A Short, Sad History of So-Called Sudden Acceleration
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Every so often, the notion of "sudden acceleration" rears its ugly head. We've just countered the latest case on AllAboutPrius.com, but it's worth remembering the grandaddy of all such cases--and the damage it did.
In November 1986, the CBS news show 60 Minutes aired a dramatic segment that skewered Audi's largest sedan, then called the 5000, as fatally dangerous, due to its alleged tendency to accelerate out of control.
Because 60 Minutes couldn't get the cars it tested to replicate the "unintended acceleration", the show modified an Audi 5000 to behave as if it were accelerating out of control, then aired the segment.
The piece included the lurid tale of a mother who ran over her 6-year-old son. Images of wrecked Audis occupied minutes of air time. And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration embarked on a lengthy investigation.
The agency concluded that because the Audi's accelerator and brake pedals were placed close together, inattentive drivers were confusing the two by pressing the accelerator when they intended to brake. Europeans, it should be noted, recorded no such incidents.
In the end, the NHTSA attributed the incidents to driver error, and closed their investigation. A halfhearted partial retraction from 60 Minutes made no mention of that conclusion.
But by then, the damage was done. Audi sales had plummeted after the segment aired, and it took the automaker a full 15 years to build its sales back to their 1986 level, and for the public image of runaway vehicles to fade.
Since then, government data show that injuries due to "speed control" issues have been reported for more than 100 separate vehicle models. But no car has ever been proven to have a design defect that would cause so-called sudden acceleration.
Wrecked Toyota Prius owned by Elizabeth James, photo by Ted James, from Houston Press
[SOURCE: Civil Justice Memo; PHOTO by Flickr user mark.mitchell.brown]
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Kalscheur Posted: 11/25/2009 4:52pm PST
acceleration events as bogus. Numerous drivers who are not mechanicaly
sophisticated have had various events they would describe as sudden acceleration, witness today's Toyota unprecedented recall. Some dismissed
these events as'floor mats' problem---but Toyotas' defect is a poorly designed gas pedal that is incompatable with a simple floor mat. AND Toyota is back to the engineering tables to rework it's electronic controls for acceleration and
braking. Listen to the California driver's 911 tape -- the gas pedalwasnotsimply stuck-- the car was accelerating beyond control. You owe your readers better than the post I just read. And FYI I had 3 events of sudden acceleration withmy
BMW 7series during the bitter cold of Wisconsin winter. BMW NA promised me
an investigation but then never spoke with me during their investigation conducted in the middle of summer--before concluding the car had no SA problem because they could not duplicate a problem which appeared in near
zero degree weather during their summer investgation!! How confident were they
the car was safe? The dealer wouldn't put the car back on their lot and quietly shipped it off to an auto auction site and sold it for a fraction of the price the car would bring on it's lot. Question: if they really believed the car had no such problem why would they not resell it as a Certified Pre Owned at the blue book
price? Trust me. There are legitimate cases of Sudden Acceleration.
be on their lot
kaye Posted: 3/19/2010 2:24pm PDT
"But no car has ever been proven to have a design defect that would cause so-called sudden acceleration."
He said proven. You're trying to discredit something he never said. If you were so worried about the bmw you should have checked it yourself in near 0 weather. If it would stick on the road I bet it would stick in your driveway. This is mostly a case of idiots wanting someone else to be smart for them, and take the fall if they fail.
Not to say cars don't have defects ever, but seriously, bmw took care of you. Stop whining.
Kalscheur Posted: 7/23/2010 9:29pm PDT
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