Unintended Acceleration: Some Thoughts for all who Drive

Yesterday, while pulling out of the garage, the oddest thing happened.  As I slowly backed from the garage into the street, checking my side mirrors for parked cars and my rear-view for oncoming traffic, I noticed my car speeding up, ever so slightly.  I applied more brake, but the car only continued to speed up.  I hit the brake harder, only to pick up more speed.

The total distance was perhaps only 20 feet, the speed, maybe up to 10 mph, but it was genuinely frightening.  It felt as if the car was fighting me.

I didn't panic, though.  Instead, I eventually backed my foot off the brake and shifted the car from drive to neutral.  The engine was screaming at this point at 6,000 rpm, but the car had stopped.  I looked down at my right foot.  It was planted on the brake pedal, but had slipped, almost imperceptibly, onto the accelerator as well.  As such, the harder I had pushed on the brake, the further down I had pushed the gas, causing the car to accelerate.  I slowly shifted my foot entirely to the brake, the revs dropped, I put the car back into gear, and went along my way.

Now, as a person who loves cars and prides himself on his ability behind the wheel, this is rather an embarrassing story.  I've been driving for nearly 20 years without an accident (knock on wood) and know the mechanical systems of my cars well.  Yet yesterday I nearly lost control of my car simply backing out of the driveway.  It's because I can't believe I did this, that I made this stupid mistake, that I need to share the story.

Several years ago there was an outcry, and some claimed a scandal, regarding "unintended acceleration" in certain Toyota vehicles.  While Toyota did find that some of their cars may, in exceedingly rare instances, suffer from a stuck acceleration pedal due to pedal or floor mat design, there seems to be no evidence of cars accelerating "on their own."  The NTSA found that this was almost always caused by driver error.

Unintended acceleration has been blamed for 89 deaths, according to complaints fielded by the traffic safety administration. But in a separate study of Toyotas involved in accidents, the agency concluded that most cases of sudden acceleration were probably because of drivers stepping on the gas when they thought they were stepping on the brake.

     -New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/opinion/09wed2.html

As someone who experienced the very unsettling sensation of my car accelerating against my will yesterday, I can understand why so many people claimed that they had experienced a mechanical error.  It really did feel as if the car had taken control and was "disobeying" me.  It's very disorienting and disquieting.  For some time after, even though I knew the unwanted acceleration had been my fault, I had a feeling of "distrust" towards my car.  "How could I make such a stupid mistake?  It must be the car!"

But this is a very dangerous attitude to have behind the wheel.  Cars break down or fail from time to time, but we humans are far more fallible.  I've been walking since the age of one, and yet I manage to trip slightly or stumble at least once a day.  Even worse, I've been eating since the day I was born and somehow still manage to bite my tongue from time to time.  And yet when these things happen I never blame the shoes I'm wearing of the food I'm chewing.  So, why was I so quick to blame my car?

I think it's human nature to occasionally scapegoat our tools when we ourselves make egregious errors with them.  With every video game system I've ever owned, from Atari to PS3, I have, at some point, blamed the controller for causing me to fall down a pit, lose control of my race car, or mistime a shot at an enemy who then, happily, killed me instead.  Almost without fail, however, when something electronic or mechanical doesn't do what I want it to, the fault is my own.  I've set it up wrong, misread the directions, gotten the controls confused, failed to plug it in, etc...  When I eventually calm down and retrace my steps, I invariably find I was the one at fault.

The vast majority of accidents on the road occur because of driver error.  That's a fact.  We can all keep ourselves a little bit safer by keeping this idea in mind.  Unintended acceleration is a prime example.  In most cases, the driver is doing something wrong.  And, because of the initial error, when it comes time to correct the mistake the driver only makes it worse.

My experience with unintended acceleration - and driver error - got me to thinking about how we can better protect ourselves behind the wheel from, well, ourselves when this kind of thing happens.  Despite all the press Toyota received from the initial complaints, nothing much helpful was shared when it was determined that the accidents were attributed to human error.  If it is human error, how do we improve upon it?  I don't claim to be an expert and make no guarantees about the strategy below working every single time, but, upon reflection, this was at least helpful for me in my situation.

If your car seems to be accelerating against your will...

1. Don't panic or make any sudden movements.  This kind of over-reaction can just make matters worse.  Slamming what you think are the brakes can result in just pushing the accelerator further down.  Turning the steering wheel violently to get off the road can result in a skid.
2. Shift the car into Neutral or, if needs be, Park.  The most important thing to do is to disconnect the engine from the transmission so that it can no longer drive the wheels.  This means shifting into neutral in an automatic or simply putting in the clutch in a stick.  Drivers should know how to do this quickly and without thinking.  Shifting into park could damage the transmission, but that's far better than crashing the car.   
3. Don't Immediately Try to Turn Off the Engine.  Once you put the car into neutral the engine may be screaming, but don't turn it off just yet.  Turning off the engine can be quite dangerous, particularly at freeway speeds.  Not only will the steering column lock, making it impossible to steer the car, power steering and power brake systems will no longer have power and will require far more force to operate.  Let the engine scream until you can stop safely.
   
4. Come to a Gentle and Reasonable Stop.  Pull to the side of the road safely - no sudden movements - and then turn the car off.  

These steps seem very simple and obvious, but it's amazing what a little disorientation and a little panic can do to someone behind the wheel.  The best thing one can do is to simply remain calm.  We owe it to our passengers.  They're rather important.

Sorry today's blog was a bit pedantic and preachy, but my experience yesterday really had an impact.  If you found this post at all instructive or helpful, please feel free to share it.  I honestly don't remember learning any of this is Drivers' Ed, which is a shame!