Sebring---- SUDDEN ACCELERATION

Our 2002 Sebring Coupe with 6cyl- 3.0 engine suddenly accelerated while
backing up in a parking lot causing a wreck. It lurched backward at top
speed. Has anyone heard of this happening?

 

Yes, it happened with several Audi's many years ago. The cause then was
likely the same as the cause with your Sebring ... the driving
mistakenly mashing the throttle thinking they are hitting the brake.


Matt

 

Nope i didn't happen that way. My wife was backing up with her foot on
the brake. She must not have been braking that hard.. but she says she
had her foot on the brake pedal and when shifting forward on the shift
lever into drive & past neutral is when it SUDDENLY jumped backward and
fast. She then smashed on the brake pedal at the same time she crunched
into another car.

 

Yes. This happened to Audi's a while back. The government did a lot of
reasearch. In all instances the brake system was still functioning
properly. In all instances the drivers states they were stepping on the
brakes as hard as they could and the car kept going. The government came
to the conclusion that this was a case of pedal mis-application. That
means that driver was stepping on the wrong pedal. I don't think that
is what you wanted to hear.

 

Yes. It happens when you aren't sitting as squarely in the seat as
you think you are, and the pedal your foot was on was really the gas.

 

I haven't driven a Sebring, but all floor mounted automatics that I've
driven have P-R-N-D-2-1 with Park at the front (towards the dash). So,
if your wife was backing up, that suggests she was in reverse. If she
moved the parking lever forward from there, she would have engaged park
not drive or neutral. If the shifter is column mounted, then it is
moving left/right or up/down, not forward/back. Something isn't jiving
with this story.


Matt

 

Nobody wants to hear that, but that is the fact. Also, there are very
few cars that have an engine that can overpower the brakes. And you'd
likely need AWD as in FWD or RWD, two wheels locked will keep the other
two wheels from moving the car at any rate of speed in any event. When
I first heard the Audi stories years ago, I knew they were bogus without
even doing an investigation. Simple physics showed that you couldn't
possibly have a car that couldn't be controlled using the brakes at full
application. Of course, if there had been a defect in the brakes, then
the claims would have been plausible, but that was never found to be the
case in any of the cars.

Nobody wants to hear that the problem was them, but that is usually the
case in these sudden acceleration cases. I'm not saying there isn't the
potential for this to happen, as anything is certainly possible. It is
possible that the brakes could fail at the exact same time that a
software bug in the ECU commanded full throttle, but that is a long shot
beyond long shots.


Matt

 

Does this vehicle have a cruise control servo?

 

Servo? Yes it has cruise

 

We talked about this in a class one time where the cruise control servo
soloniods could short out or malfunction and cause this. It was awhile ago
and cant remember the details. It was not a particular model or make vehicle
either. I believe it had something to do with the vent valve on the servo.
Research it on the net.

 

Nope, it didn't happen that way. Your wife hit the gas without knowing it,
period. I know it's less embarrassing and less expensive for her to blame
it on the car, but cars do not behave so much as they are behaved upon.

 

Yup. The hysterical media reports nearly ruined Audi, though.

 

Ah, right, here we go with the "sudden, full, completely unintended
activation of the cruise control despite the car being in reverse, below
the threshhold speed AND the brakes allegedly applied" theory.

Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor? It's a scientific principle that
says the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Now, which is
simpler? A or B?

A: Your wife stepped on the wrong pedal.

B: The cruise control on/off switch, the cruise control "set" switch, the
brake light and cruise-kill switch, and the SBEC "no cruise control under
30MPH, and only in the Forward direction" programming all failed at the
same time, the cruise control engaged and pulled the throttle wide open.

 

If you want to make any kind of a legal case, you will have a major uphill
battle. As others have stated, the AVN ("Audi Victims Network") legal
campaign went down in flames when multiple and overwhelming sources of
evidence showed to everyone (including consumer organizations) that driver
error was at fault. Drivers inevitably swore they did not commit pedal
error, even when it was conclusively demonstrated they had. Additionally, a
high proportion of the drivers involved were either menopause-age women or
seniors of both sexes.

Please don't take this as a challenge to your (or your wife's) honesty,
merely a "heads-up" about the historical background.

 

To Road&Track's credit, they took an Audi and tried it. The result
was a driver that was convinced he'd experienced it (and was positive
his foot was on the brake), and an observer that said, "no, it was on
the gas...."

 

My 1991 Dodge Monaco used to do that. The cruise control would just all of a
sudden make the car accelerate. I don't touch the cruise buttons anymore.
However, I don't drive it much anymore either.

Larry
Behold Beware Believe

| On Sat, 22 Jan 2005, jonz6 wrote:
|
| > Servo? Yes it has cruise
|
| Ah, right, here we go with the "sudden, full, completely unintended
| activation of the cruise control despite the car being in reverse, below
| the threshhold speed AND the brakes allegedly applied" theory.
|
| Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor? It's a scientific principle that
| says the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. Now, which is
| simpler? A or B?
|
| A: Your wife stepped on the wrong pedal.
|
| B: The cruise control on/off switch, the cruise control "set" switch, the
| brake light and cruise-kill switch, and the SBEC "no cruise control under
| 30MPH, and only in the Forward direction" programming all failed at the
| same time, the cruise control engaged and pulled the throttle wide open.
|
|
|

 

Not below 30 mph with your foot on the brake and the trans in "Reverse",
it wouldn't.

 

Yes, I don't think it is an honesty issue. I believe that many, if not
all, of the Audi drivers really believed that they were mashing the
brake, when they were, unfortunately, mashing the throttle. And this
gentleman's wife very likely also believed that as well. However, that
still doesn't change the fact that it is about 99.44% certain that she
hit the throttle by mistake, especially if she was twisted around
looking backwards when backing up.


Matt

 

Not an engineer, But if the vent solonoid does not vent the vacuum when the
PCM commands it to I would think there is a possiblity of cruise control
under the desired limit

 

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the world's second- largest
automaker, settled a sudden-acceleration lawsuit today brought by a
Cleveland minister who was left in a coma after his 1987 Crown Victoria
crashed into a neighbor's house.

Attorneys for Leon Manigault, 77, said a defect in his car's electronic
system caused it to speed up uncontrollably after he put it in gear. Ford
and Manigault's family reached a confidential settlement today just before
closing arguments were scheduled in the trial in state court in Cleveland.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aor7ME4mr5Dc&refer=news_index
Daniel man, just because you have never experienced problems mentioned on
here such as cruise control sudden accel, 85 Turbo vehicle Timing changing
due to improper plugs and all that does not mean it never happens or cant
happen, have an open mind, because it is real pal