Thread: Freeway terror as cruise control jams

Glad I'm not the only one to think it's a bit ridiculous. If he could stop it with the handbrake, how come it took him 50 minutes to discover that.....

Wonder if we will hear any follow up on what went wrong from the cops or whoever?

Originally Posted by easo
My mazda cant engage under 40.
Same as SWMBO's fairlane.

Dave.

Seeing everyoone is fixated on this, the way cruise controls work is that they merely compare pulse rates from an external source (VSS or pulse generator) with an internal set source (driver pressing button), and try to match them by opening or closing a set of solonoids, which move a diaphragm actuated by vacuum .

All are either programmable on fitting if aftermarket or factory set. All have upper and lower boundaries when comparing . Commonly they work from 60 to 120 or whatever the quality of the circuitry allows, and the policy of the car maker is. probably German ones would work up to 200 or so.LOL.

I remember this Explorer recall where the activation switch caught fire, but you would still think the brake switch would work .
Regards Philip A

That's why I pulled mine out, it was a after market job and started to play up as in switching it's self off then coming on again. Just ripped it out of there quick smart before something like this happened.

Originally Posted by hoadie72

Interview with the driver here

On the freeway, out of control

He claims that he couldn't turn the ignition off and couldn't change it out of gear. Anyone know if the exploder has lockouts like that when cruise control is on???

Whole story, oh and I guess you needed to be there to know, eh!!

Cruise control terror for freeway driverROBYN GRACE
December 15, 2009 - 6:19PM
A terrified 22-year-old driver thought he was going to die when a jammed cruise control trapped him in his four-wheel drive for half an hour as it raced along the Eastern Freeway.

In a scene reminiscent of thriller blockbuster Speed, the Ford Explorer’s cruise control got stuck as he attempted to take the Burke Road exit in Melbourne’s north-east about 12.40pm.

‘‘The person I spoke to at Ford service said the key wasn’t moving because it was driving in the wrong gear,’’ he told 3AW.

‘‘At first he said ‘don’t drive the car because it’s dangerous’ and I said ‘well, that’s kind of the problem - I’m actually in the car and I cannot stop it’.’’

As the traffic got heavier, Chase hung up and called Triple-O, where a police sergeant helped calm the scared motorist as the Ford sped along the freeway.

‘‘She asked me to again try turning the ignition off, put the car in neutral, put your whole body weight on the footbrake,’’ Chase told 3AW.

‘‘When I did that the car slowed to 80km/h but then the footbrake just became stiff, it wouldn’t go any further. So it was like I had no brakes,’’ he said.

‘‘The police sergeant told me to straight away put my hazards on and stay in the emergency lane.

‘‘It was a bit scary because every now and then you’d come up to someone sitting in the emergency lane talking on their mobile.’’

Police arrived quickly, with two cars under sirens and lights driving ahead of the tearaway four-wheel-drive to clear traffic.

‘‘Pretty much that’s all they could do until I reached Frankston and that’s just when I saw three or four lanes of traffic that wasn’t moving very fast and I’m doing 100 and I just said to her 'I’m going to die'.

‘‘And I just put all my weight on that footbrake, swerved on the wrong side of the road to avoid running into the back of everyone including other police cars, went over the concrete road island, bounced a bit.’’

Chase also pulled on the handbrake, bringing the car to a halt outside the Monash University Peninsula campus - and just half a metre away from a head-on collision.

The 22-year-old, who is now recovering in Frankston Hospital, said he suffered some whiplash, and shock.

Police have taken the Ford for inspection.

‘‘Which I’m fine with,’’ the driver laughed.

Ford Australia public relations manager Sinead McAlary said Ford had not experienced anything like this before.

‘‘We will be making contact with the driver as soon as possible to learn more about what took place and then get access to his vehicle to investigate the matter further," she said.

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Oh and no the transfer case can't be put into neutral, also can't be taken out of gear while in motion or under load.

Personnaly I think he did well in the end to avoid a major accident.

Baz.

I think its a little bit amazing that he remembered to pull the handbrake at the last minute and not before.
Ofcourse a cruise control can fail to disengage or a throttle can jam open, but I have had a throttle jam open and managed to pull it up very easily with brake and auto gear down shift, yes it reved a bit until I could shut it down but did no damage.
I thought you could still down shift with an auto or do the newer ones have a lock out to stop you shifting down? Good reason to have a manual.
I seem to remember a similar story about a Discovery a few years ago that did similar, was on today tonight and all over the TV for a week, until the investigation was actually completed by LRA and NRMA or RAA? can not rememer which. The findings I believe actually found driver error from memory. This guy was going to sue LR and was calling the car a lemon. I also think it was an aftermarket installation.
Cruise control is fun when you knock it on in a commodore on a dirt road doing 50 kmph and your last setting was 120kmph. A guy I knew in Kambalda did just that and had a bit of excitement suddenly thrust upon him.
And ah I see whiplash and shock, either impossible to prove or disprove. I can feel a compensation claim coming on.
For his sake I hope his story is legitimate.

C'mon the answer is simple. Have Ford ever produced an exploder that hasn't tried to kill its driver?? Anyone remember the firestone incident, This and that setting fire, and lets face it, social suicide from owning one? This is just another chapter in fords efforts to reduce overpopulation. They will be a recall on this so they can 'fix' it but really, they will be engineering a better way to kill its owners such as mysterious exhaust leak into the cab on a cold morning....

Originally Posted by whitakerb

C'mon the answer is simple. Have Ford ever produced an exploder that hasn't tried to kill its driver?? Anyone remember the firestone incident, This and that setting fire, and lets face it, social suicide from owning one? This is just another chapter in fords efforts to reduce overpopulation. They will be a recall on this so they can 'fix' it but really, they will be engineering a better way to kill its owners such as mysterious exhaust leak into the cab on a cold morning....

How does a faulty batch of tyres, make it the fault of the car

Only ever heard of one Explorer catching fire and that's the one on the CSR.

Baz.