Trapped in a BMW doing 130mph for 60miles!

Yeah, there was a time before power steering and people could still drive around then. Hell, my dad's TR doesn't have power steering and it drives fine. It's just a bit heavy when going slow.

He would have been fine if he had turned off the engine.
 
I had this happen to me in a 1988 GMC Safari. First thing I did was shift the van into neutral and slow it down.

No excuse. You should know basic functionality of a car.
 
Neutral, turn key to ACC, and then use the e-brake to slow down. Guy obviously is not motor savy.
 
YF19pilot said:
In an immediate sudden situation, the paniking is understandable. However, this man was driving for half an hour.
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Precisely. Granted w/o pump running steering is somewhat harder vs car w/o power steering at all but still perfectly manageable, especially in a small sedan and on the highway. lol. Flipping a car over is an expensive lesson in basic knowledge of your own automobile. Good thing noone else had to involuntarily share the cost.
 
Considering he flipped the car i think it's unfair to say he was using this as an excuse for a joyride

But yeah, even if he wasn't particularly 'motor savvy' he should have thought of something in half an hour.
 
Yeah, that guy probably doesn't know a thing about cars.. that sucks what happened though.

I've had a throttle stick on me before, it's not very enjoyable.. I shut the engine off and braked (It was a '70 Bug, so no power steering or power brakes).. I had some linkage issue.

I have had an occasion where I had something happen to me and I panicked though. Don't ask me how, but when I was driving, my shoelace got caught around the clutch pedal, and so I couldn't get my foot onto the clutch.

People ahead were stopping and I panicked.. I stopped the car with it in gear, it stalled and jerked forward, bumping the car ahead of me. There was no damage, but I got lucky, heh. If I didn't panic (I was like 16-17), I could've either just jammed it into neutral, or just yanked my foot off the clutch pedal or something.. shoelaces aren't THAT strong.

I felt like a moron afterwards.
 
Tap the horn 3 times, then twice, then seven times, then the brakes twice, shift to reverse, then drive, then neutral, turn on the aircon, adjust your mirror so you can see your left shoulder, signal left, shift back to drive, wipers on, wipers off, brake twice, turn off ignition.

Works everytime.

:roll:
 
Even if he thought the steering would lock up if he turned off the ignition, which is not true. What did he need the steering for? At 70mph the car would take 3 or 4 seconds and around 60 meters to stop. Surely he had a 60 meter free straight stretch of road where he could do that.

And the panic thing is not an excuse either, he said he wasn't afraid at first when the speed was 70mph for several minutes. He could even call the AA.

IMHO either he is extremely and utterly stupid or something is fishy about this.
 
if driving with no power steering is dangerous, then i'm a living miracle :lol:

my MR2 has no power steering and it's slightly difficult to maneuver when literally no moving but any movement and there 0 problems or anyhing else. it's not like the wheels decide where to go. even at 110mph it's easy to control.

my MR2 has:

- no power steering
- no power mirrors
- no power windows
- no power seats
- no power locks
- no power in general

i think you get the point. i'm surprised the wipers are motorized, and not like the 2CV with a knob. hell, i even have an electric starter! 8)
 
US safety legislation says a cars braking system has be able to over come the power of the engine. Given BMW's claim to "the ultimate driving machine" I'm sure their cars could do it without the legislation.

That being said, if the fucktard would have actually made an attempt to stop, the car would have stopped. Not to mention he's driving an automatic, I've been in many cars that won't let you lock the steering colum unless the car is in park, and you can't put it in park unless the car is stopped. I don't need to go on about the power steering as thats been pointed out. I've yet to see a neutral lock out.
 
thedguy said:
US safety legislation says a cars braking system has be able to over come the power of the engine. Given BMW's claim to "the ultimate driving machine" I'm sure their cars could do it without the legislation.
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The bugatti veyron must have some brakes to over come the 1001hp then :mrgreen:

seriously though, his bmw was old, so it might have old faded brakes that needed replacement.
 
You guys cant say it boils down to general car knowledge, well u could but there are some mental issues that we need to consider.

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. He was driving a BMW. doesnt mean hes rich or anything, but atleast well-off (tihnking about the insurance, etc which adds up to alot (if u live in CANADA)) so im guessin hes financially set. This would mean that he has a good job so that means he knows his shit in watever field hes in. So he might also have "general car knowledge"

2. Like Chaos 386 said its very easy for us to decide now wat he did but he was in a different situation

3. Think about it this way. Say he knows everything he should about a car all the specs n wat to do when this or that happens. but in a situation like this hes got no clue. let me give u an example. Mr.X studies all day long for a week because hes got an exam comin up. so he thinks hes fully prepared, but the day of the exam he had a mental breakdown. He suddenly forgot everything.

What i mean is that he could be a geek for all i care. but there are times when a person has no idea what he/she is doing in a tight situation. like you have no idea what WTF Is goin on around u... so maybe thats wat happened to him.

He might no his shit. but at the time wen he had to apply it to the situation he flunked...

These are my hypothesis.

-Mojo-
 
AutoMX said:
if driving with no power steering is dangerous, then i'm a living miracle :lol:

my MR2 has no power steering and it's slightly difficult to maneuver when literally no moving but any movement and there 0 problems or anyhing else. it's not like the wheels decide where to go. even at 110mph it's easy to control.

my MR2 has:

- no power steering
- no power mirrors
- no power windows
- no power seats
- no power locks
- no power in general

i think you get the point. i'm surprised the wipers are motorized, and not like the 2CV with a knob. hell, i even have an electric starter! 8)
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Wow, I've got the 'luxury' version clearly - power windows, power mirrors, power locks & cruise control. But still no power steering - and all the better for it - mmm road feel :D

mojo_786 said:
2. Like Chaos 386 said its very easy for us to decide now wat he did but he was in a different situation
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Been there, done that. Throttle jammed wide open on my first car - no panic, fortunately hitting the pedal a couple of times freed it up, but I remember thinking clearly about it and how to stop the car if need be. So sorry, but this guy is a muppet. If he'd stacked it after 3 mins I wouldn't be so harsh, but come on, this guy had 26 minutes to figure something out.
 
v0od0o said:
Even if he thought the steering would lock up if he turned off the ignition, which is not true. What did he need the steering for? At 70mph the car would take 3 or 4 seconds and around 60 meters to stop. Surely he had a 60 meter free straight stretch of road where he could do that.

And the panic thing is not an excuse either, he said he wasn't afraid at first when the speed was 70mph for several minutes. He could even call the AA.

IMHO either he is extremely and utterly stupid or something is fishy about this.
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If you turn of the engine from the key all power will be turned off (in my car at least) you then have to turn the key again in order to get the electrics on (and avoid steering lock). What did he need the steering for?? HE WAS DRIVING AT 130mph!!! That's fast and doing that on a public road means constant steering and avoiding other road users.

He also had no brakes so there would definitely have to have been more than 60 meters

But the fact remains that the driver was stupid, I just don?t see this as being inconsievable...
 
fbc said:
Wow, I've got the 'luxury' version clearly - power windows, power mirrors, power locks & cruise control. But still no power steering - and all the better for it - mmm road feel :D
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actually i do have cruise control, it just doesnt work! hah
 
YF19pilot said:
And yes, I do believe that people should be more aware of their vehicle. Maybe they should do it like the FAA here in the states, and have everyone get a type rating when they buy a new car.
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that's exactly what I think should happen.
 
mmap said:
v0od0o said:
What did he need the steering for? At 70mph the car would take 3 or 4 seconds and around 60 meters to stop. Surely he had a 60 meter free straight stretch of road where he could do that.
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What did he need the steering for?? HE WAS DRIVING AT 130mph!!! That's fast and doing that on a public road means constant steering and avoiding other road users.
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Read TFA sonny, and my comment, before you go all CAPS LOCK on me :p
 
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