Hybrid Car crashes into Tacoma Mini-mart.

When I was learning to drive, my parents did not seem to appreciate the cross-training learning curve they were throwing at me on top of Driving 101.

The long-time family car (later commuter) was a 1961 Corvair with automatic. It's essentially a large VW and does not respond like a conventional car. One lunch break, my Dad attempted to see if I would "get" a second-hand Corvair with a stick shift. Not near enough time for me, plus walking all day drained me - left me frustrated. A few years later, I'd master the standards, but it took two weeks.

Family also had a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass with power brakes/power steering. One day I let the Oldsmobile punch a hold in the garage. Why? The brakes were so easy to press I was afraid it was the accelerator. Jumping from it to the Corvair was so confusing I just decided not to take a chance pressing the accelerator.


Many of you probably need a slight break-in period with a rental. This guy just got his Prius, so I suspect unfamiliarity was a factor.

 

Yes, and they were all at this mini-mart.

 

What A Dufus!!!!

 

great, give the prius some more bad press boo!

 

It's incredible how stories of "unintended acceleration" still circulate virtually unquestioned in the mainstream press! There was an excellent article in Car and Driver (circa 1986/1987) debunking the Audi-related claims common at the time. IIRC, the two primary explanations were:

1. Shame -- The driver could not admit fault.
2. Pedal placement -- Foreign manufacturers tend to position pedals closer together.

An aside: When I was a small child (7 years old), a car I was riding in was involved in a rather serious "unintended acceleration" incident. I won't go into specifics, but it involved a Volvo wagon smashing through my parents' garage door, breaking through the cinderblock wall at the back of the garage, and ending up in my father's home office. No one was hurt, but the driver's pride was no-doubt bruised. The episode bears all the hallmarks of "unintended acceleration," but the situational variables that were seared into my memory (the sound of the engine, the look on the driver's face, etc.) point towards pedal confusion.

 

There have been earlier reports that the driver's top rug could bunch up around the accel. pedal, if not restrained by the rug hook. May have happened here; with tragic results.

Brake vs accel pedal confusion is another reasonable hypothesis.

DAS

 

In the Civic Hybrid, there are hooks that attach to the driver's mat and keep it from creeping towards the accel and brake pedals. There is no such safety feature on the Prius?

 

Of course he will blame the car....idiots get smart when they're about to lose a lot of money.

 

The biggest shame here is that the news agency immediately dictates his story as the truth. If the gas did jam and the car was accelerating, the brake petal would be able to stop it. The only way what he's saying could be true is if his brakes failed and the car's gas petal jammed at the same time - a virtual improbability.

 

Same old, same old. People have been stepping on the wrong pedal and blaming the car since the automobile was invented. I remember Car and Driver's debunking of the Audi 5000 scandal 20 years ago, and it nailed the problem exactly.

About 15 years ago I witnessed this phenomenon. As I'm getting out of my car at home, I hear tires squealing half a block away. Older '70s car accelerating under full throttle with smoke pouring off the tires, crashes into a storefront. The little old lady behind the wheel got out and said, "I don't know what happened. All of a sudden I couldn't stop." Yeah, no ****e lady, when you're stomping on the accelerator!

5 years ago I was victim of this. As I was stopped at a light (in a Civic VX), I got clobbered by a Chevy Tahoe whose driver stomped on the wrong pedal. It was a rental car and the driver wasn't familiar with it. She seemed unsure of what happened too, but I was very sure of what happened. Still have some residual neck pain to this day.

This happens with every vehicle made, though some cars seem more susceptible to it than others (probably due to pedal placement, as suggested by the C&D article). The fact that it was a hybrid is 100% irrelevant.

 

Yes there are clips. There is a TSB issued on it and it warns people not to double up on carpeting. Any chance he was so engrossed in the MFD that he forgot to look where he was driving?

 

Just wanted to point something out. Most cars DO NOT have brake systems that can stop a car at half-throttle or over. The size of brakes needed for this would be prohibitive. However, even if they cannot be stopped, there would be a VERY noticeable resistance as well as smoking and screeching that would indicate a truly stuck pedal. Also, shifting into neutral would obviously bypass the engine and bring the car to a halt at the cost of a blown engine.

 

I remember a report showing how the Audi and the Jeep, which had similar "unintended acceleration" issues both had a large driveshaft bulge which put the accelerator further to the left relative to the centerline of the steering wheel.

The vast majority of the "acclerations" came from new owners, temporary drivers, or attendents such as carwash, valet, common denominator - not used to the pedal location.

I had a 1992 Jeep that was retrofitted with a lockout that wouldn't allow shifting out of park without the brake firmly pressed. I think it's mandatory on all automatics now?

After switching from the Jeep to a Honda Element I had a few "unintended brakings" before acclimating.

 

My 2007 Prius with OEM mats has hooks for the mats to keep it away from the pedals.

 

Hi Brian;

There's simply no telling which car/driver has an unsafe setup. Yes the Civic and the Prius have hooks, but even that will not help much in some cases because many folks buy after-market all weather mats that don't use the hook points... sad indeed.

By the way, welcome to CleanMPG !!!!


Cheers;

MSantos

 

Good question about the Prius. Tonight when I went to the store I did some test.

Condition 1) Stopped Full brakes, Full throttle Car stabilizes at 2100 RPM in Force Charge Mode (This is already know)

Condition 2) 20 MPH applied full throttle followed by full brakes. The car immediately applied nearly full braking action and the RPM was reduced. I did not take it to a full stop, but the braking action would have stopped the car quickly.

Condiiton 3) 40 MPH same result as condition 2.

 

A Boeing 727 crashed today on landing when its thrusters were accidentally engaged instead of its flaps. Pilot Smith indicated that he did indeed raise the flaps, but instead the thrusters came on accelerating the plane. Obviously, the FAA will need to look into the epidemic of "Flap switches engaging the thrusters by mistake", so that this technical problem can be corrected before it happens again.

90% of all airplane accidents are pilot error, but 90% of all Prius accidents are HSD related apparently.