Then why don't you run, not walk to obtain vehicles to drive that are 
not throttle (and other basic systems) by wire?? You have enough 
personal experience to warrant not even riding in someone else's similar 
vehicle. The repeatability of the power line situation should make the 
manufacturer sit up straight and try to avoid publicity! In Ohio we have 
a lemon law, it's 3 tries and you get a new car or refund. Here, the 
local TV station would jump on that repeatability. It is your duty to 
warn others of this dangerous situation.

On 7/15/2010 12:05 PM, Picbits Sales wrote:
> Just my 0.16 pence worth here .....
>
> I drive an automatic in the UK - I always left foot brake and use my right
> foot for the accelerator in an automatic. Always have done and always will
> do. Often the right foot says "go go go" but the left foot says "be
> sensible" and takes over.
>
> Now ..... my wife has a brand new VW something or another (usually a Golf
> TDI) every 6 months. They usually have a manual gearbox (I have to remember
> the extra pedal and adjust my left foot braking accordingly !).
>
> They are always drive by wire throttle. I've had a couple of them get
> slightly confused near some overhead power lines (at exactly the same place
> interestingly enough) and although the throttle hasn't surged, its become
> temporarily unresponsive (around 0.5s to 1s)
>
> Two memorable occasions were as follows:
>
> Once when driving to the local shopping center, I pushed the clutch in and
> blipped the throttle. The engine went crazy hitting the limiter even though
> my foot was off the accelerator pedal - this was in a VW Golf GT TDI Sport
> with drive by wire throttle. After a couple of seconds it corrected itself
> but it still makes me nervous.
>
> Another occasion was when I was walking my stepson to school when I heard a
> diesel car revving and hitting the limiter. I looked back just at the right
> time to see another VW Golf shoot across the pavement before being abruptly
> stopped by the neighbours brick wall. Unfortunately in a terraced set of
> houses, the front walls tend to be mechanically linked to each other via
> gates etc so it took out 3 houses worth of wall. After running up the street
> to see if I could help, the shocked driver told me this wasn't the first
> time the throttle had gone haywire and she'd also had some very random
> problems with other electrics (wipers/windows/heaters) in the car in the
> previous couple of weeks.
>
> Now I'm not singling VW out in any shape or form - we've had a lot of them
> and they have been very good cars (apart from a Jetta which gave my wife a
> seriously bad back). We've had very few problems or glitches but it does
> show that all this drive by wire isn't infallible.
>
> Dom
>
>    
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