Worrying!!!!!

Reminds me of the Toyota brake/accelerator fault from years back. I have to admit, it’s the one thing I dislike about any electronic auto is the inability to manually and mechanically disconnect the drive.
 
He didn’t half scrub some speed off on the second roundabout though. In at 30 and out at 15. He must have been on two wheels. Maybe if he just kept going round he would have came to a stop.
 
Is this MG’s new ‘Autonomous’ mode?
 
This story does not sound correct. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. But the reporting of it is weak. The headline is “click bait”. It will be interesting to see if MG supply an answer to this potentially deadly fault.
 
If a cali had the "normal" cruise control set at 30mph & the brake light switch broke you would end up in a similar situation. Even pressing the brakes hard wouldn't stop the van, maybe slow it a bit but you would be working against the engine.

On an electric car the torque is huge & the brakes would be pretty ineffective.

I don't know how the engine is turned off or whether you can turn it off or take an MG out of drive whilst moving, it seems the police had trouble stopping it as well.

Makes me inclined to believe that there's a certain amount of truth in the storey not just some confused old bloke pressing the accelerator rather than the brake.
 
WelshGas said:
Are you saying that the BBC have published an inaccurate news story?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Maybe the guy has dementia and he just forgot how to drive a car.
 
andyinluton said:
If a cali had the "normal" cruise control set at 30mph & the brake light switch broke you would end up in a similar situation. Even pressing the brakes hard wouldn't stop the van, maybe slow it a bit but you would be working against the engine.

On an electric car the torque is huge & the brakes would be pretty ineffective.

I don't know how the engine is turned off or whether you can turn it off or take an MG out of drive whilst moving, it seems the police had trouble stopping it as well.

Makes me inclined to believe that there's a certain amount of truth in the storey not just some confused old bloke pressing the accelerator rather than the brake.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm? I’m pretty confident whatever is going on with an engine/EV, standing on the brake pedal will stop it pretty quickly!
 
GrumpyGranddad said:
Another EV worry.
I read this morning that several insurers are now declining to insure some Tesla models. One guy’s renewal premium on a Tesla Model Y went from 1k to 5k !!!!!!

View attachment 115202
Click to expand...

Poor man. My non-Tesla EV insurance went up from £372 to £392 this year, but then I was lazy and did not shop around.
 
Last edited:
Mansfieldman750 said:
Absolutely. Maybe the guy has dementia and he just forgot how to drive a car.
Click to expand...

I have a little silver button on the side of my steering wheel binnacle that switches off the motor. I have no idea how it works as I have never ever used it and the car is not outside at the moment for me to fiddle with it but I always thought all EV's had one. Perhaps he forgot it was there.

Even more positive this could be a big opportunity for European manufacturers like VW to prove their superiority over "cheaper" Chinese products.
 
andyinluton said:
If a cali had the "normal" cruise control set at 30mph & the brake light switch broke you would end up in a similar situation. Even pressing the brakes hard wouldn't stop the van, maybe slow it a bit but you would be working against the engine.

On an electric car the torque is huge & the brakes would be pretty ineffective.

I don't know how the engine is turned off or whether you can turn it off or take an MG out of drive whilst moving, it seems the police had trouble stopping it as well.

Makes me inclined to believe that there's a certain amount of truth in the storey not just some confused old bloke pressing the accelerator rather than the brake.
Click to expand...

If the motor was working then surely the regenerative braking would be working as well, unless this was just another component that failed.
 
GrannyJen said:
If the motor was working then surely the regenerative braking would be working as well, unless this was just another component that failed.
Click to expand...
Yes but if the car 'thought' the cruise control was set at 30mph the regenerative breaking would only be used to maintain the speed when required?

I have a Volvo XC40 EV and that doesn't even have a button to start and stop the car you just get in a drive off, it's quite disconcerting at first....
 
RockinNRollin said:
Reminds me of the Toyota brake/accelerator fault from years back. I have to admit, it’s the one thing I dislike about any electronic auto is the inability to manually and mechanically disconnect the drive.
Click to expand...
Do you mean this?

The 2009 Toyota Accelerator Scandal That Wasn’t What It Seemed

And why it matters for understanding our rocky relationship with today’s autonomous vehicles.
www.manufacturing.net www.manufacturing.net

At the time, two theories emerged to explain why these pedals suddenly had minds of their own. One involved software malfunctions, while the other blamed floor mats that slid around and pinned the pedals down.

But according to Gladwell, the software explanation doesn’t hold up considering the fact that multiple tests have shown that even when a driver is pushing the throttle to the floor, hitting the brakes will stop the car.

And an investigation by the Department of Transportation in 2011 found that floor mats only accounted for a small fraction the accidents.

The real culprit? Human error. More often than not, drivers who reported that their accelerators were stuck were inadvertently flooring it and thinking they were pressing the brakes. Data from many of the “black boxes” from cars involved in incidents of unintended acceleration showed that in most cases, the brakes were never even touched.

The drivers were often in vehicles that were new or unfamiliar to them, or for whatever reason, they just got confused.

One of the more frustrating aspects of this whole fiasco was the media’s response. Instead of alerting drivers to the potential dangers of confusing the accelerator with the brake — which could happen to any of us — the focus was on Toyota’s cover up, the scary and unpredictable software in cars, and of course, the floor mats.
Click to expand...
 
Barry Chuckle said:
Yes but if the car 'thought' the cruise control was set at 30mph the regenerative breaking would only be used to maintain the speed when required?

I have a Volvo XC40 EV and that doesn't even have a button to start and stop the car you just get in a drive off, it's quite disconcerting at first....
Click to expand...

A lot of wrongful thinking would have to happen. Just touching the brakes turns my cruise control off, as it does on every other car I've driven.

Now even if we postulate that there was an electronic malfunction that disabled that process along with everything else that had gone wrong then surely the car would be bright enough to think "I have a serious malfunction, switch off, protect the car"? I'm sure that's the case on mine and I would have thought that such a fail safe would be mandatory for type approval given that EV's are just the one step behind autonomous vehicles.
 

There is an interview with Brian on YouTube. So he phoned his partner when he realised he was in a “catastrophic malfunction” situation and she came from their house to meet him and was there to ride shotgun throughout, tooting her horn and flashing her lights to warn other cars. Then presumably racing ahead to the next roundabout and covering all exits again to allow safe passage. She did a great job there single-handedly.
The police could have done all that for her if only Brian had phoned them instead of her.
Handy she was there for photos of Brian behind the police van and stuff like that though.
I think them two have a few questions to answer.
 
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