Herbert Graf wrote:
> This is all consistent with a multitude of prior incidents where
> people simply press the wrong pedal (my mothers car was hit by a
> person backing
> into a spot who hit the wrong pedal, mounted a curb, went across a
> grass lawn, travelled about 50 feet and smacked into the back of my
> moms car;
> and no, this car didn't have a computer controlled throttle).

Yeah, I got hit by a driver doing that too.  I was going straight down a
main rode, and suddenly another car smashes head onto into the right side of
my car.  The other car come out of side street.  Fortunately the girl
driving the other car was heard to say to the cop "I'm so sorry, I meant to
hit the brake and hit the gas instead".  However, she was very young and was
in fact illegally driving on a learner's permit.  In this case there wasn't
enough time for her to realize she pressed the wrong pedal, move the foot to
the brake, and stop in time.

But I thought at least some of the report I heard about Toyotas had to do
with going for miles at high speed down a freeway.  Wouldn't you think that
the driver would figure out the wrong pedal was pressed in that amount of
time?  Of course there could be deliberate fraud at work too, which clouds
the issue.

Then there was the case where a guy said he managed to get the car to slow
down somewhat by pressing really hard on the brake, but eventually the
brakes faded and the car sped up again.  Checking the brake linings would be
a good way to decide what really happened there, but I never heard if that
was done or its outcome if it was.


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