Shouldn't all new cars have electric backup power brakes and steering by law?

[The Other Andy]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You mean you don't see cars like this at the local grocery store?

I stumbled upon this beauty while getting groceries one day and just had to take a couple pictures. Personally, I'd have welded the doors shut and jumped in Dukes of Hazard style.

Lol, that looks new compared to some of the beauties here in the land of salt and snow.

The safety inspection thing brings up a good point: we have none. We'll go to absurd lengths to make sure a new car can ram a train head on, but meanwhile people are driving around with no brakes (having previously worked at a tire/oil change place, I've seen this a scary amount of times) and all manner of other major safety issues.

[user removed]

Originally Posted by The Other Andy

Lol, that looks new compared to some of the beauties here in the land of salt and snow.

The safety inspection thing brings up a good point: we have none. We'll go to absurd lengths to make sure a new car can ram a train head on, but meanwhile people are driving around with no brakes (having previously worked at a tire/oil change place, I've seen this a scary amount of times) and all manner of other major safety issues.

Sounds like the traffic injuries-fatalities in your location would go down significantly if there WAS a safety inspection.

regards
Mech

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by XYZ

Apparently you are young. Back in 'the bad old days' before safety interlocks became legally mandatory on all power equipment, you could shift an A/T into any gear at will.

MTs don't have this "Park" of which you speak to shift into.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

MTs don't have this "Park" of which you speak to shift into.

...but you can sort of fake it by dropping the lever into Reverse before you lock up and walk away.

That's the one downside of MTs in my opinion, the absence of a Park position that locks the tranny. I always use the parking brake and usually also curb the front wheels when on a slope, just for added insurance, in addition to putting it in a low gear.

But if there were a Park position, you KNOW someone would engage it while on the move, destroy his/her car, and then sue the daylights out of everyone and anyone possible. And then Park would be made so ridiculously difficult to get into that you couldn't possibly ever accidentally engage it, and it would never get used except by ecomodders who confabulated a simple on-off switch.

[Simonas]

We usually just leave the car in gear, and sometimes use the parking brake if we are on a hill or in the city.

Or... carry a light plastic wheel chock with you. It isn't that heavy or hard to get in place. I suppose it could be hard for the elderly or plagued with back pain, so I'm not calling the chock idea a cure-all.

[serialk11r]

I've heard of someone putting their NSX in reverse parked uphill, parking brake broke and the car slid downhill. Luckily only the hatch glass got smashed, but that's kind of scary.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by XYZ

Apparently you are young. Back in 'the bad old days' before safety interlocks became legally mandatory on all power equipment, you could shift an A/T into any gear at will.

Yeah, what I meant is that I've never owned a car with an automatic transmission :-)

I still have problems seeing how a steering/transmission interlock could work, at least one that's purely mechanical. A starter interlock switch, sure, but to physically lock the steering (without solenoids) I'd think you'd have to run some sort of linkage all the way from the steering column to the console. I think Rube Goldberg Engineering holds all the patents on that :-)

[NachtRitter]

I'd have to guess the interlock is electrical... but it definitely is there... I don't typically drive automatics either, but on biz trips that's normally the only option available from the rental agencies... there have been a few times when I couldn't get the dang keys out and it wasn't til I figured out that I had to put it into Park that I could finally get out...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

A parking lock for a manual transmission wouldn't be a bad idea at all...

Originally Posted by serialk11r

I've heard of someone putting their NSX in reverse parked uphill, parking brake broke and the car slid downhill. Luckily only the hatch glass got smashed, but that's kind of scary.

Uphill it would make more sense to use the 1st gear.

[Frank Lee]

'66 Corvair, Powerglide a/t, no Park feature provided.



Oh yeah- very nice light manual steering and brakes!