Shocking story

[auditek]

What a terrible way to go....https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2254198/driver-32-made-terrified-eight-minute-999-call-to-say-his-car-was-stuck-in-cruise-control-doing-more-than-100mph-before-slamming-into-lorry-and-being-decapitated/

[Rustynuts]

Munchausen syndrome by the sound of it.

Edited 24 November, 2016 by Rustynuts

[Huskoda]

Hmm, not sure. I don't believe there's any car that you cannot stop using the brakes even with the throttle locked at max. Brake system should be fully mechanical even if it has electronic assistance, same with steering.

[Rustynuts]

5 seconds before impact - 100% throttle pedal, 2 seconds before impact - throttle pedal 0%.

Realised he was going to hit something and took his foot off the pedal.

[Ally_bassman]

Panic maybe? at 3am one would assume that he could have been tired? Sleep deprived? hitting the throttle instead of the brake could easily be done.

[ahenners]

Just read this on another site, shocking but something seems strange about it all. Terrible way to go, RIP

[Mence]

"116mph with the accelerator pedal fully depressed"

Hmm.

That said, it looks like the car was fitted with KESSY so perhaps some sort of an issue between that and the ACC?

Either way, knocking it into neutral, foot on the brake and a big hand full of handbrake should between them have had the desired effect of bringing the car to a rapid if untidy halt?

Edited 24 November, 2016 by Mence

[Jaco2k]

I think that this story is a bit poorly told... Sounds to me that he killed himself.

[tubbytommy]

Move the stick to neutral... apply brake...use handbrake....

Sorry but I don't believe it

Edited 24 November, 2016 by tubbytommy

[FluffyEyeball]

I'm not convinced in the slightest to be honest. In fact I 100% do not believe it.

 

It seems exceptionally odd (and unlikely) that a car would have such catastrophic failure of it's electrical systems, and suffer catastrophic failure of the brakes (even if they didn't stop the car completely (which i'm almost sure they would as any cars brakes tend to out-power the engine fairly significantly)), and fail to shut down the engine on the drivers command (which is perfectly possible with KESSY; and even if you haven't read the instructions, the maxidot tells you what to do to turn it off if you press the ignition button), and the system logs and technician reports not show the slightest evidence that there was a fault with anything, and even if all that is true he didnt think to ditch it onto the embankment or central reservation. 

 

It simply doesn't make sense. At all. 

[allan1888]

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/terrified-driver-decapitated-119mph-horror-9324825

[nokiauk]

If Kessy what would happen if you threw the keys out of the window?

[bbsboy]

I think it keeps running. I had a friends m3 with keyless one day. He had the keys in his pocket and I dropped him at the bank and drove round town until he was done. The car kept running even with no key. If I turned it off it would not have started though.

[FluffyEyeball]

^ Exactly this; the key is required only to start the car but not to keep it running. Once started you can ditch the keys somewhere and it'll keep going.

[gullyg]

So it was a manual with kessy?

Why not put your foot on the clutch or brake? Very odd - unfortunately probably will never know the answer.

Tragic though. "Lucky" he hit a lorry in a way though - had that have been another car the death toll could have been far worse.

[@Lee]

Suicide.

[hutchysrs50]

It's a strange one....

There's plenty of fail safes in place to stop this happening.

Only thing I can think is if it was an automatic and the turbo failed so the engine was running on engine oil so even with the key out and fuel pump off it would continue to rev up. (I would expect the ASV to cut that off though)

[Breezy_Pete]

^ I tend to agree, Lee.

If so, harsh on the lorry driver and the emergency call handler.

Edited 24 November, 2016 by Wino

[MoggyTech]

Total hogwash, sounds like a suicide to me.

[gullyg]

It's an interesting question, presuming it's not suicide.

What do you actually do if this was to happen - I've had cars fail to stop in the ignition but always when I've been stationary and I've been able to stall the engine.

Worst case scenario I can think of is auto with kessy although turning off the ignition and locking the steering wouldn't be great either.

Edited 24 November, 2016 by gullyg

[hutchysrs50]

The quote says it's in neutral and still accelerating.

[Gaz]

Wouldn't touching the brake pedal have killed the throttle? (under normal conditions)

 

Gaz

[allan1888]

It also says no faults found with any of the cars systems

[SkodaCB]

I'm not believing the story for a second as reported here by Car & Driver even a 540hp Mustang doing a 100mph will stop with brakes with the accelerator fully down at the same time.

Link here also tested a V6 Camry and Infiniti G37

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-deal-with-unintended-acceleration

[hutchysrs50]

I've just read the full thing, quite long.

The findings are interesting but always a niggle thinking maybe it could happen.

It's definitely a manual then so that rules out the automatic thing. He said it was in neutral so that would mean a failed gear linkage and it's still in gear.

As well as that the clutch pedal switch and the brake pedal switch to have failed at the same time.

The same time as the throttle position sensor to have failed and apply 100% to keep accelerating.

But... the findings (if all true and correct) show him applying 100% throttle, then 75% then 100% etc...

Edited 24 November, 2016 by hutchysrs50