On Mon, 20 Feb 2017 09:30:48 -0500, Jack wrote:

On 2/19/2017 4:19 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:29:31 -0500, Jack wrote:

A friend of my wife ran though the side of a building and she said her
gas pedal stuck. Could easily have been brake failure IMO. I believe
it was a Lexus and people were suing them for stuck gas pedals.

and 90%+ of those "stuck gas pedals" were stuck to the floor by a
panicked driver's right foot.

There are virtually NO incidents of a "stuck accellerator pedal"
causing an accident without previous signs of trouble like high idle
speeds or sticky-notchy accelerator action.

Yeah, I was skeptical myself.


Many reports said something like "I had both feet on the brake and it
STILL would not stop"

If you ever were barreling down the road at 50MPH in the summer on dry
pavement, touch your brakes to slow down and the ABS goes of, giving you
50% braking power as you approach a line of stopped cars in front of
you, you will very quickly be standing on your brake pedal. Taught me
that my brake pedal would not break, or bend under immense force brought
on by a rapidly building panic that I was not going to stop in time.
Force vs a computer, computer wins. Fortunately I was not in a hurry
that day, and knew there was traffic at that spot every day, and had
allowed plenty of room to slowly come to a stop. Stopped about a foot
behind the car in front, with both feet on the pedal. Very scary.
Gotta think like a pilot. Always keep a "safe landing spot" in sight
at all times. I was told by several cops to choose a guard rail over
the back of the vehicle ahead every time if you "know" you won't get
stopped in time. No chance of a careless driving charge sticking if
you can "proove" you recognized the danger, made a concious decision
on avoiding the colission, and acted on it. You may have made a faulty
decision - but making the decision and acting on it does NOT
constitute careless driving..

Also, releasing and re-applying the brake has about a 50% chance of
re-establishing braking power in the case of intermittently
misbehaving ABS . If you are aware that the ABS is flakey and you
continue to drive the vehicle, you better be allowing a lot of extra
stopping space AT ALL TIMES. Also be ready to use the emergency brake
if required. It will only give you rear brakes - but they will not be
released by the computer. Just don't lock them and slide the rear end
around causing you to loose ALL control of the vehicle. Don't want to
be charged with driving an unsafe vehicle

I have been known to use reverse to stop a vehicle with
malfunctioning brakes too. Hand brake to lock the rear brake, into
reverse and hit the gas. The rire rotating backwards had more effect
slowing the vehicle than just sliding locked!! (rear wheel drive) and
more effect "biting down" through packed snow than wheels rolling on
the snow due to ABS shutting off all 4 brakes. Using reverse cost me a
diff on the 69 dart when one wheel caught dry pavement while moving in
the opposite direction. Took the spider gear out and stopped the car
DEAD - right there. - but I didn't hit anything..