Runaway Electric

Jim_Hodge · 04-10-2023 4:01pm #1

This sounds like a frightening and potential lethal issue.

What could possibly cause this type of fault?

'I was kidnapped by my runaway electric car' - BBC News

pooley124 · 04-10-2023 5:02pm

Didn't a similar thing happen with a Prius in America years ago?Turned out to be a hoax

mikeecho · 04-10-2023 5:38pm

Usually a baby fitted floor mat, or as pooley124 said.. a spoofer making up a story.

colm_mcm · 04-10-2023 5:59pm

Note the driver has mobility issues. I wonder if there were any modifications done to the car for this?

LIGHTNING · 04-10-2023 7:26pm

I cant speak for electric cars but I haven't driven a ICE car where the brakes cant overcome the engine. You just stand on the brakes and the car will stop

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2023 7:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194784#Comment_121194784

Same should be true for an electric, my Leaf and ID.4 can't really overcome the brakes to anything more than a crawl

The driver mentioned that there was no power in the brake pedal, indicating a mechanical failure

The interesting thing is I thought the brakes are supposed to fail safe. As in if there's a failure in the brake lines then the brakes lock in the on position?

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2023 7:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058316752/runaway-electric

The finest engineering from China 😬

The cruise control may have gotten stuck on which is why he was going at a constant 30mph

If you don't press any pedal in an EV it'll just creep along slowly like a petrol automatic, not at 50km/h

Pressing the brake pedal should disengage it which seems to have failed

Seems pretty bizarre though, you're talking about a brake failure as well as an engine control failure. It's possible there was an element of the driver messing up when he was panicking about the car not slowing down

MrMusician18 · 04-10-2023 7:57pm

Most cases of runaway electric are caused by driver pedal error afaik.

Surely you can just turn it off and coast to a stop

Ubbquittious · 04-10-2023 8:49pm

Wasnt there a film made about this? Albeit not with an electric car

Wildly Boaring · 04-10-2023 8:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195157#Comment_121195157

It wa a milk float.

Wildly Boaring · 04-10-2023 8:54pm

10 years ago while doing motorway maintenance we got s company memo not to use cruise control in the wet.

Apparently a bmw "malfunctioned" and ploughed into the toll at Portlaoise and the wheels kept turning.

Safety man was not for listening to the fact that it almost certainly an idiot.

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2023 9:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194903#Comment_121194903

Yeah this has generally been the case. Tesla for example can see from the car's logs which pedals were pressed and will often find out the driver had accidentally floored it

Perhaps handing a 600hp car to someone who's never driven a car that powerful isn't a smart move

I think every car is required to have a power button, the article says the guy tried it and it didn't work

I kinda suspect the car might not allow the power switch to work if the car is in drive. It might only work if you put it in park or neutral first

In any case, the driver could have put the car in neutral which would disconnect the motor and the car would just coast

It sounds like the driver was pretty new to the car and probably wasn't familiar with the controls

Oscar_Madison · 04-10-2023 9:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195368#Comment_121195368

In fairness to the driver this just shouldn’t have happened

the_amazing_raisin · 04-10-2023 9:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195404#Comment_121195404

Well the car part with the highest failure rate has always been the driver

I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like the car is at least partly at fault (assuming his account of the events is generally truthful)

Whatever else he did that was right or wrong, there was some failure on the car which got it into a bad state which he couldn't fix (either through a bug or lack of knowledge)

I will say that if there's a lesson here, it's to go into your car's manual and look for a section on how to safely shut down the car in an emergency. It's in knowledge everyone should have, even if it's never needed

Ghost Train · 04-10-2023 10:10pm

Can be other reasons than driver error... Ecu and failures or floor mats were a serious problem for toyotas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unintended_acceleration

Wossack · 04-10-2023 10:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194846#Comment_121194846

Passenger cars brakes do not fail safe

denismc · 04-10-2023 10:26pm

Maybe it was this

https://youtu.be/4uOX_hbkAMc?si=o86kVUQMqwS9WPz1

Gumbo · 04-10-2023 11:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121195368#Comment_121195368

Tesla don’t have a power button.

Gumbo · 04-10-2023 11:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194869#Comment_121194869

“If you don't press any pedal in an EV it'll just creep along slowly like a petrol automatic, not at 50km/h”

Creep mode. Can be also turned off so the car doesn’t move like a traditional automatic.

Auto Hold would also stop the car creeping.

Buddy Bubs · 05-10-2023 9:20am

I know a guy who swears blind his cruise control would not deactivate once, even with pressing brakes. He ended up putting it into a grass verge deliberately to stop. Kind of guy I'd tend to believe but it does sound far fetched that nothing worked.

BMW e46 or e90, can't remember which it was

kirving · 05-10-2023 9:48am

The only difference here with a EV (or hybrid) is that part of the brake pedal travel will slow the car via software (ie loading the drive train with the battery's resistance), but beyond that, the hydraulic brakes should stop the car.

But it's mentioned that the driver has mobility issues. Was the car's acceleration or braking system potentially modified by an aftermarket company?

It's possible, (but exceptionally unlikely) that a badly implemented error handling system on the vehicle's CAN bus caused all switches to become disabled after a physical error like a short circuit, and the car continue as normal.

Ash.J.Williams · 05-10-2023 9:53am

The problem lies between the steering-wheel and the seat

hoodie6029 · 05-10-2023 4:34pm

With software and drive by wire, this could happen in any modern vehicle. doesn’t seem to have been jumped on by the usual anti-ev brigade. They’re busy celebrating the end of HS2 and burning down ULEZ cameras I suppose.

Runaway Electric

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