Short-Throw

WSJ: The Obama Admin may recommend that all new U.S. vehicles be equipped with technology designed to stop a car when both the gas pedal and brakes are activated, U.S. transportation Security Ray LaHood told Congress on Tuesday.

Those of us that left foot brake, imagine factoring this into a future car purchase that may see track time.

Lan.Jet

This is typical political thinking. Put a band aid on the problem and make it look like you are doing something instead of fixing the root cause.

TedDBere

This is already done in a number of cars and has been an issue for autox'rs for a number of years. I believe all the newer Porsches come with this safety feature standard. Maybe some one with the facts can step in here.

davidfarmer

many cars already go crazy when you attempt to either left foot or heel-toe brake, mostly European cars. Personally, this doesn't bother me as much as the current Vettes' TPMS, tele-wheel, and various airbag nanny's!

TedDBere, I think Audi's have the same issues, or at least some of them.

95jersey

I personally don't left foot brake, but what about blippin the throttle while braking?

Steve85

Could it be race compatible if they put a timer on the feature? For heel toe the gas and brake are only on the same time for very short intervals. Not sure about how long both are depressed in a typical left foot braking scenario. If the feature had say a 3 sec delay, that is to say both need to be depressed for 3 secs before intervention, would that allow drivers to do their thing?

They probably need to do this anyway, safety features need their own safety features at this point...

AU N EGL

time to build a bigger barn. buy some C5s and older Camaros . Could be hot track car commodities in the not to distant future



Do not some of the Audi's and Volvo's have 'brake assist' ? If you get to close to the car in front of you your car automatically brakes, or if the driver is not braking hard enough, the car brakes for you?



.

VetteDrmr

BMW's definitely have brake assist, electronic steering, active suspension (sway bars), blah blah blah.

I've with David: think I'm going to pick me up some C5s as future fun cars! Another reason is to get cars that don't have transmitters (On-Star) that make calls to whomever the manufacturers desire when a given condition occurs.

Have a good one,
Mike

beerkat

I know that BMW has it on some of their new cars.

varkwso

Already have a yard and barn full of C5s

Glennm27

I'd imagine it would be something that could be turned off with a little bit of work.

BUT How about the clowns on the road that ride with their left foot on the brake pedal all the time. Those people really get on my nerves with thier brake lights going on and off constantly as they drive.....

It would be fun watching those people re-learn how to drive, or should I say "lern to drive"

0Randy@DRM

We have a famous line around here for stuff like that. "Cut that wire" The problem now days if you cut that wire, the car goes into back up.

Just remember this is coming from the guys that want stronger cars, but less weight. Better gas mileage, without the looks of a egg. More affordable with a thousand features. Green without any drawbacks or cost.

Randy

longdaddy

that is how most current systems work, in my understanding. there is a 3-5 sec delay and some additional logic (based on absolute/relative thottle/brake %) to avoid non-emergency interference.

if you (not directed at anyone in particular) fully depress the brake while standing on the gas on a regular basis, and call it "left foot braking", you have bigger issues than government going after you and your racecar

heel/toe is not affected by the current implementations of the system, in fact, it is specifically configured to not interfere with that.

Lancer033

Onstar was a deal breaker for me too, fortunately, you can disable it.

http://cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/o...ble/index.html

ReddyZ06

Just imagine, we pay these people to think of these things for us.

Mike

vettehardt

I know when I am autocrossing my 76 automatic and my sister's 93 automatic, I am on the gas and brake at the same time. I get back on the gas a little when I am still braking to keep the RPMs up to keep the converter locked up and make for a quicker exit.

I do left foot brake in my 73 4-speed and dad's 90 ZR-1, but am not on the brake and gas too much at the same time. Pretty close though. As the left foot is coming up, the right foot is going down.

I drove a C6Z06 at convention at the michilin driving experience. With the tc system turned off, I could still feel the car "helping" to keep traction. I press the go peadal and it wouldn't go. It was annoying. I would love to have a new Z06 when I can afford one, but I would want to find out how to disable the tc system completly.

Lawdogg

You probably had the tc off, but the intrusive level of ah still on. To shut it all down, you need to hold the button down for 6 or so seconds.

Zoxxo

Given that the focus of all this Toyota stuff seems to be settling on the ever increasing use of hard-to-debug and hard-to-analyze software systems (by *all* the auto makers - not just Toyota) I'd be willing to bet that any such safety override system will NOT be electronic and will be relatively easy to overcome. At the least it would be a stand alone system not integrated into other modules which would make it easy to defeat/remove. Doing otherwise would be kind of ridiculous (not that the powers that be can't excel at that as well.)

As a long time software engineer I can certainly attest to my own lack of joy in the idea of "Bill Gates and crew" controlling my car's essentials.

Z//

MNCrystalRed2011

My 2002 A6 4.2 does this. The first time I tried to left foot brake the car seriously bogged down. I thought I killed it!!

dfinke23

Clowns.