wrote:


-snip-
All you need to do is look at accelleration figures in comparison to
stopping distance figures. A car takes X number of feet to accellerate
from a stop to 100 KPH. The stopping distance is generally something
in the neighbourhood of X/4 feet, meaning the brakes are dissipating
roughly 4 times the power the engine is producing.

I'd love to see a physics class [or Mythbusters] take out the words
like "a car" and "x number" and "generally in the neighborhood" and
"roughly". throw in a few things like inertia and the difference
in a drive train and brake pads. . . and find out why none of the
reports that I've heard have said "The engine was at full throttle, I
was going 50 miles an hour and was able to get the car stopped with my
brakes."

Even the guy who drove to the dealership with a full throttle engine
who had the presence of mind to go to neutral, brake, go back in gear,
accelerate. . . then back to neutral for control said his brakes would
not slow the car while it was in full throttle position.

Looking for more proof for *my* thoughts- I found some middle ground
in actual research by Car & Driver-
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...tion-tech_dept

In a nutshell-
"Certainly the most natural reaction to a stuck-throttle emergency is
to stomp on the brake pedal, possibly with both feet. . . . brakes
by and large can still overpower and rein in an engine roaring under
full throttle. With the Camry’s throttle pinned while going 70 mph,
the brakes easily overcame all 268 horsepower straining against them
and stopped the car in 190 feet—that’s . . . just 16 feet longer
than with the Camry’s throttle closed. From 100 mph, the
stopping-distance differential was 88 feet— . . . We also tried one
go-for-broke run at 120 mph, and, even then, the car quickly
decelerated to about 10 mph before the brakes got excessively hot and
the car refused to decelerate any further."

Maybe by the time you got to 10MPH you'd have the presence of mind to
put it in neutral-

Don't know why they didn't try a Lexus. Would have loved to see what
happened if you first tried the brakes-- then applied full power.
Seems like that would have been human nature.


HOWEVER - the brakes must be applied HARD - and STEADY - NOT PUMPED -
to stop the vehicle as quickly as possible. Lighter braking will give
the brakes too much time to heat up and fade - and pumping at WOT
looses your vacuum boot VERY QUICKLY.

If you are going slow enough, and your brakes are good enough, I
agree, you have a chance by mash 'em and hold 'em. Problem is-
it isn't a perfect world. In the Calif crash, the car was a loaner
whose brakes were already compromised. [still- it looks like
shifting into neutral should have saved the day. but we don't *know*
that they didn't try that.]

Audi & a couple other manufacturers have a shut off on their
drive-by-wire vehicles, so hitting the brakes kills the throttle. I
hate the idea of software on throttles, brakes, or steering-- but that
one seems like common sense. OTOH- if this is a computer problem,
what's to say that would work anyway.

Jim