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Toyota damages claims
britishtrident - 24/2/10 at 03:45 PM

From what I see on the Interweb in the states suing Toyota for damages seems to be the growth industry of 2010, a nice little earner for lawyers and families on the make. For a few months I suspect suicide by Toyota or Lexus will replace the other unique American way out suicide by cop.

If you do manage get killed driving a runaway Toyota/Lexus on the freeway and find time to call your wife the truth is if it wasn’t suicide it was death by Darwinian selection you were too stupid to live, you had time to stick your toe under the pedal or knock it out of gear or carefully turn the ignition off.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by britishtrident]


andyharding - 24/2/10 at 03:53 PM

One of those killed who had phoned 911 was in a vehicle he had on test drive from the dealer. I wonder how many of us fully read the manual of a car before a simple test drive and would know how to turn of the ignition off on a keyless car and get it to stop.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by andyharding]


Richard Quinn - 24/2/10 at 03:57 PM

An American woman on the radio this morning said that she was reversing when the accelerator stuck and she ended up doing 100mph. I know that this was an auto but is this actually possible and, if anyone has actually tried steering a car in reverse flat out, what would be the chances of doing anything remotely close to this for any length of time.


alistairolsen - 24/2/10 at 03:59 PM

Id be pulling it out of gear and letting the engine blow before Id risk dying!

No, 100mph in reverse isnt possible normally, reverse tends to be lower geared than first, so 40 max if youre lucky, probably only 25-30.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by alistairolsen]


02GF74 - 24/2/10 at 04:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Richard Quinn
An American woman on the radio this morning said that she was reversing when the accelerator stuck and she ended up doing 100mph. I know that this was an auto but is this actually possible and, if anyone has actually tried steering a car in reverse flat out, what would be the chances of doing anything remotely close to this for any length of time.


Ofcourse it is possible, we all know auto gearboxes have 6 reverse gears, I regularly do 150 mph in reverse.

The only car I am aware of is some old DAF or SAAB - had a variomatic(?) gearbox - basically two pulleys that move in/out to vary the gear - so could do same speed forwards as in reverse, oh, and ofcourse Italian tanks.


Richard Quinn - 24/2/10 at 04:11 PM

Well, I wasn't sure how the gearing worked in things like top-end Lexi. Thought that the hybrid/Duracell RX things may have direct drive on electric or something.
Don't forget some of the BEC boys do have 6 reverse gears and could do more than 100mph backwards


brianthemagical - 24/2/10 at 04:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Richard Quinn
An American woman on the radio this morning said that she was reversing when the accelerator stuck and she ended up doing 100mph. I know that this was an auto but is this actually possible and, if anyone has actually tried steering a car in reverse flat out, what would be the chances of doing anything remotely close to this for any length of time.


My interpretation of what i'm assuming was the same story is that she was traveling forwrd at 100mph, and then put it in reverse, rather than trying for neutral.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by brianthemagical]


theconrodkid - 24/2/10 at 04:33 PM

as what BT said,i think people have lost the ability to think for themselves/accept responsibility for their actions and when things start to go pearshaped they imediately ring the lawyers


franky - 24/2/10 at 04:34 PM

Basically the American car industry is on its knees. Hence the amount of airtime over all this crap. Toyota sell more cars in the US than American firms as they only make shite cars.

Its just one big conspiracy by the US goverment/car firms as they've been given so much money to bail them out.


MikeRJ - 24/2/10 at 06:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by andyharding
One of those killed who had phoned 911 was in a vehicle he had on test drive from the dealer. I wonder how many of us fully read the manual of a car before a simple test drive and would know how to turn of the ignition off on a keyless car and get it to stop.


If the other option was crashing at high speed and I couldn't lift the throttle pedal or switch the ignition off then I would be on the brakes and getting the car into neutral. The engine will survive a few seconds on the limiter anyway unless it was already on the point of failing.

Seems like there are too many people that simply shouldn't be holding a driving licence if they are that clueless.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by MikeRJ]


bartonp - 24/2/10 at 06:54 PM

Surely the brakes are more powerful than the engine anyway? Stall it!


Ninehigh - 24/2/10 at 07:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bartonp
Surely the brakes are more powerful than the engine anyway? Stall it!

Try it one day, plant the accelerator and with that foot firmly down plant the brake and let us know how you got on


Richard Quinn - 24/2/10 at 08:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by brianthemagical
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Quinn
An American woman on the radio this morning said that she was reversing when the accelerator stuck and she ended up doing 100mph. I know that this was an auto but is this actually possible and, if anyone has actually tried steering a car in reverse flat out, what would be the chances of doing anything remotely close to this for any length of time.


My interpretation of what i'm assuming was the same story is that she was traveling forwrd at 100mph, and then put it in reverse, rather than trying for neutral.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by brianthemagical]
Ahhh, that makes a bit more sense


JoelP - 24/2/10 at 08:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
quote:
Originally posted by bartonp
Surely the brakes are more powerful than the engine anyway? Stall it!

Try it one day, plant the accelerator and with that foot firmly down plant the brake and let us know how you got on


Im fairly sure the brakes wouldnt work; basically, they might at first but they would VERY quickly overheat and fade.

Ive seen diesels by the road a few times revving their nuts off on their oil, i assume the drivers would stall it as they stopped rather than letting it go on revving til it popped. Since they didnt (on the times ive seen) either the brakes couldnt stall the engine or they were fools.


brianthemagical - 24/2/10 at 08:34 PM

I had a 205 derv that decided it wouldn't stop so i'd have to put it in first, on the brakes and handbrake and dump the clutch. Worked fine for a bit but then the clutch stated dying. Only ever tried it while stationary though.


DorsetStrider - 24/2/10 at 09:53 PM

I've been thinking about the idea of dropping the clutch in this situation and letting the engine destroy itself...

But in a modern car with a rev limiter would it work? Surely the limiter would kick in the revs would drop, the limiter kicks out, rev rise and we are back to square one.

I suppose with the clutch disengaged it would be possible to use the brakes with the revs going up and down as so bring the car to a halt.

Discuss


Ninehigh - 24/2/10 at 09:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DorsetStrider
I've been thinking about the idea of dropping the clutch in this situation and letting the engine destroy itself...

But in a modern car with a rev limiter would it work? Surely the limiter would kick in the revs would drop, the limiter kicks out, rev rise and we are back to square one.

I suppose with the clutch disengaged it would be possible to use the brakes with the revs going up and down as so bring the car to a halt.

Discuss


It's in America where "clutch" is something you do with your hands. No clutch no disengaging gear.


David Jenkins - 24/2/10 at 09:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh

It's in America where "clutch" is something you do with your hands. No clutch no disengaging gear.


You could always pull the gear selector into neutral - even going into '1' which would limit your speed considerably. Probably not a good idea to go into 'P' though - if it would let you - as locking up the transmission at speed could be... exciting.


Ninehigh - 24/2/10 at 10:09 PM

Next problem, my mum's Prius has forward, backward and neutral. Not sure if it'd let you go for neutral when you're moving...