i highly doubt that he put it in neutral if he was trying to brake and could not.

 

here's the 911 call: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...dia/car911.mp3

:nervous:

 

but what if theres a problem with the drive-by-wire system to where somehow the car would not enter neutral? plus, apparently you cant brake + accelerate at the same time in these cars.

 

He's just intent on arguing with me

 

That audio is terrifying knowing that they did in fact die. Could it be that the accellerator got stuck just prior and the car rapidly accelerated. I mean the call was so short and they covered a half a mile in almost no time.

Other than panicking, I don't see why the car couldn't have been put in neutral. There's a specific reason there is no shift lockout from drive to neutral. Unfortunately, there is no run off at the end of the freeway and the car pretty much obliterated itself. What's even more sad is that Mar's uncles are CHP and they knew the guy and his family really well.

Everything changes in a panic situation. I wish we had know definitively if he attempted to throw it in neutral or park. The auto tranny probably wouldn't let him select a lower gear and the brakes would be ineffective considering the amount of inertia already carried by the vehicle especially being fully loaded.

I'm going to install additional grommets on my bimmer floor mats cause this has happened to e46's as well.

 

I had the same thing happen in the civic...guess what. I popped it into neutral and turned the car off...Got out fixed my floormat and moved on with my life.

 

Those cars have a push start. So I don't know if pushing it while driving will shut it off. As for throwing it in neutral I think it has a safety feature that worked against him. I'm not sure, this is just my theory.

 

Happened to me while driving an Lexus Ls430, it was new, liek 07, 08. I threw it in neutral almost immediately, didnt even think about it, just a reaction. Happened in my civic as well.

Its obvious that the guy panicked and wasnt able to think rationally, but at the same time, he was able to call 911 and even tell the guy his exact location. I dont think this had too much to do with the floormat itself.

The technology in these new model cars kind of scares me sometimes. Like the new Jaguar, with the gear selecter which only slides out when the car starts. What if your battery is dead? You cant push it in neutral? Same thing with the new BMW's, if your door is ajar and you select the Drive gear, it will actually start to roll until a second later when it just stops dead because it goes in Park automatically.

 

if you press the start/stop button it will turn off the car after a 3second delay.

 

Yes, that's precisely what it is.