I think 60 mins ruined Audi in the US for a while with the "automatic
accelerator" episode.
It is normally referred to as unintended or sudden acceleration.
60 minutes, used an ex IBM engineer, William Rosenbluth, to modify Audi
transmissions to demonstrate the condition without advising that the
transmission were modified. An excellent read regarding several bogus
litigation issues is contained in a book Galileo's Revenge by Peter Huber.
This phenomenon was studied by the American, Canadian & Japanese governments
with the overwhelming conclusion that the phenomenon was due to pedal
(accelerator) misapplication. Vehicles were being shifted into drive or
reverse without having their foot on the brake pedal. This eventually led to
the brake shift interlock system installed on auto transmission vehicles in
the early 90's
Most major auto manufacturers have been sued with sudden accel as the
allegation.
Kenneth Waller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: OT: HCB with a Minolta CLE
William Robb wrote:
He (Nader) later tried to do so with GM pickups, but had to give up
when his people got caught faking the exploding gas tanks.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't Nader behind this particular episode.
I thought that was 60 Minutes or some such as that.
I think 60 mins ruined Audi in the US for a while with the "automatic
accelerator" episode. Turns out, more Fords had the "problem" which, when
investigated turned out to be driver error. People were pressing the
accelerator pedal down and swearing they were using pressing the brake
pedal.
--
Christian
http://photography.skofteland.net
