On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:03:03 -0500, aemeijers
wrote:

mm wrote:
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:55:27 -0800 (PST), hibb
wrote:

I Haven't had a problem yet but if I do I figure I would try to get it
out of gear and turn the engine off as soon as possible. If I'm
already going at a good clip I am not sure how it would handle if I
just turn off the ignition. Are newer cars set up to handle like older
cars that had no power steering if the engine is dead and you lose
your power steering?

It would have to work with no engine because there are still power
steering belts that break, and because there are engines that stall.

I drove my 88 LeBaron without power steering for what must have been 4
to 8 thousand miles. It was only a problem parallel parking or getting
out of a tight spot.

But the power brakes are only required to have 3 or maybe 4 full
pushes in them if the engine is not running, and I doubt any car has
more than that.

Until I get more information, I'm saying take it out of gear and don't
turn the engine off until you have slowed down quite a bit.

Sounds right.

David

I don't remember- CAN you take it out of gear, at speed, in a
fly-by-wire car? Sure, you can move the lever, but will it actually do
anything?

ON one news show they said that Toyota said to apply the brake first.
Maybe that's related.

In a newspaper article, regarding, one would think their source was
toyota, but they said nothing about applying the brake first.

Nobody knows for sure how they will react till they are in a situation
like that. Sitting here right now, I can say I would calmly run through
all the steps (including pumping the brakes), and if none of them
worked, look for a guardrail to ease into to scrub off speed. Yeah, I'll
trash the car to avoid a head-on, or t-boning somebody at an
intersection. But the only time I had a runaway, it turned out to be
just a sticking aftermarket cruise control, and turning it off solved
the problem. (noticed the sound was funny when I passed a car, looked
down, and saw I was doing 85...) But if it happens again, in a strange
car, and not on a mostly-empty interstate late at night like the time
before, who knows? My brain might blue-screen too.

I know my question won't yeild accurate answers, but I wanted to aks
anyway.

I've had one time where I panicked and once when I was really cool,
but I forget both of them now. No one got hurt either time.

I've never had a runaway engine but I've had my brakes fail 7 times
iirc, all of those before there were separate front and rear brakes.

The first time was the worst. I was 17, in my mothers car on my way to
a date in the evening on the wide but quiet Meridian St. around 30th
St. in Indianapolis. The car 200 feet in front of me stopped to wait
for a car to pass, to turn right. I applied the brakes and the pedal
went to the floor. I pumped and got a bit more braking. I hit the
car at about 15 or 20 miles an hour, maybe more. I think the 58 Ford
had aftermarket seatbelts my mother had had put in. After I had
tried to apply the brakes and knew I had a problem, I had had maybe 2
seconds or 4 and during that time I hadn't thought to use the
handbrake that was under the dash to the far left. But after I hit I
wanted to back up, and the car was at an angle so I was going into the
lane to the right of me. And then I quickly reached for the handbrake
but opened the hood instead!

But I had barely applied any gas and it only went about 15 feet back
before stopping.

So I didnt' mess up entirely, but I didn't do very well either. (The
brake line just in front of the left rear wheel had sprung a leak. I
wasn't hurt but both cars were hurt somewhat, not that much..

Twice the power brake vaccume valve stuck into the front of the
booster failed (the spring and plastic piece popped out. STrangely,
that was the first day after my brother went to Viet Name and lent me
his 65 Pontiac, and the first day after I bought my own 67 pontiac
years later. Quite a coincidence. No damage in either case.

Two other times the flexible brakeline to a front wheel failed. No
damage in one cse and in another I knocked a fence part way down that
was already part way down but not as much. It was leaning on bushes
next to a business.

Master cylinder failed once, but no damage. One other time I forget.