JagFire

[bl52krz]

No, this never happened. It is a fairy story. Typical machinations of the conspiracy theorist’s? Well all I can say is, the police shut the M62 and other tributaries to this motorway for I think, 2 hours, until it was nearly out of electric. It obviously was not traveling at 90 mph all the time. When you know anything about electricity, you will understand how anything is possible with it going wrong. I learnt at an early age (I was an apprentice at the GEC at Witton, Birmingham ) as an electrical engineering fitter, so I have seen some horrific accidents and unbelievable things happening with electricity. Don’t try and turn this story into a conspiracy theory about electric cars. The only conspiracy is being done by governments and the poor manufacturing agents who are being made to produce them.

[wraymond]

All comments obviously well put. However, if further aspects are required, and boy, am I glad I posted this subject yesterday (!), see page 21 of todays Mail.

There has been further evidence of a much wider picture, and subjected to some widespread censorship (possibly manufacturer pressure), that begins to spread.

Zero Carbon is now coming to be seen as 100% con. It ain’t pleasant reading. Unless, of course that is, we don’t believe the current manufacturer’s predictable vested interests and protestations. We surely could benefit from a reincarnation of a certain Ralph Nader.

[SteveThackery]

Deleted - Deleted

[SteveThackery]

Originally Posted by wraymond

All comments obviously well put. However, if further aspects are required, and boy, am I glad I posted this subject yesterday (!), see page 21 of todays Mail.

There has been further evidence of a much wider picture, and subjected to some widespread censorship (possibly manufacturer pressure), that begins to spread.

Zero Carbon is now coming to be seen as 100% con. It ain’t pleasant reading. Unless, of course that is, we don’t believe the current manufacturer’s predictable vested interests and protestations. We surely could benefit from a reincarnation of a certain Ralph Nader.

What a shame - I'm too late to buy a copy of the Mail and I can't find any mention of it in the online version. I would love to read the article. Does anyone have a link to the online version? Or would be willing to photograph it and upload it? (Ooh, copyright - naughty!).

[SteveThackery]

Ah, here we go:


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-happened.html

So two things seem to have gone wrong: firstly, the car accelerated to a high speed without the driver commanding it, and secondly the brakes were inoperable.

Having read the account I am happy to say that I am no longer as sceptical as I was initially. I'm still puzzled by a couple of things. The driver makes no mention of trying to switch the car off. If it wouldn't switch off, that's three things that have to fail simultaneously. In fact there is no mention at all of what the driver tried. I suppose it's possible he just panicked and froze.

[Gate Keeper]

A few years ago, I was a passenger in the front of a Rover 75 Tourer being driven by Rover54 - Ed, late one night along the A40 at Polish War Memorial heading into London approaching a multiple RTA at the national speed limit when cruise control failed to disengage and the brakes failed to stop the car.

I shouted out to Ed……

Slow down!

As we approached the multiple smash up, he couldn’t slow down, the brakes had completely packed up.

There was a gap between a post office truck and a mangled car in the road ahead, which Ed managed to skilfully steer the car through.

In the gap was a police motorcycle with a police rider stationary which Ed did not touch. Ed avoided hitting him by a whisker.

Ed turned the engine off but it took one to one and half miles for the car to stop. Finally he managed to pull the car over onto a grass verge before the car gave out.

It was a scary experience and after Ed’s car stopped, he went into shock!

By then the police had caught up with us. Ed was in physical shock and he was taken to hospital by ambulance.

I was not hurt.

The police interviewed me and asked if I would provide a witness statement as they wanted to prosecute Ed for dangerous driving and take his licence away for good.

I refused to cooperate, they had no case. His 75 was left at Polish War Memorial until it was recovered.

A corroded brake and vacuum pipe was the culprit and not Ed!

Scary all round, full marks to Ed, he did not freeze or panic and steered us out of danger, a hero!

I reported this on here at the time with photos from the scene…. A true account.

Peter Harrison - HarrisOp48 who lived nearby attended and a great friend, gave me a lift to my home in North London. Peter is still missed RIP

[brianw]

You can get the full story here in an interview with the Ipace driver. Very level headed he seemed too.
Straight from the horse's mouth with no spin.

https://youtu.be/6SVxmqS5_60?feature=shared

[SteveThackery]

Originally Posted by Gate Keeper

A few years ago, I was a passenger in the front of a Rover 75 Tourer being driven by Rover54 - Ed, late one night along the A40 at Polish War Memorial heading into London approaching a multiple RTA at the national speed limit when cruise control failed to disengage and the brakes failed to stop the car.

Must have been absolutely horrifying!

I haven't understood why the cruise control failed to disengage. Pressing the brake pedal should disengage it. I wonder if the same fault that made the brakes fail also stopped the switch from working that disengaged the cruise control.

The brakes are dual circuit, so even if one circuit fails from a corroded pipe the other should still work. It does, though, increase the pedal travel a lot. Or maybe it was the servo that failed and the driver didn't, or couldn't, press the brake pedal hard enough. Once again, I find these accounts fascinating, but nobody has ever given a full technical account of exactly what went wrong and why. At least not one I can find. I suspect the manufacturers would want to cover up the details. On older cars there might not even be a detailed investigation - it'll just be put down to poor maintenance.

[bl52krz]

Originally Posted by SteveThackery

Ah, here we go:


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-happened.html

So two things seem to have gone wrong: firstly, the car accelerated to a high speed without the driver commanding it, and secondly the brakes were inoperable.

Having read the account I am happy to say that I am no longer as sceptical as I was initially. I'm still puzzled by a couple of things. The driver makes no mention of trying to switch the car off. If it wouldn't switch off, that's three things that have to fail simultaneously. In fact there is no mention at all of what the driver tried. I suppose it's possible he just panicked and froze.

Would you ‘switch off’ at 90 mph? I know I wouldn’t for obvious reasons, one being no steering would be possible. Alright doing that if you were on a straight road and no one else about. Of course the whole story is not written about, only the bare bones.

[SteveThackery]

Originally Posted by bl52krz

Would you ‘switch off’ at 90 mph? I know I wouldn’t for obvious reasons, one being no steering would be possible. Alright doing that if you were on a straight road and no one else about. Of course the whole story is not written about, only the bare bones.

That's the problem - we've only got the bare bones. Even worse, told by a journo who doesn't know a servo from a slave cylinder and wants a dramatic story.

You do not lose your steering when you turn the key off. Try it on your own car - you'll see. You do lose the power steering, though, which might well be enough to overcome the driver's physical strength.