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Comment by cypherpunks01 | Hacker News Reader

Not too surprised either.

But one thing I never understood is how a stuck pedal (one that's actually stuck) can lead to a car accelerating out of control. How could it possibly prevent you from taking the car out of gear, rolling to a stop and turning the thing off? Does it actually affect the ability to shift? Or are drivers just panicking and being dumb? Or do people who own a fancy automatic Lexus actually not know what the "N" on their shifter means?? I sincerely hope it's not the latter.

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The article says the data recorders indicated the brakes were not applied at all but the accelerator pedal was floored. In other words, people thinking they're standing on the brakes when really they're standing on the gas pedal.

A person comfortable with technology will react to a surprising result by immediately changing what he's doing on the controls to search for cause and effect; for those who have difficulty with technology it is because they can't think scientifically and react by trying to do more of what wasn't working.

I long to live in a society where "difficulty with technology...because they can't think scientifically" is seen as a disability!

E.g., button mashing.

In at least some incidents, it was impossible to change into neutral(owing to some electronic failsafe) and not at all obvious how to switch the ignition off. Non-obvious is bad bad bad when your throttle is suddenly stuck wide open.

Just curious, how can it be non-obvious how to stop the engine? Why couldn't the drivers simply turn back the key? Is there some safety feature I'm not aware of?

In my car there's nothing preventing you from completely removing the key while the car is in drive (this actually screwed me once when I parked on a hill and forgot to shift to park). Is this unusual?

Many of these cars have a power button -- if the "key" is inside the car, the button is activated. When the car is on, and in park, it will turn off with a simple press of the button, but when in motion that does not work.

(I've been told that holding the power button for several seconds, just like one would a crashed computer, will force a shutdown; can't verify that though.)

Some newer cars don't have a key, they have a pushbutton on/off "switch" (not really a switch at all, just a signal to the computer that the driver wants to start the car). To "force shut off" a running car in gear, you have to hold the button down for several seconds (think rebooting a PC by holding the power button down for several seconds).

The brake pedal is a pretty obvious user interface. Most people use it whenever they drive. In general, brakes will easily overpower the engine when fully applied. Car & Driver did some tests to be sure [1], and were able to stop a floored Camery going 70 MPH in 190 feet, only 16 feet further than with the throttle closed. Even if shifting or turning off the engine aren't an option (doubtful) the brakes are an obvious and simple way to bring the car back under control. There's really no avoiding the fact that driver error, or at least inaction, played a large part in these accidents.

[1](http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q4/how_to_deal_with_u...)

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