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Oh Dear...fail Unsafe!

J

jvcyclist

GUEST
Mmmmkay. I drove my AV from Terre Haute to Montgomery AL...very nice driving truck. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Would up at a glider field...and even got to tow some gliders around in the face of an approaching storm. Things were great.

Drove out looking for apartments...and found that the idle was a bit fast. Shortly thereafter (like 3 minutes) the idle was REAL fast. A few minutes later, I was standing on the brakes as hard as I could to keep it under 40...the idle was full throttle.

Obviously, I pulled off, killed it, and hit the onstar button. Got carted to an excellent dealership, and was cared for well.

He told me that a nut loosened on the throttle cable...leading to the difficulties.

If this is actually the case, be warned...the throttle cable appears to fail to full throttle. That would seem to be bothersome.

Thanks for listening...and I still love my AV.

Jim
 
Thanks, JV!

I know this is not the point of your post, but did you tow the gliders with the Av? That would be a little more exotic than some of the other tow/haul posts.....

Oh yeah, thanks for the warning on the throttle. I'll keep that in mind.


-k.
 
Re: Towing gliders...nah, on Saturday I was just pulling them around the field to get them to tie-downs in the face of an impending thunderstorm.

However, I fully expect that we will be using it for an auto-tow in the future...so I will post if we do.

Jim
 
That would be VERY cool. I used to hang around gliders when I was a kid, oh so very many years ago. We did the aerial towing behind a Super Cub and a 150/150, but, once or twice, they did the auto tow. Just to make things a little more exciting.
 
Thanks for the heads up Jim - have to check my truck

My sis has an AV too and lives in IN
 
jvcyclist said:
A few minutes later, I was standing on the brakes as hard as I could to keep it under 40...the idle was full throttle.
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Ay carrumba! Were you in an Av-unfriendly part of town? ;)

If this is actually the case, be warned...the throttle cable appears to fail to full throttle. That would seem to be bothersome.
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Bothersome is a nice way to put it. Because of the potential danger involved, this looks like it should be recall material.
 
Did you mean to say it goes to full throttle, or did you mean to say it goes to full idle?
 
that was scary I bet
 
Thanks for the heads up....I doubt this is part of the 44 point inspection I just received..maybe I'll take a look at it to make sure it is kosher so to speak...thanks for the heads up....
 
Supermobile said:
Did you mean to say it goes to full throttle, or did you mean to say it goes to full idle?
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When the condition had fully developed, with my feet flat on the floor, the engine was running at full throttle. Turns out that the engine is more powerful than the brakes.

I am sure that if I allowed it, again, with NO throttle imput from me, the engine would have run up against the rev limiter. I turned it off before I could see that. No need destroying my new AV, ya know?

Jim
 
jvcyclist said:
Turns out that the engine is more powerful than the brakes.
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With all due respect to a fellow Av owner and CAFC member, not true. Go to a deserted road, place left foot FIRMLY on brake pedal (as in stomp the brake) and try to get the Av, or any vehcile, to move by way of applying pressure to the gas pedal. Fact is, anyone who has been involved in a situtation where they claim they were standing on the brake and the car continued to race out of control, well, that statement is always a sure sign of what was really going on, even though the operator swears it was not the case. Fact is, production automobiles do not have a strong enough engine/weak enough brakes to make this possible.

I a not trying to flame anyone, or be disagreeable, just want to share data that is well known to those who have been involved with cars and issues like this for some time.
 
jackalanche said:
With all due respect to a fellow Av owner and CAFC member, not true. Go to a deserted road, place left foot FIRMLY on brake pedal (as in stomp the brake) and try to get the Av, or any vehcile, to move by way of applying pressure to the gas pedal. Fact is, anyone who has been involved in a situtation where they claim they were standing on the brake and the car continued to race out of control, well, that statement is always a sure sign of what was really going on, even though the operator swears it was not the case. Fact is, production automobiles do not have a strong enough engine/weak enough brakes to make this possible.

I a not trying to flame anyone, or be disagreeable, just want to share data that is well known to those who have been involved with cars and issues like this for some time.
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Umm, no. I did not try it from a stopped situation (as with the engine already at full throttle, I really didn't want to try that...but with the car at speed, BOTH feet on the brake lead to a reduction of speed to around 40...but it was unclear that I could have slowed it any more. I did not explore that region of the performance curve extensively, being bothered by the fact that there was other traffic that I was closing on quickly. I was able to stop with the key off.

Agree...not a flame war...just an empiric finding.

Jim
 
Wiki said:
Our AV's do not have a throtle cable. ?It is an electronic throtle.
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That was my impression as well. However, I am relating what the guy at the service dept. said...and wrote on the ticket. All said and done...whatever failed to lead to a full throttle situation was worrisome. They fixed it in around 10 minutes, fwiw.

Jim
 
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