Did anybody think of turning off the key?

...or putting it into neutral?

People are dumb.

http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/article_9a79df1b-d9a0-5471-b80a-df906f85afcc.html

By Kim Norvell St. Joseph News-Press | 2 comments

An Iowa woman escaped a near-death experience on the highway this weekend when her accelerator got stuck at an extremely dangerous speed.

The 47-year-old Ames woman called 911 in a panic Sunday when she realized she could not slow down in her 2011 Kia Sorento. Sgt. Sheldon Lyon, spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said the vehicle “got stuck” at 100 percent throttle, causing it to fly down Interstate 35 at speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour.

The woman was traveling north near Bethany, Mo., when two troopers — also traveling at extremely high speeds — caught up with her vehicle. One trooper began to travel in front of the woman and one trooper stayed behind her in order to provide her coverage, as well as warn motorists of her arrival.

Multiple times the woman swerved into the median to avoid hitting cars and even traveled through a construction zone, without once overcorrecting her vehicle or crashing.

“It was amazing,” Mr. Lyon said.

The three traveled 59 miles in 35 minutes before the woman’s vehicle “miraculously stopped” near Osceola, Iowa — 40 miles into the state.

Mr. Lyon said it was unclear what caused the vehicle’s accelerator to stick — or why it suddenly stopped.

“It was almost like a perfect storm,” Mr. Lyon said. “We had this 47-year-old woman who did a great job of driving, and two troopers who put themselves in harm’s way, even in the state of Iowa, to make sure this had a positive outcome.”

But there was also, it seemed, a little bit of luck on their side.

In a dash-cam video, the trooper traveling behind the vehicle can be seen pulling off the side of the road to stop, saying he only had two minutes’ worth of gas left in his tank. At that exact moment, the woman’s vehicle slows down and he is able to pull up behind her, pull her out of the driver’s seat and then jump in to put it in park.

The woman, while obviously shaken, escaped the ordeal unharmed.

Mr. Lyon said if anything, the incident serves as a reminder that it’s against the law for motorists in Missouri to continuously drive in the left lane, which is for passing vehicles only.

“What happened in this situation, we needed that lane for emergency use. And several times we had motorists that were either not paying attention or did not react and do what the law required them to do, which is to pull over to the right and stop.

“As a result, we had a lot of very near misses.”

I wondered the same thing....

Mental note, teach each of my kids how to reach over and turn off the key without locking the column. Have them practice it on an empty road a few times. Check.

Ranger50 wrote: I wondered the same thing....

Hmmm, should I call 911 next time I'm late - see if I can get an escort if I say the accelerator is stuck.

I kinda like my cars having keys instead of a button

Or teach people what the big pedal beside the accelerator is for. Even a 2011 Kia will have strong enough brakes to make the car stop at full throttle. Buttons versus keys makes no difference.

Woody wrote: An Iowa woman

Story makes sense.

Oh... So THATS what that pedal does...

oldtin wrote: Hmmm, should I call 911 next time I'm late - see if I can get an escort if I say the accelerator is stuck. I kinda like my cars having keys instead of a button

You'll get an escort, just not the type you want.

Life is hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.

Wonder how many million cars they're going to have to recall for that one

I think there's more to it- the person did 59miles at over 100mph, driving in and out of the median.

I suspect they knew what they were doing- and took the cops on a high speed chase for fun.

Who would have the time to call unless you knew what you were doing?

It's amazing what a stuck throttle will do for your driving. Some of my fastest-ever laps at the kart track were in a kart with a sticking throttle. It was lots of fun!

oldtin wrote: I kinda like my cars having keys instead of a button

plus 1,000,000. I hate push button start.

Put it in Neutral, turn off the car, downshift to 4/3/2/1/L...

Methinks she is trying to go for another unintended accleration fad.

If it has that idiotic 'push button' feature, IIRC a while back that was shown to not work under those circumstances, i.e. you can't shut the engine off when the shifter is in any position other than Park or Neutral.

My "push button" start I was installing into my Mustang was a momentary on/off rocker with a separate ignition on/off rocker switch. Of course this was all in a Painless switch panel. None of this BCM to decide if it's OK to send a message to the PCM to turn off....

Curmudgeon wrote: If it has that idiotic 'push button' feature, IIRC a while back that was shown to not work under those circumstances, i.e. you can't shut the engine off when the shifter is in any position other than Park or Neutral.

So in 35 minutes, while on the phone with police, she couldn't manage to bump the shifter forward one - and only one - notch?

Duke wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: If it has that idiotic 'push button' feature, IIRC a while back that was shown to not work under those circumstances, i.e. you can't shut the engine off when the shifter is in any position other than Park or Neutral.

So in 35 minutes, while on the phone with police, she couldn't manage to bump the shifter forward one - and only one - notch?

That, and convienently fix the problem (AMAZING) when the cop pulled over since he was short of fuel. Yea, I don't buy her story.

She deserves a reckless driving ticket, she was driving over 100 mph on the damn phone. She was still chatting away when she got out of the car.

Gee, wonder what the "N" does?

oldtin wrote: Hmmm, should I call 911 next time I'm late - see if I can get an escort if I say the accelerator is stuck. I kinda like my cars having keys instead of a button

Nah, in illinois they would pit manuver you into oncoming traffic.......that'd stop it

Javelin wrote: Gee, wonder what the "N" does?

looks like it causes the trans to upshift on that particular model...

some new cars don't have a mechanical linkage between the shifter and transmission- the shifter is just a switch that sends a signal to the BCM asking if it would please send a signal to the ECM to tell it to shift the trans whenever it has a few free moments to do so and if it feels like it.. some cars won't allow you to throw it in neutral at WFO, you know, as a safety feature...

yup- new cars suck.. they are overly complex. some things should be required to have a mechanical linkage- parking brakes, shifters, steering wheels, and throttle pedals- and there should be a way to shut off the engine if the ecm decides to go haywire- something like a big red "STOP" button on the dash somewhere that physically kills all electricity to the ecm, fuel pump, and ignition system without any relays or anything in the way..

She deserves to have her licence taken away. Anyone who can't bring a vehicle to a safe stop with a stuck throttle should not be driving.

A few years back, during the whole Toyota thing. A call in radio show was out for Toyota blood. I called in and suggested turning the key back one click, use the brakes (or do both), and that each driver should have their licences suspended.

I was pretty much flamed to death by the host and by each subsequent caller.

In reply to drsmooth:

[sarcasm] How DARE you suggest that there be such a thing as personal responsibility! [/sarcasm]

But at the same time, these electronic shifters and such concern me, too. Something as simple as putting the car in neutral if the battery is dead so you can push it outside to where it can be jump started now become horrendously complicated.

Those damn bus systems will go down if a mouse farts in the vehicle's general area. I saw an iPod adapter absolutely kill a Jeep Liberty; amazing that a RADIO PROBLEM! can cause the vehicle to be inoperable.