Holy crap that impact was hard to watch, especially when he ate the dashboard.
Holy crap that impact was hard to watch, especially when he ate the dashboard.
That hurts to watch. Perfect clear video of 2 guys realizing they are berked(no brakes), then berked again(seatbelts), then get berked.
So they start off with how "brake technology has changed"...it hasn't really. What happened here was a sticky throttle on a very powerful engine, a driver riding the brake to control speed for a long period of time and brake fluid that was probably 10% water because it hadn't been changed in years. The pads got hot because the occupants could smell them, but it looks like the failure was actually the fluid boiling and the pedal going to the floor.
Once they realized that throttle was sticking, they should have turned around. Everything else was going to happen at that point, really. I don't care how awesome your brake system is, if you drag them all the time they will eventually overheat and fail. There was a decent summary and advice - wear your seatbelts, check your stuff, install an emergency brake - but the decision not to call it at the sign of an obvious mechanical fault was not emphasized enough.
We could second-guess the actions of the driver - shift into neutral, not park, turn off the engine, aim for the gap and don't target-lock on the biggest vehicle - but that's easy to do from the comfort of slow-motion replays. It's hard to override the lizard brain and I'm not sure I could claim I'd do better.
Or if you know the throttle sticks and you have to ride the brakes to keep it in check, fix it and don't limp it around showing off for clicks at a cruise night. Play stupid games win stupid prizes and luckily didn't kill anyone.
johndej said:Or if you know the throttle sticks and you have to ride the brakes to keep it in check, fix it and don't limp it around showing off for clicks at a cruise night. Play stupid games win stupid prizes and luckily didn't kill anyone.
Bingo. I wonder how many people were in that minivan and if any of them were kids.
There's a lot more wrong in that video than bad brakes.
Great video. Painful to watch, good reminder to not forget safety.
Like my momma always said......
Stupid is as stupid does.
Really ill advised things on so many levels.
I once lost brakes and tried to shift into park. The pawl wouldn't engage and made a terrible noise. Luckily pumping brakes brought back something and I stopped.
I panicked. I'd imagine that unless you train for it. It's hard to think straight through it.
this is why pilots train and have checklists for when things go wrong.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
Pilots also don't take off if major systems are not functioning properly.
A lot of people are listing an emergency brake as a safety feature that could have helped here. If I recall the brake system on 1960s American cars, the E-brake works by mechanically pushing the brake shoes out, instead of it happening via hydraulics. If that's the case here, the E-brake would have been of zero help because the brake linings were already overheated and cooked.
As an aside, I can't quite damn this the guy entirely - during development of Midlana, I found out that the gas and brake pedal were just a bit too close together. I had approached a turn in the infield at AutoClub Speedway at about 80mph and braked, and couldn't understand whyit didn't slow (the car has huge brakes) , and drove straight off. About then I saw a front tire lock and realized what had happened. Fortunately for me there was no one ahead, and this turn had a ton of run-off. Learned a valuable lesson that day, that just because the pedals are okay during normal driving, when under pressure, my foot could indeed bridge the gap. It was corrected immediately, and I was thankful I learned a lesson without paying for it.
Not as bad as the situation here, but it underscored how it's up to each of us to really know that everything is set up correctly before "taking flight."
Man. How incredibly stupid and irresponsible to continue to drive a car that was clearly malfunctioning. They are going to get sued into oblivion.
Watching the video again reminded me of a car that was at a C&C event. He probably had the same amount of power, and as he was slowly driving out, he had to ride his brakes the whole way because his ECU tune caused this up-and-down surging between 1000-2000rpm, and that thing wanted to go. Even with his brakes applied, it would push the car forward another five feet each time. Depending on the situation, I could see the same thing happening there as here.
What everybody else said, including how easy it is to second guess.
I'll add: They're not live, either. They could've stopped and resumed filming after checking things over.
You know that little brass thing you turn to make the engine go vroom? You can turn it the other way and the engine goes silent, and stops shoving you ahead. You know the lever thingy that makes the car go ahead and back? There is a position called N that lets it stop pushing you ahead or back.
Have we learned nothing from the Audi and Toyota unintended acceleration situations?
It seems many people did not grow up with throttles that would freeze open on the highway...I once drove 30 miles home with the q jet in my 66 Olds stuck with all four barrels wide open. Key on, key off. Repeat as required.
Seeing the driver straight arming the impact was brutal, and just about as bad as seeing the passenger eating the dashboard. Wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Minivans hold kids. We were rear ended while driving our odyssey about 10 years ago. Thankfully the kids weren't with us but my shoulder has never been the same.
In reply to kb58 :
That's blower surge. It's common on carburetor and mechanical fuel injection superchargers.
Yikes! That's a great reminder for anyone that plays with cars. Just don't watch this before going to bed.
kb58 said:A lot of people are listing an emergency brake as a safety feature that could have helped here. If I recall the brake system on 1960s American cars, the E-brake works by mechanically pushing the brake shoes out, instead of it happening via hydraulics. If that's the case here, the E-brake would have been of zero help because the brake linings were already overheated and cooked.
As an aside, I can't quite damn this the guy entirely - during development of Midlana, I found out that the gas and brake pedal were just a bit too close together. I had approached a turn in the infield at AutoClub Speedway at about 80mph and braked, and couldn't understand whyit didn't slow (the car has huge brakes) , and drove straight off. About then I saw a front tire lock and realized what had happened. Fortunately for me there was no one ahead, and this turn had a ton of run-off. Learned a valuable lesson that day, that just because the pedals are okay during normal driving, when under pressure, my foot could indeed bridge the gap. It was corrected immediately, and I was thankful I learned a lesson without paying for it.
Not as bad as the situation here, but it underscored how it's up to each of us to really know that everything is set up correctly before "taking flight."
The pads/shoes hadn't overheated to the point of ineffectiveness when the fluid boiled, or he would have picked up on that sooner. Probably. Anyhow, an emergency brake would have been better than the nothing he had.
I'll bet it wasn't pulling a whole lot of vacuum either, that probably didn't help.
The driver should have parked it as the problems mounted, but he was eager to show off his pride and joy. The influencer should have called it too - he would have had enough, well, influence to say "that's it, we're stopping". So they both failed to stop the inevitable.
My main takeaways are that lap belts are barely better than no belts, and having to drag brakes means it gets parked instantly.
I can't play it with sound but from what I see my wife makes a shirt that perfectly describes this...
I was surprised they made no comment on the person/people in the car they hit.
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