claiming it would flip the car.
I do think there needs to be more training to get a license including the fact that the brakes will always safely stop a car with the throttle wide open.
Did this thing have a weird reverse pattern on the shifter, so that Drive was the last gear? For some reason, particularly on luxury cars, designers have started getting inappropriately creative with their shifter layouts.
I worked at a chrysler dealership up until 2013 and the push start/stop cars would not shut off while driving.