[TR] Off-topic -deadly floormats?

[Jim Muller]

On 17 Sep 2009 at 17:31, Randall wrote:

> Why does this remind me of the Audi "sudden acceleration" problem?

Which is exactly what I was going to ask.  I believe they called it 
"unintended acceleration", first proposed by one of the "consumers' 
evaluation" magazines, as I recall.  The car-mag writers then all 
started singing the praises of intended acceleration.

I was a grad student with someone who swore it happened to his father 
who apparently smashed his car into the back wall of his garage.  
Ummmmm...  I never could quite believe the story, not that someone 
wouldn't hit the back of the garage but that it wasn't just a case of 
hitting the wrong pedal.  It doesn't take much time to go 10ft when 
you hit the loud pedal.  In tests, meaning the driver knows reaction 
time is being tested, reaction time pedal to pedal is about 0.4sec.  
17mph will cover 10ft in 0.4sec.  If the driver is startled or the 
wall is closer, e.g. only 3ft, and the car is "energetic", it is 
quite possible.

For what it's worth, the Spitfire and GT6 pedals are close together 
enough that wide shoes and sloppy footwork can result in the gas 
pedal going down accidentally during breaking.

Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com