No connection between runaway Explorer and recall: Ford

By Tim Beissmann | December 16th, 2009

Ford Australia does not believe there is any connection between a recall of 14 million vehicles and the faulty cruise control in a 2002 Explorer that sent a Melbourne man on an uncontrollable high-speed nightmare ride yesterday afternoon.

Chase Weir was behind the wheel of his eight-year-old SUV on the Eastern Freeway just before 1:00pm when the cruise control jammed on 100km/h.

Despite all his attempts to apply the foot brake, change gears and turn off the ignition the car would not drop below 80km/h.

He called Ford’s service assistance but hung up when he was put on hold by an operator who went looking for a solution.

“I didn’t really want to be on hold at that point. I hung up and rang 000,” he said.

He spent the majority of his 30 minute, 54km journey on the phone to a sergeant from Victoria Police.

“The operator told me 20 times to stay calm and that help was on the way.

“I was hysterical. I screamed at the lady on the phone ‘I’m going to die’.

“I have never been so scared in all my life.”

A police van arrived within minutes to warn off other Eastlink motorists but he eventually ran out of road and headed into Frankston.

With traffic built up on the Moorooduc Highway, Weir crossed the median strip and drove on towards oncoming traffic.

It was at this time that the sergeant ordered him to pull the handbrake which sent the car into an uncontrolled skid.

“I just shut my eyes. I could hear the tyres skidding on the road for what seemed like forever. I thought I was dead.

“When I opened my eyes, I was bonnet-to-bonnet with the car in front of me,” he said.

Weir was treated for a sore neck and anxiety at the scene before being taken to Frankston hospital, while the car has been impounded pending a full police investigation.

In October this year, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) led to Ford’s largest ever recall which included 4.5 million Explorers.

The NHTSA found that a switch allowing the driver to disengage the cruise control by tapping the brake could start a fire whether the engine was on or off.

Ford Australia spokeswoman, Sinead McAlary, was confident that the two issues were not related.

“The two are not aligned at all. They are very different.

“From what we know of what happened yesterday it seems it’s completely separate,” she said.

Ford has requested to complete its own testing on the vehicle after the police are finished with it.

“This is an extremely unusual scenario. It hasn’t been heard of anywhere in the world before,” McAlary said.

(with AAP, Herald Sun)

supercujo

Why didn’t he just turn off the ignition or take it out of gear?

If it is a question between not destroying the engine or surviving a stuck throttle, I’d take the destroyed engine.

I won’t make any judgements on the character of the man at this point in time.

Simon

Other media releases said he tried but it wouldn’t turn off and he couldn’t force it out of gear or stop it using the breaks.
If that’s true then the car must be either rigged to kill someone or possessed!

Simon

Sorry – Brakes. Nothing worse than my own typo’s.
Well ok, maybe my mother-in-law.

David T

Does she have bad spelling too? LOL

Simon

She’s a bloody school teacher!

Opinionated Arrogant Czech Bastard

Why didn’t the Police just deploy a set of spike strips?

…. and why did my original comment get deleted when Opinionated Aussie bastrds comments haven’t?

Matt

Please note the NHTSA is in the US so not 4.5 million exploders in Australia.

And i agree with the above, a car in neutral goes nowhere, take his licence
MisterTwo

“Despite all his attempts to apply the foot brake, change gears and turn off the ignition the car would not drop below 80km/h”

According to the article he did try everything, not sure I believe it though. Even my 70 odd year old mother-in-law who doesn’t drive said “why didn’t he turn off the engine” when we saw it on the news yesterday.
Chris

If applying the brakes didn’t work then how did the handbrake stop him? That doesn’t add up to me.

Sound like this guy was lucky he didn’t kill himself. Brakes, neutral, clutch (if it’s manual), ignition all would have worked.

Azza

Even if it’s an automatic, there is still the option of going into neutral… it just doesn’t sound right to me…

Tom R

No no what they’re saying is that he DID turn it off.

Which is absolute BULL. The cruise control isn’t wired into the ignition. Theres no way that none of the following would have slowed down the car, eventually to a stop: if he put it in neutral, slammed on the brakes, turned it off, put it in PARK even or used the handbrake (which im pretty sure is cable operated, aka, completely NOTHING to do with the electics).

Tomas79

Obviously he had an automatic that didn’t allow him to turn off ignition unless he was in park, and it didn’t allow him to put it into park while driving at high speed!!!

There is too many macgyvers on here who think they are smarter then the guy or the cops involved, yet fail to read the basics written in the above article!!

Safety First

Toemas, The Auto trans you are thinking of only stop you from removing the keys if the car is not in park, NOT stopping you from turning the ignition off!!! Ford Explorer trans will not allow you to go into reverse without pressing the indent button, but you can slide from drive to neutral with pressing…
That’s not being McGyver that’s actually knowing the vehicles…
Now I don’t know what level of basic driving skills you have, but in some countries that hand brake is also refered to as the “Emergency Brake” and for many years I have known that “in the case of emergency” I could use this brake… actually correct driver training would have ensured that the driver could moderate the action of the hand brake to bring the vehicle down to a controlled stop..
As to the circumstances here, try this one on. Drive your RWD / Active 4WD vehicle at say 15km/h, and apply the hand brake. When you do this do what cruise control is designed to do, as the speed drops apply more accelerator to keep the speed. The car will not go into a skid.. the power from the engine will over come the brake and the car will continue. Funny how this driver knew that Ford US had a problem with Cruise Control when he was on telly last night, don’t think he was going for a quick buck in compo????

Tomas79

Safety First,
Like i said, read the above article!!!

“Despite all his attempts to apply the foot brake, change gears and turn off the ignition the car would not drop below 80km/h.”

As for the hand brake, from what I have seen, it hasn’t stopped a few women driving around with it fully engaged!!!

Matt

An “older” neighbour of mine is one of those ladies lol

slugga

I smell a rat so cunning it’s…well…a rat.

This guy sounds like either:

a) bit of an attention whore,
b) an idiot
c) both.

If he ‘tried everything’ what’s the deal with the handbrake being the last resort? And my understanding was that it was law that an auto can be bumped into neutral (I could be making that up, but every auto I’ve driven does it). And if it’s a manual, well…yeah…stick in neutral. Doubt it was a manual, he sounds so dumb he has to be reminded to breathe…

AAA

I’d say he wanna get publicity. This is public road and not for reality TV.

Last resort is handbrake, what a joke. The handbrake is the weakest brake of the two brakes. The brakes are a lot more powerful than the handbrake. The handbrake stops only 2 rear wheels while the brakes stop all 4 wheels. The handbrake is designed to stop a car from rolling for slopes up to 30% only.

Benno

THe Ford Explorer is an auto, so he had to change from drive to neutral if he wanted to stop the car. Some cars prevent you changing out of drive when at certain speeds or rpms. Some cars also prevent you turning off the ignition unless you are in Park. It would be interesting to know if this is the case with the Explorer, but those assuming that you can just do these things in all modern vehicles need to think again.

Apparently he was able to stop after hitting the median strip, which reduced his speed, and jumping on the brakes as well as pulling the handbrake. These aren’t things I would attempt on a highway, unless I was trying to kill the driver behind me.

Raf

This guy had police helping clear a path after a certain point so it surprises me they couldn’t get him the space to handbrake stop sooner, unless he had told them the handbrake wasn’t working. It’s not ideal to handbrake a car at 80km/h obviously, but better than slamming up the back of something without braking at all.

Got to wait for the reports to come back. Anyone know what sort of computer logging an 8 year old Explorer has, and whether they will be able to tell if he really did try all the stuff he says?
Safety First

Just a little point…
THERE IS NO CAR THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM TURNING THE ENGINE OFF WITHOUT BEING IN PARK>>>>
You may not be able to remove the keys unless you are in park, but you can always turn the things off.

Rick

Wrong, wrong wrong. My BMW 320D will not allow me to switch the car off if the car is not in park. I even get a nice little message that pops up on the driver info panel to confirm it.

Oh and by the way screaming something in CAPS does not make it right.
Ectomorphian

Once again, wrong.

The 2003 Mitsubishi Outlander can turn off it’s engine whilst not engaged in Park.

Rick

So what ? Obviously there are lots of cars that will let you turn the car off while not in park. If you actually read what I said, I was correcting the previous statement that ‘THERE IS NO CAR THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM TURNING THE ENGINE OFF WITHOUT BEING IN PARK>>>>”. This is plainly false as mine will not let me. It displays “Engine off only possible in position P”

RdS

what an idiot.

serious facepalm when i first heard about it.. but it just gets wose the more i read about it.

put it in neutral, turn the car off.
Shak

Lets not judge the man so quickly. Maybe the ECU malfunctioned and wouldn’t read any input for the car. I know brakes run on fluid and the handbrake is cable but it could still happen.
jon

BUILT FORD ROUGH
Jester

find this hard to believe – probably some pathetic attention seeker. I am still to see a car that cannot be put into neutral while driving in cruise control, unless Ford has somehow engineered all the controls to lock in place if cruise is engaged, which i find extremely unlikely.
David T

OK so the brake activated cruise control switch didn’t work, how about the cruise control OFF switch?
Not much of this story adds up, Ford, Toyota, whatever, it still doesn’t seem to be right in my opinion.
schuss

If ya pull the handbrake as hard as it goes, then it is not going to end well. Why not just pull it with a bit of common sense until the car slowed down. They should take his licence away.

Edz

What a joke, I’d say this is just another attempt at attention or who knows, maybe he will ask to be compensated by FORD. An unemployed man who drove for 50+km without being able to stop before finally being ‘ordered’ to pull the handbrake and stop the vehicle sounds pretty freakin dodgey to me.

MJ

These car makers are trying to get too clever…

In my friend’s new car, he cant put it into Neutral or Park unless the brakes are on!

In my old Corolla, when driving, I can put it into Neutral, I can turn of the Ignition, I can put the Handbrake on, I can go down a Gear…

In some new cars, people have died because Power Windows dont work in floods, mine has Manual Windows!

Goer

Somehow I seriously doubt that his 8 year old explorer being ‘too clever’ was the cause of this whole shenaningan. More like a simple case of this guy being too much of a dumba$$ !

filippo

Let’s look at the evidence.:
- His name is Chase, so he was obviously born into a bogan family: -1 point against him
- The car is American built: +1 point for him
- He bought the car: -1 point
- He has one of those facial piercings that make him look like the runner-up on a reality tv show: -1 point
- The police so far seem to be validating his story: +1 point

It’s a close call.
AAA

Any of these things could be done to stop the car:

- Bump the gear lever into neutral or even R or P
- Press the clutch to disengage the engine if it’s a manual
- On many 4WDs, there’s a 2nd gearbox called the transfer case, shift the transfer case from 2hi/4hi/2lo to neutral
- Turn the engine off or switch the key to ACC
- The brakes could easily over ride the engine. A 4WD takes 12sec to go from 0-100kmh while the brakes could bring the car from 100kmh-0 stop in 2-3sec. The brakes are a lot more powerful than the engine!!

I am suspecting that the driver’s 22 years old AND lack of experience that got him into this. I just feel sorry for Ford getting the bad publicity for nothing

Shak

Its not for nothing. The same day that Ford happen to recall 4.5 million explorers this guy has a mishap with the same model line.

David T

The recall was over a year ago, and it’s for an unrelated fault.

ST

- Bump the gear lever into neutral or even R or P

That’d just break the parking paw making the park function as good as neutral if you attempt that at 100km/h.

- Press the clutch to disengage the engine if it’s a manual

All Explorers are auto. Moot point in this case

- On many 4WDs, there’s a 2nd gearbox called the transfer case, shift the transfer case from 2hi/4hi/2lo to neutral

Ever tried shifting a transfer case in motion?

- Turn the engine off or switch the key to ACC

First thing the guy should have done.

- The brakes could easily over ride the engine. A 4WD takes 12sec to go from 0-100kmh while the brakes could bring the car from 100kmh-0 stop in 2-3sec. The brakes are a lot more powerful than the engine!!

Not if the brake master cylinder failed as well. Tried stopping a car without the engine on lately?

Maybe the guy was totally unlucky to have
1) Ignition key switch fail stopping the car from ever switching off
2) Brake master cylinder lose all pressure which meant he would have crashed it anyway
3) Cruise control fail

Not being able to shift into neutral is a whole load of cr@p. Every car is able to do this whether it’s just moving it to neutral or pushing the A/T lever selection button.

Switching it off whilst the car is in motion may or may not work. Cars that utilise the keyless start won’t be able to switch off if it car is in motion.

Also the guy should have utilised the side guard rails as a way to slow a car down like this demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvgnMyZA4aQ

I second the attention whore and taking his license off the guy bit.

The Real Car Fanatic

ST have you not been paying attention? Saying moving the shift to neutral is a whole load of crap is ignorant. In the US there have been loads of issues with the 2002 Explorer’s transmission from minor glitches, to not being able to select gears when shift became stuck, to complete transmission failures. The 2002 Explorer has also had a few incidences where drivers have applied the brakes to find the car accelerating, witnesses have confirmed seeing brake lights on when this has happened.

I’d hate to have you on my Jury if I ever get done for a serious crime I didn’t commit with an attitude like that!

David T

“I just shut my eyes” Kinda says it all, doesn’t it?
The guy has a low panic threshold and just freeeaked out. How many clear directions from the 000 operator and police did this guy NOT follow because he was unable to deal with his level of panic and think/act rationally?

There are many people that can’t deal with many situations because of severe panic. It is a genuine medical condition, don’t diss the guy for it, but if that is the case (and I believe it probably is) then why not just come out and say it, then move on. Story over.
Demo

Hi all,
Just want make a point to all the experts out there. The brakes will always stop the car!! There is no link between cruise control and the brake other than the brakes turn it off. Brakes are ALWAYS stronger than the engine in normal road going vehicles. This guy is just seeking attention. The same thing happened in the UK about two years ago and in that case the guy was charged with dangerous driving (he was driving a 3 series BMW, BMW said it was impossible that he could not stop the car!.
Try this in a safe place. When cruising at 100k (in an auto) put your foot flat to the floor on the accelarator and then put your other foot on the brake. You’ll find the brakes will stop the car very quickly!
If your cruise control ever does jam don’t switch the ignition off….you’ll lock your steering and put your life at risk and don’t try the hand brake, as others have pointed out correctly its not a very strong braking system compared to the normal brakes. Just apply the brakes and you’ll stop every time.

AAA

Another copy cat case. Monkey see monkey do.
Matt

Though there is the investigation in the US with Toyotas having problems… Toyota say its the go-fast pedal getting stuck under the edge of the floormat but there are suspicions that theres a glitch in the drive-by-wire control software after a cop died when he couldn’t stop his car (I think it was a Lexus) and was describing it on the phone.

But I don’t think the good ol American built Explorer uses drive-by-wire… does it?
The Real Car Fanatic

The guy in the UK was arrested three months after the incident on suspicion of dangerous driving, which was almost four years ago now( it was in all the newspapers and on TV news channels), he was bailed to appear in court because the police investigators found no fault with the BMW. He was acquitted though because several psychologist gave evidence that he had suffered severe mental trauma due to the incident. He was assessed the day after the incident by psychologist. The Jury threw the case out based on the psychologists evidence which had been correctly documented.

Demo

Has anyone checked if this guy is employed by Holden??
Andrew M

I wonder if this is MR Baloon boys Brother???
Alexandra

All these people advocating turning the engine off. In Tasmania last year, kids were killed when they turned the engine off whilst driving because it locked everything up and the driver couldn\’t steer. Yeah, great idea.

AAA

Turn the engine off does not mean it will automatically lock the steering wheel. Turn they key to ACC = engine off but the steering wheel is not locked.
Mitchell Oke

The steering wheel locked up because they REMOVED THE KEY, not because they turned the engine off.

Ford Guy

Theres no way he couldnt stop his vehicle if he used his head, I work for ford (unfortunatly). the vehicle would of turned off with the ignition, the steering wouldn’t of locked up on the highway unless he was doing a sharp turn. the vehicle would still be able to go into neutral, and the hand brake pulled. How ever the foot brakes might not of worked, as it might of been subject to ‘brake fade’. this is caused by the brakes coming to such high temp. the pedal goes to the floor.
The Real Car Fanatic

Well it was a 2002 Explorer and in the states owners have had no end of trouble from the auto trans, from losing gears to the shift locking up, to the transmission completely packing it in. Ford had no recall on this problem and in some cases were kind enough to go halves in the repair as most were out of the warranty period. As for his brakes not stopping the vehicle, wel that could have been brake fade. I know brakes stop cars, but when wroking against the engine they come under great strain. If the temperature rises beyond something called the knee point the brakes will fade or fail. This is common when brakes are used in hard driving conditions, IE Brake vs engine power. Remember his cruise control was trying to make the car go 110 plus, his brakes were trying to stop it. If he had vewry little brake fluid in his car, this would have accentuated the problem. As already mention the cruise control may have failed due to an ecu malfunction, putting your foot on the brake would probably not over ride the cruise control in this instance.

Ford Explorer? He may be telling the truth.

Shak

This sounds very plausible.
AAA

It could be the other way around. Picking a Ford is more believable.

Azza

I always thought that Ford were known for how good their brakes are…

Shak

Its very easy for us to think of all these ways to stop the car while were sitting at home on the computer, but the guy was hurtling down the wrong side of the freeway at 100 clicks and probably didnt think of any of this. Its real easy to atlk, but action is hard.

AAA

“He spent the majority of his 30 minute, 54km journey on the phone to a sergeant from Victoria Police”

Shak

As a lot of other comments have stated, he could have a mental condition that causes even small shocks to become severe and have a break down.

Steve

I hope caradvice follows this story and reports what the engineers find. Lots of people dissing Ford without much second thoughts it seems.
Most people here seem to not know the laws and rules that dictate how these systems are designed.
imugli

They had the guy on the news tonight (video also on news.com.au) and I’ll just say he doesn’t seem the kind of person who would know just what to do when his big brute of a car turned on him…

The Real Car Fanatic

My thoughts exactly. He was more your just show me where to point the car and go kind of person.

ohreally

My answer:
Neutral and then roll to a stop.
let the engine rev till it dies!
http://www.antony-anderson.com/cruise/cruise.htm Antony Anderson

This sounds like a classic case where the cruise control refuses to release and fails to return speed control to the driver. When this happens the cruise control tries to maintain the vehicle at constant speed and so the harder the driver brakes the more the throttle opens. When the throttle opens wide there is no inlet vacuum and so if the driver should pump the brakes there is no vacuum replenishment and consequently vacuum brake assist is lost. The driver now has to press about five times as hard to achieve the same braking effect as with vacuum assist. Meantime the brakes are heating up because of the energy being dissipated in them, so the likelihood is that unless the hydraulic brake fluid is very new and has not had time to absorb moisture, it will boil causing a vapour loss and a loss of braking efficiency. Now in theory the hydraulic brake pressure Cruise Deactivation Switch, normally closed and feeding +12 volts to the Power Train Electronic Control (PTEC)should open removing the +12V and thereby telling the PTEC to disengage the cruise throttle servo electromagnetic clutch and so break the speed control loop. However, the Cruise Deactivation Switch only opens if the hydraulic pressure goes above a certain value, which it may well not do if vacuum assist is lost. Thus the so-called fail safe cannot be guaranteed to always work. In effect as this incident shows, it is the driver who is the fail-safe for the malfunctioning electronics. What is needed in all vehicles fitted with cruise control or with electronic throttles (throttle by wire) is a truly independent fail safe that reduces engine power in the event of an uncommanded wide open throttle. Besides which car manuals should contain advice on appropriate action to take in the event of an uncommanded wide open throttle. Chase Weir was very lucky to escape with his life. Others have not been so fortunate. Witness the horrific accident in a Lexus in California in August where four people died when on cruise disengagement the vehicle speeded up. Those of your readers interested in the whole subject of “electronic disobedience” – where the cruise control or the electronic throttle disobey the driver – should visit http://www.suddenacceleration.com. Or they might find my own web pages at:

http://www.antony-anderson.com/cruise/cruise.htm a useful source of further information

Regards, Antony Anderson Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4XY UK Tel +44 1912854577

MJ

That is HORRIBLE Antony! What we should do now is to have an EMERGENCY STOP LEVER next to the handbrake in every car that puts the car into neutral gear.

No more nonsense systems where you cant put the car “into neutral unless the brake is on”!!!
Common Sense

I really like a robust debate so let’s throw about some common sense.

Antony said “What is needed in all vehicles fitted with cruise control or with electronic throttles (throttle by wire) is a truly independent fail safe that reduces engine power in the event of an uncommanded wide open throttle.”
- I’m pretty sure that the 2002 Ford Explorer has one of these Antony – it’s called the key…And yes, before anybody responds, new electronic push button start vehicles don’t allow this but let’s stay on topic.

MJ said “That is HORRIBLE Antony! What we should do now is to have an EMERGENCY STOP LEVER next to the handbrake in every car that puts the car into neutral gear.”
- MJ, we have one of those too – it’s called the gear lever…Again, before complaining about my comment, I will concede that the move to electronically controlled hydraulic boxes has made this impossible in many cars of this decade including to the best of my knowledge the Explorer in question.

The issue with the Lexus and the notion of ‘electronic obedience’ not withstanding, the circumstances of this case are terribly suspicious. The 2002 Ford Explorer was not exactly the most advanced piece of motoring kit ever produced…in fact it was a lucky day if most of its components would work together at one time let alone talk to each other in some coordinated fashion.

My vote is on “attention whore” and suggest we condemn him to death…one less pill on Melbourne’s roads, just have to find a way to deal with the other 999,999 Muppets who bought that same box of cereal through which their licenses came to them.

As regards the issue of ultimate driver control, two simple things should be mandated as a minimum.
1/ The key or start/stop button should ALWAYS be able to be used regardless of state of motion/speed/direction etc.
2/ In cars where systems are integrated to the point where obedience becomes a legitimate concern, an emergency routine should exist which overrides all existing commands, cuts engine revs down to a level appropriate to maintain correct power steering, brake function and stability control (and of course ipod connectivity!), possibly disengages the gearbox (can cause difficulties in certain environments such as loose surfaces but this is obviously the exception these days), allowing the driver to bring the vehicle to a controlled stop in a manner best befitting the circumstances.

Mark G

FYI, there were manual Explorers. That generation Explorer when introduced in 2001, was offered with both manual and automatic transmissions. The update a few years later dropped the manual, but an ’02 could definitely be either.
therealdeal

maybe he’s wife or someone had the car rigged to kill him…IDK, just putting it out there

RdS

unhappy ex-boyfriend maybe. lol.

Valet Dabess

ah! i heard about this on yahoo but they wouldn’t say what car it was that bot stuck on cruise control. ford explorer, isn’t that american… my solution is don’t buy american cars
Cupid Stunt

Wow that was frightening and almost unblievable.. So many ex-spurts subscribe to this website but I would have thought the neutral would have worked.
I personally would have wrecked a gearbox to save my life in the circumstances.

The Real Car Fanatic

Like I said, the 2002 Ford Explorer was plagued with transmission problems, if it seized up in drive as many did in the US, he would have no way of putting it in neutral.

Also I found this which adds weight to his story, seems him applying the brakes may have had the opposite effect.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Explorer/2002/engine/accelerates_when_applying_brakes.shtml

toxic_horse

you can’t just turn off the ignition and engage the steering lock.
but i have never heard of a auto that you can’t shift into neutral.
this guys sounds like a idiot

The Real Car Fanatic

Toxic have you not read any of the replies, in the US on the 2002 Explorer, transmission problems have been rife, inculding getting jammed in gear, also look at the link I posted above, very interesting.

Shak

It can happen Toxic. If the ECU doesnt read any input form the car it thinks that what it is currently doing is correct, as such it can cause the ‘box to sieze and not allow you to manually change gears. I have heard of alot of these so called intelligent gearboxes becoming very erratic when they think you need a lot of power and refusing to slow down and causing a large rise in revs. But for all we know this guys gearbox and ECU could have been in control of the car the whole time.

toxic_horse

i didn’t read all of them i admit.
i stand corrected.

Shak

Hows about we all just wait till CA finds more info on this matter.

The Real Car Fanatic

Found this on a site call suddenacceleration.com

The key here is that most sudden-acceleration cases involve not brake failure but reduced brake effectiveness. (7) When a car suddenly accelerates, the driver takes a second or two to react. Then he or she depresses the brake, only to find that the vehicle does not stop as quickly as expected.

This occurs primarily) because the engine is still accelerating the vehicle or because there is insufficient vacuum assist for the brakes. The brakes work, but they require increased pedal force and increased stopping distance. In some cases, the driver’s leg may not be strong enough to apply the required force. (8) Because the stopping distance is increased, many sudden accelerations end in a collision before the driver can stop the vehicle.

Plenty of good reading on that site to substantiate this guys claim

Dan

Not many people have had the pleasure of driving a car with a failed or failing brake booster (would have been the same effect)… Isn’t plesant but you can still stop if you actually know whats going on.

Another thing thing they could have done is start pulling fuses from the fuse box which to the right of the steering column….

Dan.

Alex II

Lots of comments about this one.

Can I just ask the editors to make sure we find out the final outcome of the investigation, so many of these type of stories just don’t get closed off.
Fred

Using a Mobile Phone and driving is a NO NO !

The Real Car Fanatic

I think the law can make an acception in a life and death situation Fred!

Andrew M

didnt hear the story of the lady arrested at the hospital for running a stop sign and speeding away from the police because her son was having a bad allergic reaction???

OzeWander

Some (most?) of you are missing a cruicial part of the story as confirmed by Chase Weir himself in an interview with the news last night.

He contacted Ford before he contacted 000 (one can assume as an Explorer owner he’s saved it into his address book). Ford confirmed that because the car was travelling at 100kph, the ignition AND gear selector becomes ‘locked’ (Barrel lock + electronic lock or similar). Model specific obviously, but the arm-chair experts on this website cant possibly rule it out as an impossibility.

Libel on a public forum with absolutely ZERO knowledge of how this car performs under those circumstances is ill-advised and shows complete ignorance.

Let’s put some of these ‘experts’ into the drivers seat and see how they perform.

Oz Out.
jweb

If you re-read his press statement,he states that he hung up on Ford after being put on hold.
jweb

Oh also if he was not using hands free when calling,he has broken the law.
http://www.starautoauthority.com Star

Does anyone else think that with the growing intricacy of cars and technology, that there is no longer a car mechanic but instead a car technician?
matt.

lol… i know you will read this at some point chase… i told you not to buy it his last car had an electrical fault and it burnt to the ground haha, careful 03 statesman owners. maybe his car was possesed i dont think your ment to have a car dude.
Cush

i happen to own a 2002 ford explorer, and i’ve tested this only going 30km an hour on a remote gravel road, it does indeed shift into neutral and yes you can turn it off while it’s still moving… it comes to a stop, switched the ignition to accessory and was able to steer pretty well and apply brakes.