There is much speculation, but little information, about the cause but one thing is obvious: aside from a single report on National Public Radio www.npr.org, your correspondent has neither heard nor read of any discussion of what is euphemistically referred to a 'pedal misapplication'.
That means the driver stomped on the accelerator instead of the brake. An even simpler, and to the point, description is DRIVER ERROR. That was the finding of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, in the late 1980s, when similar reports about automobiles manufactured and sold by Audi were rampant.
Regardless of the cause, the real issue is what to do if a case of sudden acceleration occurs so, yesterday, your correspondent conducted a modest experiment with his own, admittedly not a Toyota, vehicle:
- First, finding a near deserted piece of road, he accelerated normally to twenty five miles per hour.
- Then, he placed a heavy foot on the throttle and accelerated to over 50 miles per hour.
- With the throttle still fully depressed, and the vehicle accelerating at maximum rate, he shifted into neutral - without any difficulty. The engine did race in an ugly manner, which does not improve it, but crashing is a less desirable option.
- The next step was to turn the ignition key to off. Since the transmission was in Neutral, rather than Park, the steering wheel lock did not engage. The engine stopped and while power steering - a convenience rather than a necessity - was lost, there was little danger.
- Applying the brakes brought the the vehicle to a safe stop.
So why, when there appears to be a simple solution to an incident of sudden acceleration, do a significant number of drivers seem to have engaged in something akin to Mr. Toad's wild ride (as described by Kenneth Grahame in the children's classic The Wind in the Willows found here at Amazon http://tinyurl.com/y8lnfhm) without taking the simple actions that could have solved the immediate problem?
A head scratcher indeed!
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