Stupid. I've used the hand brake, it's a lot more complex bullshit involved for no real gain. The foot brake is a more natural brake, and the motion needed is simple and natural.
If you’re an accomplished driver, you shouldn’t be using either of them for normal driving in a vehicle with a manual transmission.
And the reason you should be using the handbrake instead of the foot brake is precisely because it’s a lot more complex bullshit and you should quickly learn to drive without needing it.
Yes, I was a bit over-dramatic. It’d be pretty bad for the engine, not necessarily (probably not) to the point of destroying it immediately but certainly contributing to the wear and tear and quite possibly causing (or contributing to) more serious problems then or in the future (since we have no idea how much wear to the engine had occurred prior to this situation).
Also, as RedK says in one of his replies, “I don’t recommend keeping it at the rev limiter for hours”. It’s bad for the engine. If a car won’t shift into neutral and won’t shut off, who’s to say even if it would shift into neutral that you’d then be able to turn it off? It might just keep running as close to redline as the rev limiter would allow until it ran out of gas (or until someone with enough knowledge of mechanics was able to get it shut down).
So we've moved from car analogies to bow-analogies now?
Yes. Why? Is there any significance in the peculiar fact that only one of them is hyphenated?
Do you even know how the transmisiion works? Putting the car in neutral will disengage the engine from the wheels, which will be running freely on a bearing. The engine will not be capable of transmitting any torque. The car will slow and stop.
Yes, and I know how to spell it correctly also. It’s 3 S’s and 2 I’s, not the other way ’round.:p
And even without the wheels working against it, an electronic engine will not rev itself past its redline.
It’s still not good for it. A much better alternative would be shutting it off completely.
You probably wouldn’t destroy the engine – and certainly not immediately or anything like that. It definitely wouldn’t be good for it, though, and there would be the potential for damage.
However from all accounts trying to turn off the engine, put it into neutral, etc. has no effect. Now maybe some of these are genuine cases of user error, but there seems to be enough evidence that this does indeed happen in at least some cases. By this token, what benefit would be had if you were able to put it into neutral if the engine then just continued to scream out of control and you couldn’t stop it? Only in the situation where you immediately needed to choose between the well-being of the passengers or the well-being of the engine, and of course the passengers would come first.
So yes, there would be some situations where it would be better to put it into neutral and let the engine go, meanwhile attempting to slow the vehicle. However, if there were plenty of space that definitely wouldn’t be my first inclination, and even if I did have the immediate need to stop the runaway vehicle, turning the engine off entirely would be greatly preferable to putting it into neutral.
Go to any driving school or licensing center during lunch. Ask if anyone there was personally in a car when the driver mistook the gas and brake.
Interesting that you should say that, because I’m betting that the drivers who got their certificates or licenses at the end of the test drive were specifically only the ones who had at least that much figured out.
When the only thing between you and the engine is a piece of cable, and it can be clearly examined after the fact and shown to be not sticking, you don't have an out, it was your fault.
You might want to re-check that, because I know that in some states if you lose your license (revoked or expired) for more than some certain number of months you have to re-take the driving test to get the license back.
I don't think you do. Electronic systems can incorporate various levels of redundancy in ways that mechanical systems can't.
Mechanical systems typically show the wear and tear better than electronic systems. You can tell that they’re going to fail pretty soon before they actually do. In a crucial system (such as an aircraft), if every last bolt and rivet isn’t structurally sound the plane won’t fly until it is.
Timing belts are particularly notorious for failing like clockwork after a certain number of miles...
Depends on the situation. In heavy traffic perhaps, but on a fairly straight wide-open road what’s the harm in letting it go as you have plenty of time/space to calmly asses the situation and attempt to fix it?
And, in the process of pumping the brakes to try and get them working, not noticing that the engine is revving in exact synch with the pedal you’re standing on...
There’s just too much fishiness to the whole thing. Cars run away and the floor mat is found in the trunk where it was supposed to be. Cars run away and neither the driver nor the police driving alongside can figure out how to stop it. That sort of thing shouldn’t happen.
No car computer is programmed to not shift into neutral with full throttle or any throttle position, that would be a huge safety hazard.
You sound quite certain of that.
I get the feeling you care more about your car's warrantied engine than your safety and that of your passengers...
If it’s one or the other, then obviously the car’s engine is less important. However, the FIRST thing you do when you have a stuck accelerator should not be shoot the engine and ask questions later...
And that solves the stuck accelerator problem how?
By destroying your engine, that’s how. An engine with a blown head won’t keep going.
What if your car has a computer that is programmed to not shift the car into neutral at full-throttle no matter what the moronic driver tries to tell it?
You can blame the car or the driver. At least one is at fault – possibly both. From what evidence I have seen and the situations I’ve heard of, there is definitely something wrong with the cars.
The bandwagon effect is at work here, but that proves nothing about which is the cause of the problem. It just has to do with which one is being blamed.
Right, the mechanical brake linkage regularly failed at the same time as the brake sensor failed to no pedal and the accelerator sensor failed to full pedal.
Implying that the stupid driver was mashing the accelerator instead of the brake.
And the officer in the cop car side-to-side of the runaway car (in some instances) also failed to notice that the stupid driver was mashing the accelerator instead of the brake.
The , and . (comma and period) keybindings lower/raise the hidden/abbreviated threshold if you have hotkeys enabled. (To adjust the abbreviated/full threshold you can use the [ and ] keys.)
Handy to remember because the slider doesn’t go all the way down to -1 for some reason.
Fine. Tape the weights around the outside of the bottle, then, as I suggested in the beginning. It’s okay; the energy dissipates rapidly - you said so yourself. Make sure your face is no further than about 12” away when the thing goes off, too... you’re perfectly safe; the weights won’t move any more than five inches, remember!
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Stupid. I've used the hand brake, it's a lot more complex bullshit involved for no real gain. The foot brake is a more natural brake, and the motion needed is simple and natural.
If you’re an accomplished driver, you shouldn’t be using either of them for normal driving in a vehicle with a manual transmission.
And the reason you should be using the handbrake instead of the foot brake is precisely because it’s a lot more complex bullshit and you should quickly learn to drive without needing it.
Yes, I was a bit over-dramatic. It’d be pretty bad for the engine, not necessarily (probably not) to the point of destroying it immediately but certainly contributing to the wear and tear and quite possibly causing (or contributing to) more serious problems then or in the future (since we have no idea how much wear to the engine had occurred prior to this situation).
Also, as RedK says in one of his replies, “I don’t recommend keeping it at the rev limiter for hours”. It’s bad for the engine. If a car won’t shift into neutral and won’t shut off, who’s to say even if it would shift into neutral that you’d then be able to turn it off? It might just keep running as close to redline as the rev limiter would allow until it ran out of gas (or until someone with enough knowledge of mechanics was able to get it shut down).
So we've moved from car analogies to bow-analogies now?
Yes. Why? Is there any significance in the peculiar fact that only one of them is hyphenated?
Do you even know how the transmisiion works? Putting the car in neutral will disengage the engine from the wheels, which will be running freely on a bearing. The engine will not be capable of transmitting any torque. The car will slow and stop.
Yes, and I know how to spell it correctly also. It’s 3 S’s and 2 I’s, not the other way ’round. :p
And even without the wheels working against it, an electronic engine will not rev itself past its redline.
It’s still not good for it. A much better alternative would be shutting it off completely.
Yes, that was the thing. Thanks for reiterating my point for me ;)
You probably wouldn’t destroy the engine – and certainly not immediately or anything like that. It definitely wouldn’t be good for it, though, and there would be the potential for damage.
However from all accounts trying to turn off the engine, put it into neutral, etc. has no effect. Now maybe some of these are genuine cases of user error, but there seems to be enough evidence that this does indeed happen in at least some cases. By this token, what benefit would be had if you were able to put it into neutral if the engine then just continued to scream out of control and you couldn’t stop it? Only in the situation where you immediately needed to choose between the well-being of the passengers or the well-being of the engine, and of course the passengers would come first.
So yes, there would be some situations where it would be better to put it into neutral and let the engine go, meanwhile attempting to slow the vehicle. However, if there were plenty of space that definitely wouldn’t be my first inclination, and even if I did have the immediate need to stop the runaway vehicle, turning the engine off entirely would be greatly preferable to putting it into neutral.
Go to any driving school or licensing center during lunch. Ask if anyone there was personally in a car when the driver mistook the gas and brake.
Interesting that you should say that, because I’m betting that the drivers who got their certificates or licenses at the end of the test drive were specifically only the ones who had at least that much figured out.
When the only thing between you and the engine is a piece of cable, and it can be clearly examined after the fact and shown to be not sticking, you don't have an out, it was your fault.
Am I to assume that by “piece of cable” you meant the wire attached to this?
You might want to re-check that, because I know that in some states if you lose your license (revoked or expired) for more than some certain number of months you have to re-take the driving test to get the license back.
I don't think you do. Electronic systems can incorporate various levels of redundancy in ways that mechanical systems can't.
Mechanical systems typically show the wear and tear better than electronic systems. You can tell that they’re going to fail pretty soon before they actually do. In a crucial system (such as an aircraft), if every last bolt and rivet isn’t structurally sound the plane won’t fly until it is.
Timing belts are particularly notorious for failing like clockwork after a certain number of miles...
Depends on the situation. In heavy traffic perhaps, but on a fairly straight wide-open road what’s the harm in letting it go as you have plenty of time/space to calmly asses the situation and attempt to fix it?
And, in the process of pumping the brakes to try and get them working, not noticing that the engine is revving in exact synch with the pedal you’re standing on...
Note that it is, however, probably the easiest to verify or falsify, and thus a very good starting point.
People say “Occam’s razor” like that’s the end of the discussion, but it should only be the beginning.
The same way that dry-firing a bow is going to damage the bowstring.
Probably because you stopped the engine before you, say, blew the head gasket?
Yes... I thought the sarcasm was self-evident.
Occam's razor.
The simplest answer is not always correct.
There’s just too much fishiness to the whole thing. Cars run away and the floor mat is found in the trunk where it was supposed to be. Cars run away and neither the driver nor the police driving alongside can figure out how to stop it. That sort of thing shouldn’t happen.
No car computer is programmed to not shift into neutral with full throttle or any throttle position, that would be a huge safety hazard.
You sound quite certain of that.
I get the feeling you care more about your car's warrantied engine than your safety and that of your passengers...
If it’s one or the other, then obviously the car’s engine is less important. However, the FIRST thing you do when you have a stuck accelerator should not be shoot the engine and ask questions later...
And nobody ever wins a 1:100,000 jackpot in the lottery either.
Just keep saying it’ll never happen to you – it probably won’t.
And that solves the stuck accelerator problem how?
By destroying your engine, that’s how. An engine with a blown head won’t keep going.
What if your car has a computer that is programmed to not shift the car into neutral at full-throttle no matter what the moronic driver tries to tell it?
You can blame the car or the driver. At least one is at fault – possibly both. From what evidence I have seen and the situations I’ve heard of, there is definitely something wrong with the cars.
The bandwagon effect is at work here, but that proves nothing about which is the cause of the problem. It just has to do with which one is being blamed.
Right, the mechanical brake linkage regularly failed at the same time as the brake sensor failed to no pedal and the accelerator sensor failed to full pedal.
Implying that the stupid driver was mashing the accelerator instead of the brake.
And the officer in the cop car side-to-side of the runaway car (in some instances) also failed to notice that the stupid driver was mashing the accelerator instead of the brake.
The , and . (comma and period) keybindings lower/raise the hidden/abbreviated threshold if you have hotkeys enabled. (To adjust the abbreviated/full threshold you can use the [ and ] keys.)
Handy to remember because the slider doesn’t go all the way down to -1 for some reason.
You recall correctly. God doesn’t always need to jump up and smite someone; sin often has its natural consequences.
Fine. Tape the weights around the outside of the bottle, then, as I suggested in the beginning. It’s okay; the energy dissipates rapidly - you said so yourself. Make sure your face is no further than about 12” away when the thing goes off, too... you’re perfectly safe; the weights won’t move any more than five inches, remember!