4 thoughts on “A new excuse for speeding?”

  1. Yeah

    I’ve heard of things like this a time or two. It usually goes like this. 25 year old mother of 1 finds that her brakes don’t work. Then she can’t put it in neutral. Then she can’t turn off the key. Then the cruise control sticks. Then the accelerator pedal sticks. Suddenly she and her 911 call are on Oprah. I say BULLCRAP! Do you know what the odds are for such a catastrofic failure of so many unrealated systems all at once? I would bet its something like 1 in never. Now this guy was in a Renault so anything is possible 🙂

  2. Traffic Cure

    The story ran a couple weeks ago on local news. A couple civil engineers are claiming that the use of automatic crise controls mechanisms will end traffic.

    Every car will be implanted with a cruise control radar that monitors the car in front of them. The gist of the system is that the radar automatically controls your speed. If the car in front slows down, your car’s cruise control radar will detect the decelleration (sp?) and slow you car down to match speed exactly.

    These civil engineers were university professors, by the way. Sort of explains the whole moronic idea.

    Back to the original post. I used to drive an Oldsmobile 1984 station wagon which almost everybody on this blog, at one time, took a ride. It was a beast. The only problem with the car is that the cruise control would kick in, at various times, and start speeding up, trying to get the car up to 63 MPH. I had to get my reaction time up to deactivate the cruise control by stepping on the brakes.

    It happened often. But who can’t step on their brakes before you start speeding at excessive levels?

    1. Follow-up

      Yeah, there was a follow-up story that showed no mechanical failures at all — and Renault has had the police impound the vehicle to tear it apart to see what happened…

      The most likely story is that the guy was lying.

      Oh, and about those “sensing” cruise controls? You can buy them today, on the Toyota XLE Sienna minivan. It has two laser sensors in the front that automatically decelerate you while in cruise to put an acceptable distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. They also do the reverse, accelerating you up to your set-cruise speed if the road is clear.

      —
      Matthew P. Barnson

      1. Hmmm…

        Toyota XLE Siennas have them, eh?

        I’ll have to pay attention to my rear-view and be sure to slow down and speed up the next time one of them is behind me 😉

        My $.02 Weed

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