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- Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
- Path: sparky!uunet!boulder!alex
- From: alex@lyra.colorado.edu (Alex Matthews)
- Subject: Re: Audis (was Re: Repressed Memories, Ruined Lives)
- Message-ID: <1992Nov11.150853.14644@colorado.edu>
- Originator: alex@lyra
- Sender: news@colorado.edu (The Daily Planet)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: lyra.colorado.edu
- Organization: APAS Department, CU Boulder
- References: <GERRY.92Nov9123747@onion.cmu.edu> <BxIGC4.75C@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> <BxItJ0.7I8.2@cs.cmu.edu>
- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:08:53 GMT
- Lines: 28
-
- In article <BxItJ0.7I8.2@cs.cmu.edu> lindsay+@cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay) writes:
- >
- >The Audi's brakes are strong enough to stall a runaway engine.
-
- This is the key point. I have not seen a car advertised that can accelerate
- faster than it can brake. The brakes can normally dissipate energy faster
- than the engine can produce it. Even the lowly parking brake prevents
- a 400 cid Pontiac from budging.
-
- What convinced me that it was driver error was the testimony that drivers
- were standing on a control pedal with all their might, yet the car
- *accelerated*. If they were standing on the brake pedal, then the brakes
- failed, not the transmission or fuel delivery system. Because of the
- redundancy designed into the brake master cylinders, and the testimony
- that the brakes were okay, it is doubtful that the drivers were stepping
- on the brake pedal.
-
- In addition to the suspect pedal placement, I have read that the Audi
- pedals were similar to one another in size and feel, which probably
- contributed to the confusion. For a good history of this sort of
- thing happening in the automotive industry, I recommend Nader's
- book, _Unsafe At Any Speed_.
-
- --
- -Alex Matthews (alex@lyra.colorado.edu, matthews@jila.bitnet)
- DoD #0010
- "Occasionally we may try to reroute you briefly onto a particularly
- beautiful side road...." - Numerical Recipes
-