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Simultaneous Application of Gas and Brake Pedals
I had a new 1975 Fuel injected Beetle when I was a kid.
There was no clutch lockout to start the vehicle. My dad went to move the car cause it was blocking his car's access to the garage in the driveway. Temperature was below freezing, but not by a lot. Throttle stuck open after he touched the pedal ( he was not used to fuel injection cars and had "tapped" the gas pedal like a regular carb car to set the choke for cold weather start.) In gear the car was it started and raced through the garage door. ( remeber 1st and reverse are very low ratios ) Turns out the slush and snow build up had accumlated and frozen in the tube that carried the throttle cable back to the engine. So after he had "Tapped" the pedal partially, the cable remained stuck while the pedal returned to normal (springloaded) position. Even though it caught him by surprise he did hit the brakes but being in a low gear the car (even tho it was a low horsepoer car - ie: a beetle) managed to build up enough momentum to break through the garage door before stopping. In addition I have had several cars that have had momentary surges or throttle sticks that required great effort to prevent catastrophe. I had a 66 Coronet with a transplanted 413 that once every three or four months would race for no reason ( eventually I ditched that carter and got a remanufactured one to solve the problem. All I am getting at is there are a lot of reasons why something 'could" interfer with fuel line, mechanical or electrical throttle body or electronically controlled engines. I think anyone who dismisses such a claim awithout fully investigating is only furthering the mass hysteria often caused in the driving world by those that don't know... The poor man was honestly looking for an answer at the beginning of all this and everyone seems to have taken the subject personally. "Nomen Nescio" > wrote in message ... > As strange as it might seem, the potentially disasterous application of > throttle and brake is not limited to old ladies pulling into a parking > space in front of a beauty shop. > > Examine and quantify the geometric positions of the brake pedal and > accelerator pedal in a current series production car. Do the same in a > 1950 model. You will note a striking difference. > > In early cars, the brake pedal was a considerable distance to the left and > more importantly, much HIGHER than the accelerator pedal. It is virtually > impossible for the right foot to press on both at the same time. The shoed > foot is simply not large enough to accomplish this. > > Now look at a modern car. The brake and accelerator pedal have little or > no difference in height. This was necessitated by the low seating > arrangement and also the narrower space available due to the center > console. Is is entirely possible for the right foot to press on both > pedals at the same time. Try it. > > The reason why the brake does not overpower the engine in many cases has to > do with the angle of application. The driver impulse is to press harder on > the "brake", but in doing so he opens the throttle further. As the > throttle opens further, the angle of the foot on the brake pedal becomes > more and more acute, lessening the force of application. You can try this > out safely on a large parking lot. Try various wrong applications and you > will soon find one which causes the accident causing lurching. > > Auto companies should address this issue with more rigor. > |
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