Unplanned Acceleration
Posted: Thu 11 March, 2010 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Driving 2 Comments »I’ve found myself being repeatedly annoyed by the stories recently about people in Toyota cars suffering from “Unplanned Acceleration”, where the card supposedly won’t slow down. All of the drivers keep on saying that they were using the brakes but not slowing down, and I’ve always wondered why those drivers don’t just turn off the engine, or put the car in neutral.
I still don’t get why they can’t put the car in neutral and coast to a stop, but I do understand more about why they can’t turn off the engine or pull the key out. Put simply, it appears there isn’t a key. The cars involved all appear to have these keyless start buttons.
I’d never really thought of keyed ignitions as a safety feature, but it sure seems like it might become one…
[Updated, 13th March : This YouTube video shows how to fix the problem of ‘Unplanned Acceleration’ in epic style. Love it.]
One problem with turning the engine off (with keyed and presumably keyless ignition) is that it disables the power steering. Switch the engine off at 50mph and it’ll be a bitch to steer your car if you need to. Though an advantage with the key is that you could then at least half-turn it to enable power steering without starting the engine again – assuming you’re not already in a ditch or stoved into someone else’s car…
Fair point – although I would suggest that if you’re in a state where unwanted acceleration is happening, you’d only be hauling it to the kerb/hard-shoulder anyway.