Sebring---- SUDDEN ACCELERATION

"James Goforth" > wrote in message
...
> Just curious, but if it was suspected to be merely a case of pedal
> mis-application, why was this situation peculiar only to Audi's and not
> all models?
> I would also be curious as to how many instances of the above
> mentioned condition were automatics vs. manuals.
>

It was not unique to Audi, a number of manufacturers were being accused of
Sudden Acceleration, Audi was just the most notorious. Studies revealed
that the position of the gas and brake pedals were closer together than the
driver was used to and that the driver, in attempting to step on the brakes,
was stepping on the gas instead. At that point denial set in, "Of course, I
didn't step on the gas, the car just went out of control by itself."

And yes, the problem lay with cars with automatic transmissions. There was
an organization that was able to "replicate" a case of unintended
acceleration, I don't remember if it was a news agency or a victims advocacy
group. It required overriding so many safety interchecks, including a
number of valves in the transmission that it was realized that such an event
was so highly improbable that it verged on impossible.

"aarcuda69062" > wrote in message
...
>
> You're weak, you are not an asset to the industry, your posts are
> boring, your buddy Darryl is even more boring, you lack theory,
> you haven't an original thought in your head. You embarrass all
> mechanics alive or deceased. You are a scourge and a scoundrel,
> you do not know your trade, you are a fraud. The sweat on my
> wrenches has more intelligence than you, you top post like a
> clueless newbie, your memory is a failure and you make statements
> that have no basis in fact.

Other than these few faults, Glen is an alright guy???????

Denny

James Goforth wrote:

> Just curious, but if it was suspected to be merely a case of pedal
> mis-application, why was this situation peculiar only to Audi's and not
> all models?
> I would also be curious as to how many instances of the above
> mentioned condition were automatics vs. manuals.
>

It's been a long time and I honestly don't remember the details, but
I'll bet if you search around a while you might find something ...
although I think much of this was pre internet. I believe the
predominant theory was that the pedals in the Audi were closer together
than in many other cars and offset farther to the right relative to the
driver. This may have contributed to the pedal misapplication.


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:
> James Goforth wrote:
>
>> Just curious, but if it was suspected to be merely a case of pedal
>> mis-application, why was this situation peculiar only to Audi's and not
>> all models?
>> I would also be curious as to how many instances of the above
>> mentioned condition were automatics vs. manuals.
>>
>
> It's been a long time and I honestly don't remember the details, but
> I'll bet if you search around a while you might find something ...
> although I think much of this was pre internet. I believe the
> predominant theory was that the pedals in the Audi were closer together
> than in many other cars and offset farther to the right relative to the
> driver. This may have contributed to the pedal misapplication.
>
>
> Matt

Man, is my stomach sore from laughing at the posts to this topic. You two
(maxpower & aarcuda69062) have made my day. :-)

In article >,
"Denny" > wrote:

> "aarcuda69062" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > You're weak, you are not an asset to the industry, your posts are
> > boring, your buddy Darryl is even more boring, you lack theory,
> > you haven't an original thought in your head. You embarrass all
> > mechanics alive or deceased. You are a scourge and a scoundrel,
> > you do not know your trade, you are a fraud. The sweat on my
> > wrenches has more intelligence than you, you top post like a
> > clueless newbie, your memory is a failure and you make statements
> > that have no basis in fact.
>
> Other than these few faults, Glen is an alright guy???????

He's beginning to make Altovoz appear down right sane.

In article >,
(James Goforth) wrote:

> Just curious, but if it was suspected to be merely a case of pedal
> mis-application, why was this situation peculiar only to Audi's and not
> all models?

I did a number of investigations on Chevrolet Astro vans in the
mid 80s when I worked in a Chevy dealership, the Astro and Safari
have a fairly narrow drivers foot well and the throttle and brake
pedals are quite close together. I remember one van was owned by
a TV station but they never did a news segment on it claiming it
was a defect.

> I would also be curious as to how many instances of the above
> mentioned condition were automatics vs. manuals.

IIRC, all the Audi cases were automatic.

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005, aarcuda69062 wrote:

> > I would also be curious as to how many instances of the above
> > mentioned condition were automatics vs. manuals.
>
> IIRC, all the Audi cases were automatic.

Yep. The factory "fix" for stupid drivers was a brake/shift interlock and
an insert plate for the shift quadrant that said "DEPRESS BRAKE TO SHIFT
FROM PARK".

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005, aarcuda69062 wrote:

> > Other than these few faults, Glen is an alright guy???????

> He's beginning to make Altovoz appear down right sane.

And Altavoz was an Ele Emgineer!

In article
ch.edu>,
"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Jan 2005, aarcuda69062 wrote:
>
> > > Other than these few faults, Glen is an alright guy???????
>
> > He's beginning to make Altovoz appear down right sane.
>
> And Altavoz was an Ele Emgineer!

Slide rule smarts.

Matt Whiting wrote:

> Alex Rodriguez wrote:
>
>> In article .com>,
>> says...
>>
>>> Our 2002 Sebring Coupe with 6cyl- 3.0 engine suddenly accelerated while
>>> backing up in a parking lot causing a wreck. It lurched backward at top
>>> speed. Has anyone heard of this happening?
>>

I firmly believe that virtually 100% of the cases of "unintended
acceleration" in cars made prior to about 2001 were because of driver
error. There's simply NO way that an engine with a mechanical throttle
linkage can accelerate unless the return spring breaks, and it doesn't
"go back to normal" immediately thereafter- it stays broken.

Howver, in recent years more cars are being built with "throttle by
wire" in which a computer-controlled servo moves the throttle blades,
not a direct mechanical linkage to the accelerator pedal. I know that
the systems and software go through tremendous testing, but I no longer
feel confident in saying that it "cannot happen" anymore.




>> Yes. This happened to Audi's a while back. The government did a lot
>> of reasearch. In all instances the brake system was still functioning
>> properly. In all instances the drivers states they were stepping on the
>> brakes as hard as they could and the car kept going. The government came
>> to the conclusion that this was a case of pedal mis-application. That
>> means that driver was stepping on the wrong pedal. I don't think that
>> is what you wanted to hear.
>
>
> Nobody wants to hear that, but that is the fact. Also, there are very
> few cars that have an engine that can overpower the brakes. And you'd
> likely need AWD as in FWD or RWD, two wheels locked will keep the other
> two wheels from moving the car at any rate of speed in any event. When
> I first heard the Audi stories years ago, I knew they were bogus without
> even doing an investigation. Simple physics showed that you couldn't
> possibly have a car that couldn't be controlled using the brakes at full
> application. Of course, if there had been a defect in the brakes, then
> the claims would have been plausible, but that was never found to be the
> case in any of the cars.
>
> Nobody wants to hear that the problem was them, but that is usually the
> case in these sudden acceleration cases. I'm not saying there isn't the
> potential for this to happen, as anything is certainly possible. It is
> possible that the brakes could fail at the exact same time that a
> software bug in the ECU commanded full throttle, but that is a long shot
> beyond long shots.
>
>
> Matt