A routine road trip became half an hour of horror for a Melbourne man this afternoon when his four-wheel-drive's cruise control malfunctioned on the Eastern Freeway.In a scene reminiscent of the blockbuster thriller Speed, the Ford Explorer's cruise control jammed on at 80km/h as attempted to take the Burke Road exit from Kew to Greensborough, in Melbourne's north-east, at 12.40pm
The 22-year-old called triple-0 to report his predicament and two police vehicles used lights and sirens to clear a path along Eastlink as the driver struggled to stop his vehicle.
Senior Constable Adam West said the man attempted to stop the four-wheel-drive by braking, knocking the four-wheel-drive out of gear or removing the keys - all to no avail.During the driver's ordeal, police even contacted Ford to find a way to stop the runaway vehicle.Desperately trying to avoid a crash, the driver crossed over the road into oncoming traffic to avoid banked-up traffic outside the Monash University's Peninsula Campus. In a last frantic attempt to stop the vehicle, the man jumped up and down on the brakes and pulled the handbrake, finally coming to a halt on the wrong side of the road, just over a railway line, at Frankston around 1.10pm.
The motorist was taken to hospital in shock.
would be scary...
Disco Duck said
06:04 PM Dec 15, 2009
Removing the keys?? Woohoo!! Steering lock coming on at 80 kph........Talk about living life on the edge!!
Scary Stuff!! This new fangled electronic age!!
Cruising Granny said
06:09 PM Dec 15, 2009
I don't like cruise control. I have used it on the station vehicle on the long stores run to Derby with a tandem trailer, but not for very long.
It took the "drive" out of driving, and I my attention diminished.
My truck doesn't have CC, and even if it did, I wouldn't use it. I most certainly would not use it while towing anything.
Terro said
06:15 PM Dec 15, 2009
Forgive me if I am wrong but on all the vehicles I have owned or driven with cruise control as soon as you put the brakes on it, the cruise control, disengages. Now, this to me is a fail safe feature and I don't believe all the control mechanism could stuff up at the same time.
Terro
JRH said
06:20 PM Dec 15, 2009
Terro wrote:
Forgive me if I am wrong but on all the vehicles I have owned or driven with cruise control as soon as you put the brakes on it, the cruise control, disengages. Now, this to me is a fail safe feature and I don't believe all the control mechanism could stuff up at the same time.
Terro
Whilst I tend to agree with you Terry very often truth is stranger than fiction and CC is computer controlled and we all know about computers, Right.
Just a thought but maybe Murphy was in the car with him.
Disco Duck said
06:23 PM Dec 15, 2009
I'm with you Sir Terro...........but it makes a good story!! I suppose it could lock on. Like everything else mate.....it is electronic and electronics can and will stuff up. A relay welds itself or burns out and........???? Any Ford Explorer owners would look forward to seeing the results of that investigation, I'm sure!!
Terro said
06:35 PM Dec 15, 2009
I concede to your points JRH and Mr Duck. Forgot about the computer bit and how very true. I wonder if it has anything to do with that particular vehicle being known as an Exploder?
Terro
Hylda&Jon said
06:38 PM Dec 15, 2009
If he tried to remove the keys then wouldn't the engine have been turned off in the process? surely the physical act of turning the key to the accessories then off position wouldn't be computer controlled.
Terro said
06:42 PM Dec 15, 2009
Correct the cruise control would have been turned of but as Mr Duck pointed out earlier the steering lock would have been engaged.
Terro
ibbo said
07:23 PM Dec 15, 2009
We had a holiday ruined by using cruise control.Going from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast in our hired Winnabego(or similar) my wife told me that it was time for a cuppa,ok dragon I will be right there,put the van onto Cruise control and joined her in the back.Two weeks in Taree hospital later.The cops were very understanding .Cheers.Ibbo.
Delta18 said
07:25 PM Dec 15, 2009
Terro wrote:
Correct the cruise control would have been turned of but as Mr Duck pointed out earlier the steering lock would have been engaged.
Terro
One wouldn't need to turn the key all the way to lock, then remove it, as said above, turn the motor off by going to ACC position.
Anyway, I find it hard to believe that the brakes wouldn't be strong enough to overpower the motor if stood on hard enough as apparently finally happened.
I had a similar thing happen to me in an 8t truck a few years ago when I was doing an overnight linehaul run out of Perth. I was approaching the T junction just before Koorda at 100kmh as I had been doing for the past 25 minutes and I took my foot off the accelerator (no cruise control) but my speed kept on. I tried hooking my foot under the pedal, then tried reaching dow to pull it up with my hand...no luck. I momentarily thought of throwing it into neutral but the image of that engine which I was sitting next to, almost on top of, disintegrating into a million bits put that idea out of my head. Finally, now getting very close to the T junction I stood on the brakes to override the 11litre diesel which was running at full noise trying to take me to hell and managed to bring it to a standstill. On inspection I found the throttle cable was frayed inside its housing. I managed to trim the frayed bits off and filled the tube with flyspray (the closest thing to CRC that I could find) sufficient to allow me to finish the run and get back to Perth for repair.
Cheers
DeBe said
07:33 PM Dec 15, 2009
There was a problem & a fix for this problem for the very early Explorer it involved the throttle body & linkages & cable being replaced. This was a long tine ago probably the first imports. They would certainly do this one of our mechanics had it hapen to him when road testing But he was ready for it as the customer had warned him it was an intermittent problem. Daryl
-- Edited by DeBe on Tuesday 15th of December 2009 06:36:35 PM
Basil Faulty said
07:36 PM Dec 15, 2009
Of course this could be inexperience on the part of the driver, I wonder did he think of turning off the igniton?
tonyd said
07:48 PM Dec 15, 2009
Sorry, but I sniff a rodent here. Surely if you turn the key off, the engine will stop. Equally surely, shouldn't the brakes be able to stop the vehicle? And putting it into neutral may leave the engine racing, but it will not keep going forward at speed. As a long-time journo, I suspect this is a classic case of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Cheers, Tony
DeBe said
08:20 PM Dec 15, 2009
Yes you are quite right thats how our customer & mechanic stoped the vehicle, only turning the key to Acc position. Daryl
Basil Faulty said
08:20 PM Dec 15, 2009
tonyd wrote:
Sorry, but I sniff a rodent here. Surely if you turn the key off, the engine will stop. Equally surely, shouldn't the brakes be able to stop the vehicle? And putting it into neutral may leave the engine racing, but it will not keep going forward at speed. As a long-time journo, I suspect this is a classic case of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Cheers, Tony
Tony I agree...if it was a manual just stand on the brakes and somethings gotta happen likewise an Auto should do the same....
Disco Duck said
08:50 PM Dec 15, 2009
So......the question needs to be asked:
If this young man had been wearing an alfoil beanie........would this have happened???
I think not!!
This didn't just happen........it happened for 30 mins..........and I'm sure the beanie would have received a briiliant idea from somewhere in a lot less time than that!!
Would it be worth making a note Captain Basil.........That it is mandatory for all Ford Explorer drivers to wear alfoil beanies??
xina said
09:09 PM Dec 15, 2009
I never used to use it when I had the Forester. I reckon that's how a lot of accidents happen.
Put on CRUISE CONTROL, and you don't have to concentrate on anything. Makes it too easy to go to sleep on long trips.
Cheers,
xina.
Disco Duck said
09:17 PM Dec 15, 2009
I reckon you are right Xina. I do use it myself but NEVER at night and if I ever feel the slightest bit drowsy.........I won't use during the day.
Many of these single car, country road accidents, could be caused by cruise controls. People get noddy and instead of the foot automatically lifting off............the speed stays on.
ElBe said
11:08 PM Dec 15, 2009
Not a cruise control problem but when I was 16 had a battery jump out of the carrier onto the excellerator linkage, old vauxhall I think. turned the key off coasted home through two more spoon drains. The old man was never impressed with the girls being road dills.
Basil Faulty said
02:55 PM Dec 16, 2009
Interesting disccussion my motoring "Experts" today on Radio..... The car has been impounded for forensic examination so I guess we have to await the outcome before we can all selfrighteously say NER NER NER We told you so....
Smokeydk said
07:59 PM Dec 16, 2009
did I hear.........he travelled 52Klm.???
Dave
Firefly said
08:13 PM Dec 16, 2009
I love my CC but they say never to use them in the wet weather. At times at speed, if you try to brake, the vehicle aquaplanes. Don't know if its true but it was on the internet, via email, so it must be pretty factual.
Disco Duck said
08:27 PM Dec 16, 2009
40 minutes of driving at 80 kph smokeydk.........that was the time.
That is bunk about the cruise control in the wet Firefly. It can be found on the snopes site. Quicker is you look it up than me trying to explain it. But it is rubbish!!
Firefly said
08:34 PM Dec 16, 2009
Have not snoped for some time DD, must mosey on over and check it out, great site.
brickies said
10:00 PM Dec 16, 2009
Disco you would be an expert on aquaplaning you duck do it all the times
Delta18 said
10:01 PM Dec 16, 2009
One thing for sure with this dude, by the time New Idea and Oprah et al get hold of him he will have a better car than an Exploder and will never have to work again.
Wish I thought of it first.
I reckon Australian Traffic Police could have used the opportunity to practice the PIT maneuver, end of problem lol.
-- Edited by Delta18 on Wednesday 16th of December 2009 09:02:13 PM
PeterD said
11:35 PM Dec 16, 2009
There is a thread in EO where some of the respondants actually heard some real news on the subject. Suggest you look at it here
Terro said
10:11 AM Dec 17, 2009
Still think its a load of C...rap!
Terro
dave06 said
10:50 AM Dec 17, 2009
well Terro I will have you know it is bloody well not crap,
the cruise control in my left steelcap got stuck on only yesterday just as I was dismounting from the header step,
mate not pretty, I had to triple jump the comb, five laps round the paddock, three times up a gum tree, four around the rock pile, and almost ended up head first up a cow before I could speed tackle a passing sheep to slow me down, tell me she wasnt surprised
you oughta seen the look on her face, she thought the new zealand shearers were back!! she was so dissapointed!
mate!! I thought I was a gonner, I'm here to tell you not to scoff at others misfortunes!
oprah!! dahhling!!! if you pm me I will sell you the story but I wont go cheap, I expect at least two cartons!
A routine road trip became half an hour of horror for a Melbourne man this afternoon when his four-wheel-drive's cruise control malfunctioned on the Eastern Freeway.In a scene reminiscent of the blockbuster thriller Speed, the Ford Explorer's cruise control jammed on at 80km/h as attempted to take the Burke Road exit from Kew to Greensborough, in Melbourne's north-east, at 12.40pm
The 22-year-old called triple-0 to report his predicament and two police vehicles used lights and sirens to clear a path along Eastlink as the driver struggled to stop his vehicle.
Senior Constable Adam West said the man attempted to stop the four-wheel-drive by braking, knocking the four-wheel-drive out of gear or removing the keys - all to no avail.During the driver's ordeal, police even contacted Ford to find a way to stop the runaway vehicle.Desperately trying to avoid a crash, the driver crossed over the road into oncoming traffic to avoid banked-up traffic outside the Monash University's Peninsula Campus.
In a last frantic attempt to stop the vehicle, the man jumped up and down on the brakes and pulled the handbrake, finally coming to a halt on the wrong side of the road, just over a railway line, at Frankston around 1.10pm.
The motorist was taken to hospital in shock.
would be scary...
Terro
Just a thought but maybe Murphy was in the car with him.
Terro
Terro
One wouldn't need to turn the key all the way to lock, then remove it, as said above, turn the motor off by going to ACC position.
Anyway, I find it hard to believe that the brakes wouldn't be strong enough to overpower the motor if stood on hard enough as apparently finally happened.
I had a similar thing happen to me in an 8t truck a few years ago when I was doing an overnight linehaul run out of Perth. I was approaching the T junction just before Koorda at 100kmh as I had been doing for the past 25 minutes and I took my foot off the accelerator (no cruise control) but my speed kept on. I tried hooking my foot under the pedal, then tried reaching dow to pull it up with my hand...no luck. I momentarily thought of throwing it into neutral but the image of that engine which I was sitting next to, almost on top of, disintegrating into a million bits put that idea out of my head. Finally, now getting very close to the T junction I stood on the brakes to override the 11litre diesel which was running at full noise trying to take me to hell and managed to bring it to a standstill. On inspection I found the throttle cable was frayed inside its housing. I managed to trim the frayed bits off and filled the tube with flyspray (the closest thing to CRC that I could find) sufficient to allow me to finish the run and get back to Perth for repair.
Cheers
-- Edited by DeBe on Tuesday 15th of December 2009 06:36:35 PM
Surely if you turn the key off, the engine will stop.
Equally surely, shouldn't the brakes be able to stop the vehicle?
And putting it into neutral may leave the engine racing, but it will not keep going forward at speed.
As a long-time journo, I suspect this is a classic case of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story.
Cheers, Tony
Wish I thought of it first.
I reckon Australian Traffic Police could have used the opportunity to practice the PIT maneuver, end of problem lol.
-- Edited by Delta18 on Wednesday 16th of December 2009 09:02:13 PM
Terro