Whilst reversing out of a car park, the Lexus instantly took off at top speed until stopped by a wall. Calmly putting the car into drive it then took off forward until stopped by a wall. The air bags deployed and the engine roared at top speed until the engine was turned off whilst hurriedly exiting the smoke filled car.
The distance involved was only a few metres in both directions.There was no panic but injuries were sustained to the two occupants. Both were taken by ambulance to hospital. Police attended by there was no action taken as it was a private car park at a medical centre.
It was as if the car had been picked up by a giant force and taken out of driver control. While stopped by the wall in reverse the wheels kept spinning and smoke filled the car. The engine roared like a jet plane taking off. I believe the accelerator was never depressed and the brakes did not work. When a car is put into reverse on a flat surface there is always the ability for some movement to occur.
The venue was a medical centre, with xray and other medical equipment in close proximity. I had my mobile in the car with me.
Toyota reps attended the car in the following days and found no fault.
In Thailand, and Air Lauda plane crash occurred with loss of all lives. The subsequent investigation found the planes engines went into reverse thrust, and the event found to have only been possible by electronic interference, and could never have happened if the plane had been manually rather than electronically controlled.
Since that investigation all airlines have required passengers to turn off electronic equipment during take off and landing as they could possibly cause interference with the plane systems. It was thought a mobile phone could have caused the crash of the Air Lauda plane.
Why then is this not a possibility to interfere with a car's electronic system similarly? Or cause a spark at a petrol filling station; or interfere with sensitive medical equipment? There are often signs to request the shutdown of mobile phones in hospitals and filling stations. The possibility is not conclusive although there have been incidents suggesting this. Obviously these situations are not as potentially dangerous as in an airliner.
The point is the possibility that it can happen, and seemingly does happen....particularly in some specific vehicles. It is called electro-magnetic interference. We know the damaging and fatal effects lightning can have in some instances.
Car makers must acknowledge this possibility and respect the occurrence as related to them by experienced drivers. They must compensate car users for the occurrence, as there is clearly a fault in the car electronics to make them susceptible, with potentially fatal results. There are now many, many reports of these incidents by male and female drivers, and there are frequently fatal or serious injury results.
Any driver knows when they have made a human error and do not report it. These SUA incidents are very real, totally sudden and do not allow time for human reaction of any kind. It is a force enough to deploy air bags within a confined area, because the revolutions of the engine have reached such an extreme so suddenly. We are not all mechanically or electronically educated, but common sense dictates there is a serious fault being ignored by car manufacturers.
Whilst reversing out of a car park, the Lexus instantly took off at top speed until stopped by a wall. Calmly putting the car into drive it then took off forward until stopped by a wall. The air bags deployed and the engine roared at top speed until the engine was turned off whilst hurriedly exiting the smoke filled car.
The distance involved was only a few metres in both directions.There was no panic but injuries were sustained to the two occupants. Both were taken by ambulance to hospital. Police attended by there was no action taken as it was a private car park at a medical centre.
It was as if the car had been picked up by a giant force and taken out of driver control. While stopped by the wall in reverse the wheels kept spinning and smoke filled the car. The engine roared like a jet plane taking off. I believe the accelerator was never depressed and the brakes did not work. When a car is put into reverse on a flat surface there is always the ability for some movement to occur.
The venue was a medical centre, with xray and other medical equipment in close proximity. I had my mobile in the car with me. Toyota reps attended the car in the following days and found no fault.
In Thailand, and Air Lauda plane crash occurred with loss of all lives. The subsequent investigation found the planes engines went into reverse thrust, and the event found to have only been possible by electronic interference, and could never have happened if the plane had been manually rather than electronically controlled.
Since that investigation all airlines have required passengers to turn off electronic equipment during take off and landing as they could possibly cause interference with the plane systems. It was thought a mobile phone could have caused the crash of the Air Lauda plane.
Why then is this not a possibility to interfere with a car's electronic system similarly? Or cause a spark at a petrol filling station; or interfere with sensitive medical equipment? There are often signs to request the shutdown of mobile phones in hospitals and filling stations. The possibility is not conclusive although there have been incidents suggesting this. Obviously these situations are not as potentially dangerous as in an airliner.
The point is the possibility that it can happen, and seemingly does happen....particularly in some specific vehicles. It is called electro-magnetic interference. We know the damaging and fatal effects lightning can have in some instances.
Car makers must acknowledge this possibility and respect the occurrence as related to them by experienced drivers. They must compensate car users for the occurrence, as there is clearly a fault in the car electronics to make them susceptible, with potentially fatal results. There are now many, many reports of these incidents by male and female drivers, and there are frequently fatal or serious injury results.
Any driver knows when they have made a human error and do not report it. These SUA incidents are very real, totally sudden and do not allow time for human reaction of any kind. It is a force enough to deploy air bags within a confined area, because the revolutions of the engine have reached such an extreme so suddenly. We are not all mechanically or electronically educated, but common sense dictates there is a serious fault being ignored by car manufacturers.
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- Marion C., Tauranga, New Zealand