QuadBenz

A similar thread on bimmerfest is my motivation for starting this thread.
In case no one heard about the Lexus with the stuck accelerator and the family inside that was killed, you can read about it here: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori...p-lexus-crash/

Say a similar situation were to happen in a W221 with Keyless Go (or any other MBs with KG), what are our options? I know you can shift into neutral, but what about shutting the engine off? Could we do this by pressing and holding the starter button? I know once I accidentally hit this KG button in my 220 with my elbow and the car didn't shut off, but if my elbow had been on it longer, would it have?

PS, I'm pretty sure I saw a similar thread here about this but couldn't find it after searching.

Vik888

You cannot turn your car off via keyless go unless you are in PARK. It won't let you do it unless there is some "hold the button down for 10 seconds to override" feature or something.

Vik888

I don't understand why the CHP officer couldn't shift into neutral and then apply the brakes?

QuadBenz

+1. A lot of things don't add up IMO.

They even had time to call 911. I heard the call and it was about 50 seconds. In that time no one figured out anything at all to stop the car? He did say "we have no brakes" so I wonder if it really was just a stuck accelerator problem.

QuadBenz

What if you have the key in the ignition instead. Would it let you turn the engine off? I'd assume so, but I could be wrong (and too scared to try it myself).

Kar don

That is really odd. I would have just thrown the vehicle in park and let it stall out the engine. Brakes went out? Slowly apply the ebrake. I am confused how this happened. I hate to doubt the guy but to slam into another vehicle at 100mph, wow. This isn't at 500hp AMG... I think we are missing some details

Jan AMG

So it's all about floormats? Or I don't understand?
People should learn to drive in Lada, Yugo or Trabi .. complaining about being scared of driving because floormats - Jesus!

Jan AMG

On a highway, can always try to slow down your vehicle against barriers, in Germany you learn it in a BMW Driving school.

Diesel Benz

Neither does steering wheel get locked from switching ignition off, only locks when you take the key off (and turn a bit).

trumpet1

That's what I was going to say... use the brakes as much as possible until you can jam the car up against something solid like a barrier, a large tree, a ditch, etc. Then put the ebrake on. After that, I don't know what I'd do.

trumpet1

Is that a Fiat? If so, I had an old one of those in the early '80's as a beater! Then I drove a POS Fiat to college for about a year or two.

Quadcammer

Trust me when I say you don't want to put a vehicle into park at freeway speeds.

I'd shift to neutral and eventually turn off the key. As for keyless go, thats an interesting question.

Vik888

A friend of mine commented that if the Lexus' gear shifter in the car is electronic, it could have malfunctioned, so trying to switch out of "D" didn't do anything. I don't know or care enough about Lexus' to look that up, but its possible shifting out of "D" did nothing.

Diesel Benz

By ebrake you mean the parking brake (not the tranny P-position)? I'm not sure if you know but on an S-class if you activate the parking brake while driving, the car applies automatically normal brakes. The point is that the parking brake is electronically controlled and it would be dangerous at speed to apply rear brakes heavily. The car brakes with real brakes first to low speed and then applies the parking brake.

I don't know how Lexus works, and don't care much either but it probably has an electronic parking brake too.

The brakes on all cars are more powerfull than the engine. If the driver hits brakes heavily, an MB at least would activate BAS which would kill engine power irrespectively of the throttle position and even if this did not work, the car would slow down pretty fast. The problem could be a driver using brakes only smoothly, making them overheat and loose power (also mentioned at the reference).

Drivers like trumpet1 could just activate cruise, and steer the car behind another one going slowly enough, Distronic Plus would take care of a safe speed.

AsianML

I believe the ES350 has the foot operated on/off parking brake pedal.

sakodik

I drove my dad's LX 570 and my accelerator got stuck under the floor mat for about 15 seconds. During that time, I pumped the brakes until the pedal got loose. I wouldn't know what to do in the case except shift into neutral because there is no key hole for those new Lexus. My pedal got stuck because I slammed the accelerator on open road to see how it compares to other SUVs, unfortunately I got myself into that situation and lucky enough to be alive!

In regards to the S, I know when you use keyless go, you can take out the button, and when you stick your key in there, it would shut the engine off. I did this at a roll in "D" about 2~3 MPH under a controlled environment (tow hooks on a hummer, road bumps on both ends and safety cones in a yard). In every other case with the keys, I have yet to try!

04S430

I will remember this one, just in case. Thanks. Also, I will have a look at my MB issued mats tomorrow, just in case as well.

trumpet1

I have snaps and buttons on my mats to keep them in place. All cars should have this mandatory.

W211 BEAST

^^Same here, and I never knew how important those little snaps were^^

I hope to God that I never find myself in that situation, and if I do I hope I'm smart enough to come out of it alive.

QuadBenz

+1. A few times (when people at the car wash don't know how to properly put them back in) I've found them pushed and folded up against the pedals. Very dangerous.

04S430

Adds up to more good sense.

steveb9771

This statement is not true. I NEVER put my car in PARK. I turn off the engine with keyless go with the care in drive. It goes into park automatically as soon as I open the driver's door.

QuadBenz

I'm pretty sure he meant while moving.

Kar don

I've put chevy impalas and other rental cars in park at around 20 mph, it does nothing but disengage the engine from the trans.

Diesel Benz

Must have been "while moving", does not make sense in this context otherwise (although not too bad to clarify how it works when stationary).

A bit different topic but the W221 actually does neither allow P being selected at speed, the speedometer display shows which gear selector transitions are possible and the triangle from N to P fades away unless the car is stationary or moving very slowly. Even "mechanically controlled" transmissions do not really engage P at high speed even if the P-position could be selected from the gear selector. No way to slow down the car with the transmission selector then (other than selecting a lower gear).