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Feds consider brake override on new cars

S

Scarecrow Akhbar

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Feds consider brake override on new cars
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday his agency may recommend that all new vehicles sold in the U.S. be equipped with brakes that can override the gas pedal. The idea seemed to be gaining support among lawmakers as Toyota officials returned for a third hearing on lethal safety defects.

"We will not rest until these cars are safe," LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee.

He said the "Toyota business model is broken" but predicted improvements. "I think you'll see some changes in the way they do business," LaHood told the panel.

His testimony came as federal safety officials increased to 52 the number of reported deaths linked to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles, through the end of last month. Previously, 34 deaths were blamed on the problem.

Toyota Motor Corp. and federal regulators both faced questions from Congress over the giant Japanese car company's troubled safety record.

"We know something has gone terribly wrong," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. "The system meant to safeguard against faulty vehicles has failed, and it needs to be fixed and it needs to be fixed right away."

Multiple recalls have damaged Toyota's reputation and set the stage for large numbers of death and injury lawsuits amid a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and more scrutiny from the Transportation Department. Since September, Toyota has recalled about 6 million vehicles in the U.S.

One element of new legislation could be a requirement that all newly manufactured cars sold in the United States have a break override system.

Toyota has said it will put such an override system into all future vehicles and will retrofit many recalled models. More than 8 million Toyota cars have been recalled because of sudden acceleration or breaking defects.

The backup safety system under discussion overrides the accelerator if the gas and brake pedals are pressed at the same time.
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Nice.

Congress is going back into the engineering field again.

Remember airbags, and how they wound up killing more children than the adult lives they were supposed to save?

The free market is already dealing with the stuck acclerator issue. Congress should vote themselves another 20 days off before they start interfering in the car industry again.
 
Is there anything the Federal government won't try to involve itself in? I'm so sick of these people...
 
There already is an override to the gas pedal in all vehicles and its been in place since the 1920s, its called putting it in neutral.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Remember airbags, and how they wound up killing more children than the adult lives they were supposed to save?
.
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One of the dumbest things I have ever read.

Total Lives Saved: 5,065*

4,301 drivers saved by air bags

764 passengers saved by air bags

Injuries Prevented**

The combination of seat belts and air bags is 75% effective in preventing serious head injuries and 66% effective in preventing serious chest injuries

Effectiveness of Air Bags in Frontal Crashes**

Car drivers: 31 % fatality reduction

Car passengers: 32% fatality reduction

Light truck drivers: 36%

Confirmed Air Bag Deaths*

18 infants in rear-facing infant safety seats

69 children not in rear-facing child safety seats (4 restrained, but NHTSA questions whether they were properly restrained)

57 adult drivers

-- Female: 43 (19 under 5' 2") (15 properly belted)

-- Male: 14 (2 properly belted)

6 adult passengers

-- Female: 5 (3 under 5' 2")

-- Male: 1

40 unconfirmed cases still under investigation


It was also Toyota that developed the brake override ad is installing them on newer models.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
There already is an override to the gas pedal in all vehicles and its been in place since the 1920s, its called putting it in neutral.
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Well, that's fine if you want a visit by your pistons.

The old solution to stuck accelerator problems was simple...turn the key off.

Whatever the correct solution is today (and I'd say the computer monitors on the modern engine are perfectly capable of detecting a stuck throttle and shutting the engine off) the Congress isn't part of the solution.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
There already is an override to the gas pedal in all vehicles and its been in place since the 1920s, its called putting it in neutral.
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Apparently for some of the people, that didn't work. Which is really disconcerting. You really want some manual override to disengage the engine.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Well, that's fine if you want a visit by your pistons.
The old solution to stuck accelerator problems was simple...turn the key off.

.
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Try it sometime. Most cars steering wheel locks when the key is turned off.
 
This entire auto safety issue is more manufactured, hyped crisis. The Feds are out of control.

I still need to write a letter to Mr. Toyota to apologize for what baffoons our elected leaders are.
 
USA-1 said:
Try it sometime. Most cars steering wheel locks when the key is turned off.
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You can pop it back up to accesory to unloock it though without having to restart the car.

The problem with turning the car off entirely is that the power steering goes out, which is why you want to use Neutral first, and turn it off as a last resort.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Well, that's fine if you want a visit by your pistons.

The old solution to stuck accelerator problems was simple...turn the key off.
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That is a great idea, so that way when your gas pedal is stuck, you are racing down the highway at 100 plus MPH, you can just turn off the ignition and as a result lock the steering column.
 
Tucker Case said:
You can pop it back up to accesory to unloock it though without having to restart the car.
t.
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Many cars including mine the acc is past off. Not like the old cars.
My truck locks the steering wheel in off and also in acc.
 
USA-1 said:
Many cars including mine the acc is past off. Not like the old cars.
My truck locks the steering wheel in off and also in acc.
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I did not know that. All the cars I've ever owned could get the steering wheels unlocked without the car being started.
 
Most likely if you threw it in neutral the cars electronics would kill the engine before you blew the motor. I would rather throw a rod than wrap the car around a tree.
 
Tucker Case said:
I did not know that. All the cars I've ever owned could get the steering wheels unlocked without the car being started.
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You can turn it off and then back on, but it might start back up from the inertia off the tranny.
 
USA-1 said:
You can turn it off and then back on, but it might start back up from the inertia off the tranny.
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Either way, we all pretty much agree turning off the car should be the last resort if neutral doesn't work. (except scarecrow)
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Most likely if you threw it in neutral the cars electronics would kill the engine before you blew the motor. I would rather throw a rod than wrap the car around a tree.
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That's true, throwing a rod could kill you if it goes through the firewall, but that is very rare, however hitting a tree at 100+ will kill you. I'll take my chances with a blown motor.
 
LaMidRighter said:
That's true, throwing a rod could kill you if it goes through the firewall, but that is very rare, however hitting a tree at 100+ will kill you. I'll take my chances with a blown motor.
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A thrown rod will not go through the firewall. Most of it's energy is dissipated breaking through the block.
 
Tucker Case said:
Either way, we all pretty much agree turning off the car should be the last resort if neutral doesn't work. (except scarecrow)
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They recommend putting both feet on the brake and pushing as hard as you can. When you are safely off the road turn the motor off.
 
USA-1 said:
A thrown rod will not go through the firewall. Most of it's energy is dissipated breaking through the block.
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Yeah I threw a rod in a car I had back in high school. I was driving down the highway when it happened. All it did was crack the block and throw oil all over the road. The engine even started back up and limped the car off the highway before it seized up.
 
USA-1 said:
A thrown rod will not go through the firewall. Most of it's energy is dissipated breaking through the block.
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It happens, not fairly often but there was a kid killed not too long over here by a thrown rod. He was street racing so no telling how juiced his motor was, but.....nevertheless it is possible to fire a rod through the cab.
 
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