Guy's Cruise Control Stuck On 80 Km/h

[Phatboy]

http://www.theage.com.au/national/cruise-c...91215-ktxn.html

Holy crap! Did anyone see this? Surely a massive Ford Explorer doing 80 km/h down the wrong side of the road while tooting its horn, with a police escort, would have been quite a sight. Apparently a "known" problem on Ford Explorers !!!!

Why the hell would anyone spend all that extra money to import a second-rate American SUV is beyond me. I have rellies and friends in the US, and none of them own US made vehicles as they are generally so crap/unreliable, not to mention potentially lethal!

Jap for me please.

[_Ryan_]

Senior Constable Adam West said the man attempted to stop the four-wheel-drive by braking, knocking the four-wheel-drive out of gear or removing the keys - all to no avail.

Shit

[BlackDC5S]

Shit

well i hope no one was hurt but seriousness aside does this remind anyone of the movie Speed?

"Theres a Bomb on the Ford Explorer - if you slow down it will blow!!!"

[R31Nismoid]

lol how does putting it in neutral not stop the car... you take away the transmission, there is no more power being transferred

story sounds like a load of shit.

[Downforce]

^^ agree

[_Ryan_]

lol how does putting it in neutral not stop the car... you take away the transmission, there is no more power being transferred

story sounds like a load of shit.

Apparently he tried that and taking the keys out...

[RoVer™]

He tried putting the car in neutral and turning the key and that never helped? And couldn't he have thought of pulling up the handbrake a little earlier... I sense n00bishness in this one.

[RoVer™]

edit: doublepost.

Edited December 15, 2009 by RoVer™

[Phatboy]

Pulling the handbrake wouldn't do anything if your cruise control wants to go at 80.

I'm not sure how the car can keep going while in neutral though. You should still be able to take the keys out as well. Maybe the Explorer has a design flaw that prevents you from removing the key while the car is moving.

[_Ryan_]

Pulling the handbrake wouldn't do anything if your cruise control wants to go at 80.

I'm not sure how the car can keep going while in neutral though. You should still be able to take the keys out as well. Maybe the Explorer has a design flaw that prevents you from removing the key while the car is moving.

Stagea has to be in park to remove it, but you could turn it back one click, go to far and steering would lock. Not having powersteering wouldnt matter at that speed, no brake boost just means press harder.

Neutral would work best for most people surely.

[Mayuri Krab]

Some one at work recently crashed his car due to curise control malfunction...

& its a FORD as well!!!

[Birds]

Ford brought these into Australia for a short while, they aren't (well most) privately imported.

I sense bullshit too. I know of no transmission, auto or manual, that cannot be shifted to neutral by the user at any time. Sounds like the guy was covering his ass on some accounts.

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

turn the keys and kill the car....... some people have no brains.

least that truck driver who had no breaks over in the states, thought of rolling his truck into parked cars.

[CMY32]

Poor bloke

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

so could he NOT put it in neutral? i'm not quite getting this...

[krzysiu]

Wtf how would pressing the brakes hard not overpower the cruise control? the car would be sitting at like 2000revs at that point, surely it could be stopped.

Also tried to turn the engine off? f**king stupid idea if he wants no brakes or power steering.

Sounds like a load of shit to me

[KamikazeNinja34]

failing that, im sure a nice steep embankment wouldve stopped it better than it driving down the wrong direction of traffic...ugh

[wanzi]

Hmmm interesting story. Brakes may have gone to shit if he tried turning the ignition off? But still from what I've seen pressing the accelerator, brake or lifting the handbrake switches cruise control off and adding that he tried the ignition that's 4 ways of which he couldn't stop the car. I dun see how that's possible. Also how the he'll did it keep going if it was in neutral? Electric circuit controlling the shifter disabled as well by the cruise control? Maybe they should test this guy for smoking pot that morning or something

[r32line]

Wtf how would pressing the brakes hard not overpower the cruise control? the car would be sitting at like 2000revs at that point, surely it could be stopped.

Cruise control is designed to maintain speed. If you go up a hill it accelerates to keep the speed. So if you apply the brakes and cruise control is stuck on it will simply open the throttle more. Engines are more powerful than brakes so that part makes sense.

Turning the engine off would be stupid... power steering gone but then the steering wheel would lock (even worse), without the engine on brakes don't function as normal.

The best option by far would be to select neutral. How the driver could not do that does not make sense AT ALL!

[R31Nismoid]

Cruise control is designed to maintain speed. If you go up a hill it accelerates to keep the speed. So if you apply the brakes and cruise control is stuck on it will simply open the throttle more. Engines are more powerful than brakes so that part makes sense.

Turning the engine off would be stupid... power steering gone but then the steering wheel would lock (even worse), without the engine on brakes don't function as normal.

The best option by far would be to select neutral. How the driver could not do that does not make sense AT ALL!

if you turn the key off, and then just back to accessories, the car should not still be running - and without a wheel lock