Driver Trapped in Speeding Car

What an odd story.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/frank-lecerf-renault-car-acceleration-pedal-stuck-at-125mph-france-belgium-134908648.html#sqdMTvz

It's this bit that makes me think, 'eh?'

He said he had experienced a similar problem on two previous occasions but his car had been checked and no fault was found.

It's happened twice before? You loon!
Post edited by Maroc's Astral Projection on

Comments

  • Press the middle peddle you loon!
  • edited February 2013
    "Speeding on the fast lane of the motorway he alerted emergency services on his mobile."

    It's dangerous to use your mobile while you're driving..! You loon..!
  • edited February 2013
    RTFA you loon :p

    It was specially adapted disabled controls so there might not even be any pedals. Also it's a Renault so if the computer crashes or decides it fancies a day out in Belgium you just have to go along for the ride.

    It's stories like this that make me glad the most complex electronics on my car is the auto-reverse cassette deck...
  • edited February 2013
    Each time he tried to apply the brakes the car instead accelerated, until he found himself traveling at a consistent 125mph and unable to slow down. He was said to be disappointed in the failure of his flux capacitor as he was looking forward to shopping in 1885.

    :smile:
  • fogfog
    edited February 2013
    Morkin wrote: »
    "Speeding on the fast lane of the motorway he alerted emergency services on his mobile."

    It's dangerous to use your mobile while you're driving..! You loon..!

    wanna tell the euro & eastern euro drivers on the m1 texting AND tailgating in torrential rain ? speaking of the M1 , this little pr*** needs banning



    with brakes though , I've heard of a few that fail.. as they aren't all the same sort.someone at work had a van's brakes fail, I'll show the exact location. it was dangerous

    http://goo.gl/maps/Tnwhd

    he was where the white van was, so had to to go left or right.. notice the tw** in the BMW across the clear way.. why am I not surprised ? ;-)

    I guess gearing down the engine is the only way along with kerbing the wheel ? not sure how it works the automatics, but some vans I know you can switch to manual.. to get higher revs.

    the renault clio with the failing bonnet catch would be a scary one also. http://www.retro-renault.com/forums/geek/gars/images/2/4/7/7/DSCF3605.jpg

    I do remember an engine losing power in my car on the motorway in the middle lane.. that was quite hair raising.
  • edited February 2013
    The original article is quite funny (note the related story link).
    Police sought the advise of a Renault engineer who told Mr Lecerf to cut the car's engine - but the suggestion did not work.

    [Related: Team works on self-driving car]

    What's bad about this story is that they guy is a known epileptic. What is an epileptic doing driving? I used to be epileptic and during that time and for several years afterwards I was not allowed to drive and for good reason.

    And to top it off
    Amazingly no one was injured, but Mr Lecerf suffered two epileptic seizures after he stepped out of his car.
    Calling all ASCII Art Architects Visit the WOS Wall of Text and contribute: https://www.yourworldoftext.com/wos
  • edited February 2013
    Had similar stories here when Toyota were having their issues...one guy said he couldn't stop his car from accelerating and was doing over 100...and called 911.

    Erm..put in neutral/park and take the ignition key out...then hit the brakes.

    Darwinism in action...
  • edited February 2013
    beanz wrote: »
    Erm..put in neutral/park
    That only works if the gear shifter is connected to the gearbox
    beanz wrote: »
    and take the ignition key out...
    That only works if the car has an ignition key

    Secondly cutting power either by removing a key or pulling out a fuse could be deadly if that automatically activates a steering lock etc.
    beanz wrote: »
    then hit the brakes.
    That only works if you have feet - we don't know the nature of the modifications to the cars controls.

    A lot of modern cars no longer have a handbrake cable so you can't even apply that if the computer doesn't feel like it.
  • fogfog
    edited February 2013
    I was thinking it'd stop the power steering/fluid.. as I know from moving the steering wheel without the engine on , it's very heavy.

    that's another defect I saw, the mini's where the power steering failed.
  • edited February 2013
    beanz wrote: »
    Had similar stories here when Toyota were having their issues...one guy said he couldn't stop his car from accelerating and was doing over 100...and called 911.

    Erm..put in neutral/park and take the ignition key out...then hit the brakes.

    You don't even have to do that - in any road legal car the brakes will overpower the engine. They even demonstrated this in a 550+hp supercar by flooring the gas, and at 100mph, braking to a halt with the gas still floored.

    Most of these acceleration issues (I'm not saying this is the case with the Renault incident, given it was a modified car and the modifications may have been bad) are by people hitting the gas while convinced their foot is on the brake pedal. We had someone drive their car through an exterior wall at work because they hit the gas instead of the brake, and instead of thinking, just mashed the pedal down harder when the vehicle accelerated.

    One thing that surprises me is the new software controlled cars (with start stop buttons etc) do not have a physical kill switch, I'm surprised it isn't required by regulations. Every motorcycle has one, they aren't rocket science - just a simple switch just like a bike kill switch within easy reach of the steering wheel, which simply disables the ignition by physically switching off the low voltage supply to the coil(s). I'm also surprised that software "hand brakes" are allowed.
  • edited February 2013
    Winston wrote: »
    One thing that surprises me is the new software controlled cars (with start stop buttons etc) do not have a physical kill switch, I'm surprised it isn't required by regulations. Every motorcycle has one, they aren't rocket science - just a simple switch just like a bike kill switch within easy reach of the steering wheel, which simply disables the ignition by physically switching off the low voltage supply to the coil(s). I'm also surprised that software "hand brakes" are allowed.

    You're assuming of course that they are allowed. Just because no-one's there at the port stopping them from unloading the cars doesn't mean that they actually comply with the regulations required to use them in this country.

    I don't know if they've got around to changing the regulations, but last time I looked it up cars with LED brake lights weren't legal in the UK. Sadly The regulations just get changed to match what the rest of the world is doing otherwise no-one would be able to buy a new car.
  • edited February 2013
    guesser wrote: »
    You're assuming of course that they are allowed. Just because no-one's there at the port stopping them from unloading the cars doesn't mean that they actually comply with the regulations required to use them in this country.

    I don't know if they've got around to changing the regulations, but last time I looked it up cars with LED brake lights weren't legal in the UK. Sadly The regulations just get changed to match what the rest of the world is doing otherwise no-one would be able to buy a new car.

    I'd be more worried about them blue light up washer jets chavs have.
    Calling all ASCII Art Architects Visit the WOS Wall of Text and contribute: https://www.yourworldoftext.com/wos
  • edited February 2013
    Scottie_uk wrote: »
    I'd be more worried about them blue light up washer jets chavs have.

    That's an after market addition though like strip lights or "show plates"...
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