why dont they just put it in Nuetral?

[dodge man]

The problem with Audi was pedal placement. I often thought this might have been due to the fact that a lot of car magazines like the pedal placed in such a way you can "heel and toe". This is where you can use you right foot to run the gas and brake at the same time, so you can clutch and shift at the same time, which is a racing technique. The car would also idle a little high, so people would put it in gear, it would lurch forward, they would stomp on the brake, but hit the gas instead. Of course this happened in a split second and they wouldn't have time to react.

This is the main reason you now have to step on the brake to put a vehicle in gear.

 

[KeithInSpace]

...you could hit the wrong pedal, but you would notice this and release, not floor it.

What is totally comical is that I have the exact same problem in my EXPEDITION, if you can believe it.

If I have my waterproof LLBean "Moon Boots" on, it take a very deliberate heel-shuffling motion to move my foot completely off the gas when I brake. If I'm at all lazy about it, I'm hitting the brake and gas simultaneously. I happens at least once every time I put those boots on and drive. Same problem if I have my steel-toe boots on. Not as bad in regular sneakers, but I've done it a time or two when I am not paying any attention.

I guess there are two differences:

First, I recognize what is happening very quickly and however disconcerting the sensation is, I process the solution...USE MY LEFT FOOT to hit the brake. Left feet still work, right? They haven't been outlawed yet? Just making sure. No accidents yet.

Second, I don't blame Ford. The only solution they'd come up with is to put the brake pedal in the next ZIP Code making it impossible to accidentally hit both pedals together. And impossible to drive comfortably/normally as well.

I honestly have no idea to what degree the Toyota's have an honest and sincere problem with unintentional acceleration. I'm certainly not qualified to say that they don't. With that said, however, I firmly believe that 92.9553% of these problems are very easily explainable as folks that have NO CLUE how to drive and are hopping on the bandwagon.

It has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt by numerous outlets that you can fully depress the gas and brake simulaneously and the brake win. It may be ugly, but it will win.

I don't know. It just seems like a real shame to me to have a potentially real problem some folks have had with the car completely obscured and veiled by all the "other" people trying to take advantage of the situation in our litigation-obsessed country. Yes, ours. The USA. Litigation...lawsuits...class-action...we love them. Bummer, sometimes.

 

[carpenter383]

What is totally comical is that I have the exact same problem in my EXPEDITION, if you can believe it.

If I have my waterproof LLBean "Moon Boots" on, it take a very deliberate heel-shuffling motion to move my foot completely off the gas when I brake. If I'm at all lazy about it, I'm hitting the brake and gas simultaneously. I happens at least once every time I put those boots on and drive. Same problem if I have my steel-toe boots on. Not as bad in regular sneakers, but I've done it a time or two when I am not paying any attention.

I guess there are two differences:

First, I recognize what is happening very quickly and however disconcerting the sensation is, I process the solution...USE MY LEFT FOOT to hit the brake. Left feet still work, right? They haven't been outlawed yet? Just making sure. No accidents yet.

Second, I don't blame Ford. The only solution they'd come up with is to put the brake pedal in the next ZIP Code making it impossible to accidentally hit both pedals together. And impossible to drive comfortably/normally as well.

I honestly have no idea to what degree the Toyota's have an honest and sincere problem with unintentional acceleration. I'm certainly not qualified to say that they don't. With that said, however, I firmly believe that 92.9553% of these problems are very easily explainable as folks that have NO CLUE how to drive and are hopping on the bandwagon.

It has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt by numerous outlets that you can fully depress the gas and brake simulaneously and the brake win. It may be ugly, but it will win.

I don't know. It just seems like a real shame to me to have a potentially real problem some folks have had with the car completely obscured and veiled by all the "other" people trying to take advantage of the situation in our litigation-obsessed country. Yes, ours. The USA. Litigation...lawsuits...class-action...we love them. Bummer, sometimes.

I have always used my left foot for the brake when driving an automatic. I know it's not recomended and I don't ride the brake. I think I got in the habit from driving stuff that barely idles or dosen't stay running so it was necessary to hold the brake and gas at the same time. Now when I drive a stick shift it's natural for me to use my right foot for the brake, I do it without thinking about it.

 

[FlaDon]

The programming may be repeatable but the outcome isn't always predictable. I have seen times where for no reason we start to get variation and the only way to cure it is too power down and clear the memory. Some of my machines require power conditioners or they do all kinds of weird things, others are rock solid during a power fluctuation with no problems. On one lathe we had the turret run into the headstock in the middle of a production run. No one was within 15 foot of the machine, made a heck of a bang and tore the ball screw right out of the casting. Could never explain what happened.

As one who worked with engines/gearboxes/pumps that went from all manual controls to all computer controlled, even trying to design out that one gotcha is a pain. Like in your case, things can go fine for months and then, bang, something goes haywire. Even better when the computer tells you it's error logger has an error. :confused2: Our units ran on straight DC with a power supply that didn't produce ripples. Except every now and then a spike would get thru. Took a month of chart recording of AC, DC, and inverter AC voltages to find that sucker.