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Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob
Gosh, my old Toyota was good for at least two full stops on the reserve vacuum when I did EOC down mountains, and I could still do a hard stop if I had to. Is this a computer issue screwing up those basics?
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The throttle was wide open. That affects two things: available vacuum for brake assist, and the amount of work needed from the braking system to stop the car. Cars are a lot more powerful in general than they used to be. I'm old so I remember when 100HP was a lot; these days my little Honda Fit has "only" 109HP. The Lexus probably had closer to 300.
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People get strong in emergencies.
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Agreed. So why wasn't this guy able to stop the car with the brake pedal?
I read another account of the accident in which a witness reported that "the tires were on fire" before it crashed. That tells me that either the tires or the brakes were smoking hot, or hotter. Maybe the engine simply won the stopping vs. going power contest.
I like the "kill switch" ideas I've been hearing but I wonder if the answer isn't as simple as a throttle-off trip switch that activates when the brake pedal is pushed down more than a certain distance, or with more than a certain amount of effort.
And I have a whole new outlook on pushbutton starting, which I used to look at as a good thing. Now, not so much.
As for the guy using the cellphone to call 911; I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he'd exhausted other efforts. He was in a loaner car, may not have been familiar with the pushbutton start and its odd way of shutting the car off in emergency situations.
Besides the carpet malfunction, that pushbutton is where I see the problem. Shutting off a car should be -- no, MUST be -- a no-brainer.