|
Sorry, I fail to believe this. Take for a moment the fact that your car, with four wheel disc brakes, has somewhat greater stopping power than average. I will bet you cash money that you can sit in any modern car, from a Hyundai to a Ferrari, with both feet on the brake pedal and press on the gas pedal as firmly as you want and THE CAR WILL NOT MOVE.
So, therefore you are sugggesting that you had the temerity to apply both feet to the brake, but not switch off the ignition? I will accept that, given the panic nature of the situation.
What I CAN NOT accept is that you had a total brake system failure AT THE SAME TIME as a random incident of uncontrollable, unintended acceleration.
Possible scenarios:
Brake booster failure? Slight possiblity, given the fact that with the engine revving towards the redline, the engine generated so much vacuum that it blew out the booster. But I can only accept this if the booster diaphragm was weak to begin with. Even without the booster, stepping on the pedal with both feet would stop the car.
Complete master cylinder failure? Doubtful. If this did happen, the m/c could be removed from the car and tested, wreck or not.
All four calipers failed at once? almost impossible.
Unintended acceleration scenarios:
While it is quite possible for a Volvo throttle linkage to jam in the full open position, it is virtually impossible for the linkage to GET to the full open position without assistance. Which brings us to...
Cruise control failure? If it were possible for some failure of any component of the cruise control system to uncontrollably accelerate the car (a thesis which is fairly weak to begin with), said component could be removed and tested. Furthermore, such a failure would be duplicable.
This leads me to any of three possible conclusions:
All brake lines intentionally cut and throttle intentionally made to stick. A possibility. Who hates you?
User error. In a panic situation, the human brain works in an unusual way. The driver may THINK he/she has done one thing, but in fact has done another. Also, the operator may THINK the vehicle has done one thing, when it has in fact done another.
What kind of floor mats does the car have? The number one most likely scenario for what you have described makes me think that the floor mat may be at fault, somehow bunching up under the brake pedal to prevent fully depressing the pedal, while at the same time jamming the accelerator pedal.
I recall that in the mid-'80's, when Audi was going through this, an Audi dealer offered ONE MILLION DOLLARS CASH MONEY to any person who could take an Audi from his inventory and make the car accelerate uncontrollably while being unstoppable with the brake system. He got to keep his cash.
|
