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Mon 17 Nov, 2003 12:59 am
Neutral is the best place to shift to when your car accelerator sticks.
A few years ago, I was driving on a four lane freeway divided by a wide dirt culvert area. I stepped on the accelerator to activate the passing gear to pass a slow car. When I eased back into the lane, the passing gear stuck and I was revving down the road at top speed headed for cars in front of me. In panic, I stepped on the brakes trying to slow down. The harded I pushed on the brake, the more I lost control of the car, which started "fish-tailing" down the road. It spun out of control and my view was blocked by clouds of dirt. My car finally came to a stop in the wide dirt freeway divider headed in the opposite direction. I didn't have a scratch on me or my car. I was extremely lucky as it was a mountain road with a shear drop to the right of the lane in which I was driving.
Other drivers came to my aid and the highway patrol was called and came to my assistance. I asked the officer what I should have done under these circumstances. He wasn't sure how to advise me except to turn off the ignition. In yesterday's newspaper, I found the answer to my question.
PUT THE CAR INTO NEUTRAL! Most people panic and try one of the following. They stand on the brake pedal, they apply the parking brake, they bend down under the steering column and try to pull the pedal back of they turn off the ignition. Forget all that stuff.
If the accelerator is stuck all the way open, you'll have a hard time stopping the car with the brakes. The flimsy parking brake is even more useless. Plus, its redundant, since your brake pedal is already applying the brakes to all four wheels. Bending down is crazy. Not only might it not work (since the cause is likely to be under the hood, but you're going fast and now you can't see.
DON'T TURN OFF THE IGNITION? Turning off the ignition kills your power steering. It also kills your power brakes. And if you turn the key too far, to the "lock" position, you'll lock the steering wheel. Then you're really toast.
So the proper thing to do is stay calm, and simply SHIFT THE CAR INTO NEUTRAL. You'll keep your power steering and power brakes, and you'll be able to bring your car to a safe, controlled stop off to the side of the road. Then, once you're safely stopped, you can turn off the engine and call for help.
There is, of course, a small danger that the engine might be revving so fast in Neutral that it might blow. To that, I say, "So What?" Then you make a claim with your insurance company, and it buys you a new engine. Your carrier will be happy to pay for a new engine rather than death benefits.
BumbleBeeBoogie
I always head for the nearest Wal Mart and drive in circles till the gas runs out. Good advice really. Now, Ive never had a gas pedal stick by anything other than getting too many empties in the cockpit and having them wedge in the accelerator. Thats just me
Great post BBB. I already knew this, but it's something everyone should know.
Had an accelerator stick once, but since I've only ever driven stick shifts, all you have to do is push the clutch in. I've never owned a car with power steering.
BBB on the suject of putting your car in neutral when the accelerator sticks ,just turn the car off,even if you are in the drive position because
#1 Your key will not lock the steering,although you will loose your power steering , you will have enough steering to make a controlled stop.
#2 You will loose your power brakes,but again you will have enough brakes to make a controlled stop although your brake pedal will be harder,but it will stop the vehicle.
Once you pull over don't restart the car.
doing this minimizes the damage to the engine and the pocket book.
Does anyone think Crazy is correct?
Does anyone think Crazy is correct? I tend to disagree with him, having been through an event that could have killed me.
BBB
BBB
My cousin Crazy and I were talking to my son about driving last night because my son has just gotten his permit in July and I mentioned this thread to my son, but then Crazy told me that putting the car in nutral was not the thing to do and explained exactly why. My cousin Crazy is an auto mechanic and he explained that as long as the car is in drive, you can't lock up your wheel. He had the same experience with my car not long ago when he was taking it for a test drive after I told him I was having trouble with the car and he simply turned the car off while in drive and he came to a safe stop after doing that. What he was telling me made a lot of sense.
i've read more than once (and was also taught at driving school years ago) that the last thing you should do is take the car "out of gear" - i.e. shift to neutral or push the clutch in, because you do loose control over your car. another bad habit when driving a "manual" is to shift out of gear "when taking a curve" (but i do know some divers who do that when they think they are going too fast going into a curve). one should always SLOW DOWN AND SHIFT DOWN before going into a curve and then accelarate when coming out of the curve - just look how the racedrivers do it -, the engine may scream a bit, but that is hardly ever fatal to the engine. i believe one of the few times you may want to shift into neutral is when your car goes out of control when you are driving on sheer ice - it is also recommended that you start praying loudly at the same time ! perhaps someone can help out here : there is/was a famous english race driver who got into a proplem driving on a british country road (gaspedal stuck ?) and who did not have the presence of mind to turn off the ignition - he had a really bad crash. i remember that he was interviewed on t.v. later and explained his mistake. was it sterling moss ? hbg
hamburger, as you asked, I was saying to myself, Sterling Moss? well, I dunno. Nor do I know the correct way here. Listening.
i agree. you should turn your engine off in a situtation where your accelerater is stuck. the reason being that having the accelerater depressed in neutral could very likely cause the engine to rev out of control damaging your engine though i believe that computerized safety mechanisms would shut it off anyway if it redlines. plus automatic drivers generally don't instinctively know where neutral is. you may have to take your eye off the road to find it or even worse, accidently shift it to a lower gear.
but that doesn't mean that neutral doesn't have its uses, especially in a manual car. in fact it's a necessity. you'd go mad having to constantly keep the clutch down in traffic. racedrivers don't do it cuz there's no need to. they don't have to stop or decelerate for more than a few seconds.
Re: Does anyone think Crazy is correct?
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:Does anyone think Crazy is correct? I tend to disagree with him, having been through an event that could have killed me.
BBB
I had the pedal stick on me once--quite a shock in a car pushing 500HP. I shut the engine off, coasted to the side of the road, fixed the binding linkage, & drove home.
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