Another "runaway" EV

[securespark]

Very sad.
Driver adamant he did nothing.

Boy, 5, killed by electric car that accelerated ‘on its own accord’, court hears

 

[T1 Terry]

So, he was sitting in the car, in drive ..... with his foot on the brake pedal presumably, because it wasn't moving forward
The chances of the car changing from park to drive and accelerating and the collision detection not functioning .... all at the same time?

T1 Terry

 

[siteguru]

The mother said "I don’t recall any engine sounds or revving" ..............

 

[salty]

As very sad as that is. The driver is obviously gonna blame the car, he's hardly gonna admit it was his fault. The fact it was an EV, is irrelevant. That could easily have happened with an ICE. But obviously an EV makes better headlines.

 

[Anon70]

This was posted by The EV Guy on Facebook...

 

[Bam Bam]

Very sad.
Driver adamant he did nothing.

Boy, 5, killed by electric car that accelerated ‘on its own accord’, court hears

I can understand why someone would want to convince themselves that it was 'the car' and not them. That is an understandable reaction to avoid guilt.

Journalists should know better than to draw on a contested (and very unlikely) claim like this.

Errors can happen. My Uncle crashed into several cars in a car park not long after he got his first EV. Presumably he got confused between the brake and accelerator, so pressing harder just made things worse.

 

[EvTek23]

It's always alarming to see this type of report, whether it refers to an ICE car or an EV, of a runaway car.
The Audi brand was nearly wiped out years ago in the US by drivers claiming power surges causing accidents. All the investigations by Audi with the affected Audi 5000 models (200 in europe) found no issues with the cars themselves, attributing driver error. There was a huge amount of bad press. It took years to rebuild the brand trust again.
The closest they came to some explanation was by the pedal positions that may have caused drivers to think they'd put thier foot on the brake pedal when in fact it had been the accelerator, and then pressing harder on the pedal when the car surged forwards or backwards.
Also why didn't the AEB (automatic emergency braking in MG speak) activate and stop the vehicle. I've had mine activate in my MG4 when a pedestrian was too near the edge of the road in a shopping area when I was travelling at a very low speed and was aware of their presence.

 

[siteguru]

Pressing the accelerator still overrides AEB?

 

[T1 Terry]

Pressing the accelerator still overrides AEB?

I've only had it function once in a car parking spot ..... The MG4 thought I was going to hit the car in the spot in front and locked up all 4 wheels .... I thought I hadn't seen sometime like a cement garden surround or similar, the stop was that sharp .... walked around, looked under the car, nothing, but it did beep just after it did it ... or maybe while it was doing it ...... I remember thinking, "you should have warned me before I hit what ever" ..... but I know it brought the MG to sudden stop .... but it was only walking pace at the most .....

I know if you keep your foot on the throttle, it doesn't have those moment when a nasty car or truck frightens it

T1 Terry

 

[EvTek23]

Pressing the accelerator still overrides AEB?

I've been so taken aback by the sudden braking, it's not subtle, it's just like 4 pins going into holes on the discs, as T1 Terry can relate to. On the couple of occasions it's happened in mine, I would never have thought to press the accelerator pedal harder.

 

[Rolfe]

AEB is not 100% reliable. You can't just drive straight at someone and expect it to stop.

 

[Bam Bam]

Pressing the accelerator still overrides AEB?

I don't think so. I've only experienced it once but it brought the car to a complete stop with extreme prejudice!

Think I had to switch the car off and on again to proceed but it was a while ago. Certainly seemed like ages before I could continue, but maybe that was because of the shock.