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Thread ID: 107969	2010-03-09 05:10:00	Run Away Prius	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
865308	2010-03-10 20:36:00	Isolating the battery of a moving vehicle would kill the motor as well ? No. The alternator would probably keep on supplying power. I don't subscribe to the view that "Many modern cars don't have an ignition switch any more. It's all controlled by electronics." either. The ignition key is the main switch for the electrical system, some upmarket vehicles may use a button for the starter, and apparently there is at least one model for which you have to push and hold a button to shut down the engine, but apart from electronic keys (which still need to be read on insertion to power up or on removal to shut down) there remains a need to "switch off" so there is a means to do it. The shift to neutral seems equally obvious. The latest Prius case was a classic example, the driver could have turned off the motor with the key, but didn't until much later in the incident. They walk amongst us.........and drive as well :horrified Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
865309	2010-03-10 20:44:00	and having a fuel cut on some cars especially turbocharged ones would be another disaster - if the throttle was jammed open and the engine racing if you were to cut the fuel it would lean out hideously and in a turbo car that would happen ten fold and you would melt the pistons Can you explain to me in simple terms how you melt pistons when there is no fuel to burn because you have cut the supply? I'm assuming we are talking modern technology here with fuel injection, but a carb could be little different though, it would simply run dry and just stop. Any 'leaning out' would be momentary only, especially for a turbo at full noise. Cheers Billy 8-{) :confused:	Billy T (70)
865310	2010-03-10 20:47:00	The issue is that the accelerator pedal in a prius is drive by wire, unlike an actual mechanical link in older cars. The pedal in older cars gave a natural resistance when you press down on it, and the mechanical link restores the pedal back to normal position when you lift off. In the prius, it is an electronic throttle, so there is no mechanical resistance to push the pedal back. What they did was use an artificial method (can't remember if it was a spring or a slope of plastic) to give the electronic pedal the same feel as a mechanical one. Except sometimes the method didn't always work, so when you lifted off, the pedal would stay in the same position, ie, still accelerating.	utopian201 (6245)
865311	2010-03-10 21:08:00	If drivers have the intelligence of a retarded wombat no amount of intelligent design will save them.	prefect (6291)
865312	2010-03-10 21:38:00	I think being in a runaway car in the us wouldnt be so bad, compared to nz roads....you would last 10 seconds before some prick pulled out in front of you or a bunch of cyclists taking up the whole lane	Gobe1 (6290)
865313	2010-03-10 21:55:00	The issue is that the accelerator pedal in a Prius is drive by wire, unlike an actual mechanical link in older cars. The pedal in older cars gave a natural resistance when you press down on it, and the mechanical link restores the pedal back to normal position when you lift off. It was always a spring, you opened the butterfly on the car by pressing against the resistance of the return spring and taking your foot off allowed the throttle to close. It was called a throttle because it 'throttled' the airflow into the carburettor. Drive by wire simply means that there is no mechanical linkage between the accelerator and the fuel supply to the motor, which is nothing new, the difference is simply the amount of electronics involved so pedal resistance and return pressure remain present, regardless of the technology it links to. I have a fuel injected vehicle with no carburettor or butterfly, but instead there is electronic control of the fuel flow, however the spring is still there to physically return the pedal and so it will be with the Prius and other 'accused' vehicles, whether it be metal or plastic, and anyway, the sticking throttle problem was allegedly caused by mats etc. It may well be that the problem is still mechanical, but 90% of the problem appears to be wet-ware, as in the case reported in the Herald this morning. Clearly a wet-ware failure caused the woman's car to accelerate backwards when she put it into reverse and pressed the accelerator. The more you dumb things down, the stupider people become. If they were driving a manual vehicle with wet cardboard for brake pads, half-hearted synchromesh, an engine like an asthmatic donkey with the pulling power of a team of jellyfish swimming against an incoming tide, they'd soon learn to go and stop in an orderly fashion. Sheesh! Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
865314	2010-03-10 23:31:00	There are cars out there that all you need is the key in your pocket for the car too start, you still need to push a button. but no key in ignition as such	plod (107)
865315	2010-03-10 23:47:00	There are cars out there that all you need is the key in your pocket for the car too start, you still need to push a button. but no key in ignition as such Ha ha imagine a manual with this setup forget to put handbrake on leave in gear start it up and watch it split lol.	prefect (6291)
865316	2010-03-11 02:17:00	Unfortunately I am not very familiar with the Prius or the D-B-W Toyotas either - they are long after my time with a wrench . I'll go into a different direction here though . I was a mechanic for many years - beyond 45 as I remember - and even I got flustered and forgot what to do when the brakes totally failed on a car as I was moving it into my workspace area and drove through the wall . I knew what to do - but it was only after I hit the wall that I got to do what was correct - it's not a nice feeling to have something fail on you like that . You EXPECT the mechanical aspects of a device like the brakes to at least work a little - or enough to stop the vehicle even if it's a little further into the bay than you wanted . It's the surprise factor . I SHOULD have pulled the parking brake - I didn't I SHOULD have thrown it into Reverse - the speed certainly was slow enough for that to work OK with no damage - I didn't I SHOULD have known how to avoid this situation easily - I didn't My point? Things INSTANTLY change when the vehicle doesn't react the way you have grown to expect and things like reasoning get very blurry in a hurry and you forget all the basic intelligent stuff . I mean - how many people practice for a brake failure? How many people practice for a throttle sticking? Humans are all well and good at thinking things out if there's time for it - but throw them a curve like a run-away engine when there is no pre-training for or even a thought that it MIGHT happen, and can you see how all logic goes out the window? My advice from a rather silly perspective is that there should be a small card that has to be read before the ignition can be turned on that you must recite out loud: "This vehicle may stop-run-jump-immolate-flip-disintegrate or any other nonsense and you must prepare yourself mentally for an instantaneous challenge to your born-in logic . Be prepared for anything" We all grow complacent in our expectations assuming that things will work now as they did yesterday morning - and the day before that - and the days before that . It's the TOMORROW FACTOR that gets us!	SurferJoe46 (51)
865317	2010-03-11 02:30:00	Expecting some of these drivers to be able to read may double (at least) the training time and result in total failure for others.	R2x1 (4628)
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