Renault stuck at 125mph for an hour

[Ryan_R]

This Guy's Car Got Stuck at 125mph—for an Hour - Megan Garber - The Atlantic

[Martin]

These wierd incidents are typically unexplained
Hard to believe that the brake peddle made the car speed up
Even if it did, you can't turn off the hydraulics, press hard and the brakes will win over power
Then there is moving to neutral or turning the key off

[Ryan_R]

Possible that the driver didn't have his rational thinking faculties at the time but hard to believe the engineer couldn't think of that one

I wonder if the car was stock or modified in any way, it is just a Scenic after all. For all the stuff we've done to our cars I'm surprised nothing has ever happened to a Golf, but then we have our own problems (DSG).

[Lucas_R]

Renault stuck at 125mph for an hour

Hmmm turn the car off next time perhaps. Theres a thing called a key that goes into the dashboard.

[Ryan_R]

Most car manuals are quite definite on not doing that (obviously this is an exceptional circumstance) but that could make the person wonder/worry what would happen - would they lose power steering or airbags or something

[Martin]

But it is the correct action to take when running out of options and road - police have given this advice during three of these incidents
If you got onto a straight section of motorway, it would be a safe place to perform this action

[kaanage]

This happened (at a much lower speed) to a Ford on the Eastlink freeway down here back in 2010 and there was nothing the drive could do to stop the car

Ford Explorer | cruise control | stuck | jammed| EastLink

All the drive by wire controls mean that you don't have direct control of things like ignition and throttle with modern cars.

[team_v]

Firstly it should be noted that the car was modified to allow him to drive becasue of his condition.
Secondly, turning the car off will lock the steering wheel which is dangerous.

I am surprised he made it that far without injuring anyone since he apparently had 2 seisures while driving.

My best guess would be to grind it against the wall until it slowed enough to put it into a wall safely, otherwise put it in neutral and watch it pop the pistons ouf of the engine.

Surely the poice could have just boxed him in and slowed him down that way enough for him to turn it off??

[wai]

Sometimes we can be a little too smart for ourselves. With fly by wire technology, we place our lives in the hands of a programmer who requires absolutely no qualifications or experience by law. It is simply up to the scrutiny of a manufacturer where the main issue is liability and this is covered by insurance.

It is the same in many areas where you can literally get someone straight out of high school (if you are lucky) and get them to do the work...because they are cheap.

With the technology being common these days, you can't simply do the obvious thing like turn the ignition off because some systems will prevent the key from being turned off (or removed) once the vehicle is moving as this could mean a loss of steering or brake control. While standing on the brakes will slow the vehicle down, he was travelling at 60 mph and the speed went up to 125 mph. I wonder how many would press on the brakes that hard at 60 mph let alone 125 mph, particularly when pressing the brakes saw the car speed up.

One thing is strange. Why would France, the home of the metric system, be reporting speeds in mph? I would have thought they would reported it in km/h.

[Lucas_R]

Renault stuck at 125mph for an hour

Put it in neutral?

[Guest001]

Firstly it should be noted that the car was modified to allow him to drive becasue of his condition.
Secondly, turning the car off will lock the steering wheel which is dangerous.

I am surprised he made it that far without injuring anyone since he apparently had 2 seisures while driving.

My best guess would be to grind it against the wall until it slowed enough to put it into a wall safely, otherwise put it in manual and watch it pop the pistons ouf of the engine.

Surely the poice could have just boxed him in and slowed him down that way enough for him to turn it off??

I agree with your first sentence I read a different report on it which actually mentioned the vehicle was modified due to the drivers disability.

Seems the reporter who wrote this version must have worked for nine and just wrote what was more sensational without reporting the facts.

[Martin]

With fly by wire technology, we place our lives in the hands of a programmer who requires absolutely no qualifications or experience by law. It is simply up to the scrutiny of a manufacturer where the main issue is liability and this is covered by insurance.

It is the same in many areas where you can literally get someone straight out of high school (if you are lucky) and get them to do the work...because they are cheap.

Sorry but that's a gross over simplification of the design, build, test, certify process that manufacturers go through
Manufacturers are all too aware of the legal risks they are exposed to with these systems and do put measures in place to ensure these things are well designed and tested

Many of my flights to the US have been fully automated once reaching cruise altitude, including the landing
If we can get automated systems to control a Boeing 747 and Airbus 380
I think we get manually controlled fly by wire systems to work in a car

Clearly this situation with a modified vechile is unique and may not be a car manufacturer's defect or fault

I am surprised he made it that far without injuring anyone since he apparently had 2 seisures while driving.

2 seisures? You have to wonder if it's safe (form him and other motorists) for him to be driving at all...

While standing on the brakes will slow the vehicle down, he was travelling at 60 mph and the speed went up to 125 mph. I wonder how many would press on the brakes that hard at 60 mph let alone 125 mph, particularly when pressing the brakes saw the car speed up.

There is no car in the world that has enough power to beat it's own brakes (this was part of a court defense case in the USA)

Let's hope the chain of responsibility is investigated/followed regarding these modifications to his car

[Tom87]

Anyone here ever seen cars modified so that people with no legs can drive them?

Talk about mods than look ghetto.....


this thread brings the lolz with the electronics skeptics too haha

[Umai Naa!!]

I drove a T4 Transporter once, set up for a person with non-functioning legs. The hand controls themsleves were an accident waiting to happen.

[wai]

Put it in neutral?

It all depends on the system. For example, on my Caddy, if I do not put the DSG into Park before I remove the keys, the system will not let me do this. Some systems prevent you from doing this to "protect you from yourself" if you get what I mean. I have not tried putting my DSG into neutral while in motion. Maybe the Renault does not allow the transmission going into neutral if the vehicle is travelling above a set speed.

There is nothing wrong with technology, however we need to be careful and ensure that we do not try and be too clever and not put the background work in.

You only have to look at some recalls where the accelerator pedal would get caught under a floor mat. I find this incredible. We have had cars for decades (even over a century), yet we only recently started having floor mats trapping accelerator pedals. From the manufacturer, the solution is to buy special mats with locking elements preventing the mat from sliding too far forward. Great, which means more money for the manufacturer as you buy special mats. The only thing is that this never was an issue previously. Why not design the system such that it cannot trap the pedal by using a spring loaded piece that will allow the pedal to return even if it does get caught by the mat.

The reason this is not done is that modifying the pedal costs the manufacturer money and is hard to recover the cost from the buyer. On the other hand special mats is a win for the manufacturer as they get to extract even more money from a buyer.