Arif Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 CNBC did a clip on the SVT arm at Ford. The reporter brought back a connecting rod to the studio (show and tell). An anchor asked him what the connecting rod was used for and he said it connects the piston to the DRIVESHAFT! Know I am trying to picture what a rod that connects to the piston and runs down under the car to the driveshaft and the destruction it would cause after it turned at say 6000 rpm. Too funny. I think they should stick to investment advise and leave the auto stuff to Speed TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest greimann Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Ha! That reminds me when 60 Minutes did a complete feature on "Unintended Acceleration" on Audis'. They calimed that certain Audi models would spontaneously accelerate, plowing over people and property, all the while the driver was "holding the BRAKE pedal to the floor" ! Hmmmm maybe the gas??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Thats a good one! Thats the media for you , makes me wonder just how accurate the rest of the news is!! Wakedog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 If you've ever been close to ANY news story or worse had a statement taken by a reporter and then seen it on TV you'll know how accurate. These guys will snip statements to only show what they want you to be saying - completely out of context - and will report facts to support the story they want told. Given a choice NEVER speak to a reporter. Run Run Run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Dave, I remember watching that 60 minutes show. The parents crying about killing their child and watching as the car, all by itself, accelerated through the back of the garage while the driver (mother?) was mashing the brake pedal to the floor. Other examples as well. It was really sad. I wonder if she ever admitted to herself that the odd placement of the pedals and her unfortunate foot placement on the gas pedal was the real cause of her daughter's death. That just about killed Audi in the US, and they did make sure future models didn't have that pedal placement issues. But didn't "experts" get on 60 minutes and explain how the car's engine computer could easily be responsible for "unintended acceleration"? Not to mention the car that supposedly had this problem was the typical underpowered Audi and if you mashed the brakes to the floor, there'd be NO WAY the wimpy engine, at full throttle could overcome them! The only good thing that came out of it was the safety interlock on automatics. There are enough morons driving cars that don't think to put the brake on when shifting out of park that it was a saving device for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 A company called Failure Analysis is an often used third party that does investigating on why things happened the way they did (plane crashes, building collapse, etc). I don't remember hearing about them back in the 1980's when the Audi/US fiasco was in full play, but I can assure you that if they were around and could have been utilized, they would have come back with a simple statement: Driver error. Pete, if that lady was lying to herself all these years, I would almost put money on it that she is in a mental hospital, is on some kind of mental medication, is full of ulcers, or finally committed suicide. It would be interesting to do an investigation on her especially, to find out how she is 'coping' now. I'm sure a person can't live with themselves in a lie as big as that without it affecting them in some adverse manner. Pity. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 About 25 years ago my cousin was driving his old VW beetle down the freeway in L.A. with a "For Sale" sign in the window. Some guy flagged him down, and bought it - cash on the side of the road. Seems he was looking for that particular car for some dynamic analysis. My cousin asked him why he wanted it so much the guy told him "we are going to roll it." (I never heard if the test driver survived) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Justin Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 any of you guys remember that report on street racing a year or two back mainly about the guy with the LS1 T/A? In the report they made it seem like he lived in a small apt with his wife and baby while he dumped all his money into the car... the guy was a member over at (I think) LS1.com. He had a $250,000 house, and just kept the apt. in the city because it was closer to his job (which would explain why the one on one interview portions of the segment took place in a 3 car garage)... not to mention other "discrepancies" between his story and what was reported. ...I've seen a few other stories of "unintended acceleration" featuring the previous generation Grand Cherokee and 80's Crown Vics... don't remember specifics, but apparently even a Secret Service agent experienced "unintended acceleration" in a crown vic, but was able to actually stop the car, they linked it to a series of malfuntions in the cruise control ("they", being the media). I think the Grand Cherokee issue was later ruled due to pedal placement. The weird thing is, my parents have a 99 (current generation) Grand Cherokee that I drive from time to time. So far it's gone WOT by itself 3 times while going down the highway using cruise control... the first time, I let it get up to 95mph before tapping the brakes to turn off the cruise (which had been set at 65 for at least the past 40 miles) and it went back to normal. The 2 times after that I only let it get up around 75, muttered "wtf" and tapped the brakes. Doubt any cop in the country would believe me if I said "It just started speeding up by itself" after they pulled me over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Originally posted by Justin:In the report they made it seem like he lived in a small apt with his wife and baby while he dumped all his money into the car... the guy was a member over at (I think) LS1.com. He had a $250,000 house, and just kept the apt. in the city because it was closer to his job (which would explain why the one on one interview portions of the segment took place in a 3 car garage)... not to mention other "discrepancies" between his story and what was reported. Outrageous pricing figures were quoted, I dont know the guy but a local guy knows him and alot of other high profile car guys (Diablo guys, whatever). $250,000 house and a 3 car garage? Thats in Egypt right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 18, 2003 Share Posted January 18, 2003 Didn't every have a car accelerate by itself, but the VERY FIRST TIME I ever got to drive by myself after I got my license (1971), I was driving my mom's 67 Buick 225 and the throttle jammed wide open. Of course, my story to the folks when they came to get it towed to the shop was that I was just minding my own business and the thing went bonkers, but the REAL story was a little more complex: Pulling away from my buddies house, I decided to light the tires a little with that big old 430ci Buick. Got a little rolling start from the curb and hammered it, smoking the tires a good 50 ft down the street. There was a BANG from the engine compartment and a lot of very bad sounding noises up front, so I let off the gas, but the big buggy just kept on accelerating. At this point I don't have ANY feet touching a pedal and the gas is STILL mashed to the floor, with a stop sign and cross street coming up fast. By sheer dumb luck I mashed on the brakes and turned the key off at the same time, leaving a good 100ft of skid marks on the street and in my shorts. My buddy came running up the street and we pushed the car off on to a side street to get it away from all the tire tracks. I could see a quarter-sized dent in the hood pushed up from the inside, and when we opened the hood....what a mess. The fan shroud had been sucked off the radiator, and the center mounting bolt had hit the fan and fired off into the hood....voila! one dent in hood. The shroud was a mangled mess of fiberglass? and the fan was all bent up. Not a good day. The reason I'm still alive to write this (my dad didn't kill me on the spot) is that when my mom when to pick the car up from the shop, she turned a corner, started to accelerate and the car did the same damn thing to her, minus the fan shroud fiasco. Seems Buick 225s of that year had a leaky seal where the tranny mates to the engine, and various fluids would run down to the motor mount and cause it to deteriorate. Apply a little torque to the equation and the motor would twist over far enough to jam the carb linkage wide open. I decided not to reveal my extra-curricular activities and allowed the Buick to take full blame Sometimes I wonder how any of us made it out of our teens alive...... Twydog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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