OT: Lexus – Unsafe at any speed?

[ucodegen]

Witnesses saw flames coming from the front and rear tires of the speeding 2009 Lexus ES 350 before it crashed Aug. 28 in Santee, suggesting “long, constant heavy braking,” said Sgt. Scott Hill, the lead sheriff’s investigator.

…

Hill said the evidence shows that there was prolonged “heavy, heavy, hard braking.”
“He did everything he could to stop that car,” he said.

Quite theatrical, sounds like something Hollywood would write.. problem is that the brake material will withstand a very high temperature, and will smoke instead of bursting into flames. Most brake fluid except DOT-6 will boil before the brakes get to the temperature that they would ignite. Also realize that an ES 350 is a 3.5 litre V6… not a V8 and it is not even turbocharged. In addition, the front disks will get considerably hotter than the rear (brake bias).

As just previously posted too… how about neutral. And I add.. how about off? How about trying the test yourself and seeing if it works or not.

Someone also left out one of the statements on the same posting:

A preliminary investigation into the fiery crash that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and three family members indicates it may have been caused by an accelerator trapped by a floor mat, said Sheriff’s Department officials.

Linky

If you have run-away acceleration and decide to use the brakes to maintain speed but not stop the vehicle, you can fade them to nothing.. but they will smoke and not ignite… and you may have boiled the brake fluid which means you will have a very spongy feeling brake with almost no resistance.. but not ignition.

[Anonymous]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.
My uncle just told me his recent adventure ride when his car(Lexus GS 330, 50K miles no check engine light) started to do that all of the sudden. He tried to lift the accelerator pedal with his foot. He even tried to apply brakes but it did not work too well. It did slowed him down somewhat but then brakes started to smoke and give up gradually. He did manage to get it in neutral while the engine was revving in high RPMs and back in drive again to pull up to the closest resting area where he was able to shut the engine off(with the Start/Stop button). He checked underneath the pedal to make sure that was nothing jamming pedal, waited for a few minutes and turned the engine on – everything was fine. It was raining on that day and he was thinking that could have caused that.

[Anonymous]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.
My uncle just told me his recent adventure ride when his car(Lexus GS 330, 50K miles no check engine light) started to do that all of the sudden. He tried to lift the accelerator pedal with his foot. He even tried to apply brakes but it did not work too well. It did slowed him down somewhat but then brakes started to smoke and give up gradually. He did manage to get it in neutral while the engine was revving in high RPMs and back in drive again to pull up to the closest resting area where he was able to shut the engine off(with the Start/Stop button). He checked underneath the pedal to make sure that was nothing jamming pedal, waited for a few minutes and turned the engine on – everything was fine. It was raining on that day and he was thinking that could have caused that.

[Anonymous]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.
My uncle just told me his recent adventure ride when his car(Lexus GS 330, 50K miles no check engine light) started to do that all of the sudden. He tried to lift the accelerator pedal with his foot. He even tried to apply brakes but it did not work too well. It did slowed him down somewhat but then brakes started to smoke and give up gradually. He did manage to get it in neutral while the engine was revving in high RPMs and back in drive again to pull up to the closest resting area where he was able to shut the engine off(with the Start/Stop button). He checked underneath the pedal to make sure that was nothing jamming pedal, waited for a few minutes and turned the engine on – everything was fine. It was raining on that day and he was thinking that could have caused that.

[Anonymous]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.
My uncle just told me his recent adventure ride when his car(Lexus GS 330, 50K miles no check engine light) started to do that all of the sudden. He tried to lift the accelerator pedal with his foot. He even tried to apply brakes but it did not work too well. It did slowed him down somewhat but then brakes started to smoke and give up gradually. He did manage to get it in neutral while the engine was revving in high RPMs and back in drive again to pull up to the closest resting area where he was able to shut the engine off(with the Start/Stop button). He checked underneath the pedal to make sure that was nothing jamming pedal, waited for a few minutes and turned the engine on – everything was fine. It was raining on that day and he was thinking that could have caused that.

[Anonymous]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.
My uncle just told me his recent adventure ride when his car(Lexus GS 330, 50K miles no check engine light) started to do that all of the sudden. He tried to lift the accelerator pedal with his foot. He even tried to apply brakes but it did not work too well. It did slowed him down somewhat but then brakes started to smoke and give up gradually. He did manage to get it in neutral while the engine was revving in high RPMs and back in drive again to pull up to the closest resting area where he was able to shut the engine off(with the Start/Stop button). He checked underneath the pedal to make sure that was nothing jamming pedal, waited for a few minutes and turned the engine on – everything was fine. It was raining on that day and he was thinking that could have caused that.

[ucodegen]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.

True.. but this guy was a cop.. supposedly an expert on safety..

Brakes will stop the vehicle, but you have to commit to stopping the car as opposed to using the brakes to just prevent the car from speeding. If you just use the brakes to keep the car from speeding, you’ll overheat them because the brakes will not be able to cool down. As you mentioned neutral works.. and so does off with the Start/Stop button.

There is also not much time to react when something happens on the road in front of a driver. I think the real thing that happened is that this driver panicked.

[ucodegen]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.

True.. but this guy was a cop.. supposedly an expert on safety..

Brakes will stop the vehicle, but you have to commit to stopping the car as opposed to using the brakes to just prevent the car from speeding. If you just use the brakes to keep the car from speeding, you’ll overheat them because the brakes will not be able to cool down. As you mentioned neutral works.. and so does off with the Start/Stop button.

There is also not much time to react when something happens on the road in front of a driver. I think the real thing that happened is that this driver panicked.

[ucodegen]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.

True.. but this guy was a cop.. supposedly an expert on safety..

Brakes will stop the vehicle, but you have to commit to stopping the car as opposed to using the brakes to just prevent the car from speeding. If you just use the brakes to keep the car from speeding, you’ll overheat them because the brakes will not be able to cool down. As you mentioned neutral works.. and so does off with the Start/Stop button.

There is also not much time to react when something happens on the road in front of a driver. I think the real thing that happened is that this driver panicked.

[ucodegen]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.

True.. but this guy was a cop.. supposedly an expert on safety..

Brakes will stop the vehicle, but you have to commit to stopping the car as opposed to using the brakes to just prevent the car from speeding. If you just use the brakes to keep the car from speeding, you’ll overheat them because the brakes will not be able to cool down. As you mentioned neutral works.. and so does off with the Start/Stop button.

There is also not much time to react when something happens on the road in front of a driver. I think the real thing that happened is that this driver panicked.

[ucodegen]

There is not too much time to react when the car starts unexpectedly speeding all of the sudden.

True.. but this guy was a cop.. supposedly an expert on safety..

Brakes will stop the vehicle, but you have to commit to stopping the car as opposed to using the brakes to just prevent the car from speeding. If you just use the brakes to keep the car from speeding, you’ll overheat them because the brakes will not be able to cool down. As you mentioned neutral works.. and so does off with the Start/Stop button.

There is also not much time to react when something happens on the road in front of a driver. I think the real thing that happened is that this driver panicked.

[mixxalot]

Old BMW well made

I drive a 1996 3-series BMW and it is still a solid car with 105k miles. Best of all, it has way less computer junk that can break that exists in the new BMW cars. And it has a real key- no computer chip! I plan to drive it for another 100k miles and hope it lasts since the savings on not having to buy a new car are important.

[mixxalot]

Old BMW well made

I drive a 1996 3-series BMW and it is still a solid car with 105k miles. Best of all, it has way less computer junk that can break that exists in the new BMW cars. And it has a real key- no computer chip! I plan to drive it for another 100k miles and hope it lasts since the savings on not having to buy a new car are important.

[mixxalot]

Old BMW well made

I drive a 1996 3-series BMW and it is still a solid car with 105k miles. Best of all, it has way less computer junk that can break that exists in the new BMW cars. And it has a real key- no computer chip! I plan to drive it for another 100k miles and hope it lasts since the savings on not having to buy a new car are important.

[mixxalot]

Old BMW well made

I drive a 1996 3-series BMW and it is still a solid car with 105k miles. Best of all, it has way less computer junk that can break that exists in the new BMW cars. And it has a real key- no computer chip! I plan to drive it for another 100k miles and hope it lasts since the savings on not having to buy a new car are important.

[Author]

Posts