The EV fact thread

[markjay]

With a foot over the clutch, thought not required - instinct.

Again - on a manual....

 

[Bellow]

Again - on a manual....

Stamp on the brake pedal in an auto and stick it in neutral.
(Another good reason for left foot braking in an auto - brake already covered).

That guy let his Escort runaway for longer than it took me to type this sentence. Should he have a licence?

 

[markjay]

Stamp on the brake pedal in an auto and stick it in neutral.
(Another good reason for left foot braking in an auto - brake already covered).

That guy let his Escort runaway for longer than it took me to type this sentence. Should he have a licence?

Similarly, I reckon that half of all airplane crashes could have been avoided if the pilots were quick to think and applied the correct solution at the earliest opportunity... and yet crash they do (not too often, thankfully) .

 

[Bellow]

I once managed a roundabout on a NSL dual carriageway without PAS or much in the way of servo braking after the engine stopped dead on my Ford Granada (it was an auto, so no engine braking to speak of either). Took a bit of effort for sure, but I got away with it.

It spooks me that both my steering and braking (HydroBoost) assistance hang on the cross-sectional area of a serp belt...

 

[JHS]

Select neutral - danger to life and limb removed.

Switch engine off is also an option.

 

[JHS]

A diesel can always be shut down by depriving it of air. A block of wood over the air intake / turbo inlet will suffice.

Neat trick when doing 100 on the M6 with stuck pedal.

 

[Bellow]

Switch engine off is also an option.

You might want to keep it running for the PAS and in my case, powered brakes. Depends though if the engine is heading for destruction (diesel) or merely banging on the rev limiter (petrol).

 

[190]

With a foot over the clutch, thought not required - instinct.

I was taught in both motorcycle and car advanced training to disengage the clutch when emergency braking. Pull with both hands on the bike and push with both feet in the car (manual of course). although it's simple, I would suggest that it still needs to be practiced to become truly instinctive. I've heard a contrary opinion but I don't agree, there isn't time to be pi$$ing about changing down through the gears in a real emergency.

Similarly, I reckon that half of all airplane crashes could have been avoided if the pilots were quick to think and applied the correct solution at the earliest opportunity... and yet crash they do (not too often, thankfully) .

Pilots don't crash often because they are trained and practice the correct way to to respond to every conceivable emergency, which is why I think practicing emergency braking in a road vehicle is important.

The problem with flying is that it's several orders of magnitude more complex than driving a car, and with too many things happening at once even they can reach mental overload and react in the wrong way.

 

[ALFAitalia]

.. ...and yet crash they do (not too often, thankfully) .

..... just the once!!!!!!

 

[Will]

You’d have thought with a runaway it would be safer in an EV - after all the range is so low and they don’t cover the quoted miles per kW etc so would likely be ready to stop for a charge up anyway?

 

[Ted]

It’s happened to me twice. Once in the back streets of Coventry in a Passat. I can’t remember the root cause but I do know the mechanic got a bollocking.
The other time was in an XJS or XJ12 on the Tiddington Road out of Stratford, - the stretch after Tiddington towards Wellesbourne. Road clear, I gave it full throttle, to find it stuck fully open. Left in drive, turned ignition off and coasted to a stop. Lack of power steering and brakes really wasn’t an issue as I recall.
Root cause was the (original) carpet had split between the rubber heelpad and the carpet. Which was the exact point where the throttle pedal would jam if pushed to the floor. The car owner probably had never tried this.

I might have dreamt this . Was there not a car (in the 1980's ??) that if the front seat passenger in a right hand drive model stamped on the footwell the brakes came on ?? Something to do with RHD cars being poorly adapated.

I am inclined to say Skoda ? I'm off out soon but it's stuck in my head so I might Google it later.

Or it could be complete Boll0k$

It was Volkswagen in the seventies . Either the K70 or early Passat. The conversion from LHD to RHD meant that the (rod)throttle linkage went from the passenger side to the driver’s side under the carpet where your feet would rest, and could be actuated by the passenger pushing hard on the floor e.g. under heavy braking.

 

[ChipChop]

Neat trick when doing 100 on the M6 with stuck pedal.

My understanding of 'runaway' on a diesel engine is it happens on start up due to the injection pump rack being stuck open for one reason or another. Unlikely to happen if you have already managed to drive x number of miles and are on a motorway cruise, unless it is caused by another issue such as turbo failure.

 

[clk320x]

You’d have thought with a runaway it would be safer in an EV - after all the range is so low and they don’t cover the quoted miles per kW etc so would likely be ready to stop for a charge up anyway?

 

[markjay]

You’d have thought with a runaway it would be safer in an EV - after all the range is so low and they don’t cover the quoted miles per kW etc so would likely be ready to stop for a charge up anyway?

Plus, how far can the EV go while it's on fire...?

 

[markjay]

My understanding of 'runaway' on a diesel engine is it happens on start up due to the injection pump rack being stuck open for one reason or another. Unlikely to happen if you have already managed to drive x number of miles and are on a motorway cruise, unless it is caused by another issue such as turbo failure.

It happens also due to too much oil, which expands when the engine gets very hot. This is why garages prefer to under-fill rather than overfill, and this is also why modern engines have a warning for this.

See for example:

Excess Diesel Oil Explained | Triad Diagnostic Solutions

Prevent diesel engine damage with Jaltest diagnostic tools! Check oil levels and ensure optimal performance. Get your kit from Triad Diagnostic Solutions now!

triad-ds.com

"It's one of the most obvious symptoms when engine oil is in excess in a diesel engine, but it's still an important thing to note. When the oil in the engine is overfilled, it can cause the engine to burn both the fuel and the oil at the same time, running the engine even when you're trying to turn it off."

 

[E55BOF]

Exacxtly that happened to a friend of mine in an RAF diesel Montego which had just been serviced.

 

[markjay]

I think that the bottom line is that EVs solve some old problems while creating some new ones.......

 

[E55BOF]

If we don't want problems, best we all stick to petrol cars, then...

 

[markjay]

Very interesting reading in the Manchester Evening News. Jaguar ipace runaway on the M62 Bloody frightening just reading about it.

And another one....:

Big Brother winner Craig Phillips says brakes failed on Jaguar I-Pace

EXCLUSIVE: Craig Phillips, 52, of Rainhill, Merseyside, who won the first Big Brother in 2000, is the latest EV driver to come forward with a story about being 'kidnapped' by a runaway car.

mol.im

 

[ChipChop]

It happens also due to too much oil, which expands when the engine gets very hot. This is why garages prefer to under-fill rather than overfill, and this is also why modern engines have a warning for this.


"It's one of the most obvious symptoms when engine oil is in excess in a diesel engine, but it's still an important thing to note. When the oil in the engine is overfilled, it can cause the engine to burn both the fuel and the oil at the same time, running the engine even when you're trying to turn it off."

...due to poor DPF design. You could call it planned diesel obsolescence thanks to successive euro emissions standards setting up the diesel to fail. Or there is always the hapless 'technician' apparently unable to measure engine oil fill levels correctly.

Either way oil dilution and subsequent engine runaway are not faults endemic to oil burners which historically are the most reliable and long lived ICE powerplant.