Really officer....147 mph? RIP...

[pmax]

Originally Posted by pavulon

If there is only one passenger and that person is dead and in presumably pieces from a witnessed horrific accident such as this, it could be that there is no uncontaminated blood to test until an autopsy could be performed and any test result would be academic at best. Maybe a lawyer would see it differently especially if there is $$ on the line.

If this guy was or was soon to be divorced, this has suicide written all over it.

Don't want to get too much into the details like that but from the report, I read he was transported to the hospital and died there.

With the inevitable lawsuits and fault finding, I say the blood tests are highly relevant to the parties involved (one of which is Porsche).

RIP. But yeah, 150mph on the ramp is insane.

[Heel n Toe]

In the discussion about "My car won't stop accelerating!" there have been multiple instances where the driver claimed he was standing on the brake pedal with little to no effect. The engine was simply overpowering the brakes.

When these stories began appearing on the news, I taught my wife what to do if this ever happened to her.

1) Put the car in neutral. Expect the engine to race and probably self destruct, but this is your best option.

2) Do not turn the car off as that locks the steering wheel.

3) Steer and brake to a stop in a safe location, then turn off the key.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

In the discussion about "My car won't stop accelerating!" there have been multiple instances where the driver claimed he was standing on the brake pedal with little to no effect. The engine was simply overpowering the brakes.

When these stories began appearing on the news, I taught my wife what to do if this ever happened to her.

1) Put the car in neutral. Expect the engine to race and probably self destruct, but this is your best option.

2) Do not turn the car off as that locks the steering wheel.

3) Steer and brake to a stop in a safe location, then turn off the key.

Or push and hold the start button for 5 seconds, because most cars don't have keys anymore.

OK i'm finally satisfied! lol

[daepp]

Once again I learn something new.

What I thought I knew was that the airbags were there mostly for those who failed to buckle up.

But what I think I learned is that if you fail to wear your seatbelt you also have no airbag. Is that correct?

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by daepp

Once again I learn something new.

What I thought I knew was that the airbags were there mostly for those who failed to buckle up.

But what I think I learned is that if you fail to wear your seatbelt you also have no airbag. Is that correct?

Depends on the car and it's airbag control.

It isn't a risk to take.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

Depends on the car and it's airbag control.

It isn't a risk to take.

This^^. There is no blanket rule regarding active air bags across the years and makes of cars. I know that both my Mini and BMW X5 do not activate the passenger air bag if the seat sensors do not detect the weight of a person. A dash light will indicate the air bag is deactivated. Buckling the seat belt on the empty passenger seat does not activate the air bag. My conclusion is that as long as a person occupies the seat, the bag is activated, regardless of the belt being buckled, but, to be honest, I have not tested this by having the passenger unbuckle the belt while driving.

[daepp]

Oh I don't leave my freaking driveway without my seatbelt on. Was just trying to learn a little.

[Lyle O]

Driver air bags are to always deploy in a crash, regardless if seat belts are buckled or someone is sitting in the seat. Passenger bags will depend usually on seat sensors indicating if there is someone there. Most cars have seatbelt pretensioners also (Porsches certainly do), and they activate to take up the slack at moment of impact, so that they actually work in a crash. Even in high speed crashes (120 mph), these systems are surprisingly effective, with deployment possible in just a few milliseconds. There are multiple accereation sensors throughout the car, but most are biased toward front end crash events. In this case, if the car went sideways at very high speed (as the wreckage would indicate), there is no possible system to mitigate the situation. I worked on the development of the earlier airbag sensor systems (both mechanical and piezo), and, as we used to say, you can't beat the laws of physics.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Or push and hold the start button for 5 seconds

Does that lock the steering wheel? Not good in a runaway car.

Anyway, my wife and I have cars that start with a key, not a button.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Does that lock the steering wheel? Not good in a runaway car.

Anyway, my wife and I have cars that start with a key, not a button.

Rather than saying it does or doesn't and have cars be different, my best advice is test in advance in an open place.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Gotta be a mistake here. Only Mustangs crash. Porsches never do.

no mistake, it was a high speed crash, not a low speed crash peeling out in front of a crowd.

[1979-930]

How many here have been 150mph in a straight line let alone into a turn? Even if the Officer is wrong and it was 110mph; it was in a turn. Maybe it was coming out of a turn? But going 130, 140 or 150mph is surreal and into or out-of any turn at 100mph plus takes serious nerves to keep your foot in it.
IMO; The behavior and wife's story don't add up. Nobody decides one day out of the blue to take a turn at 150mph. I don't believe people have the ability to overcome the fear and head into a corner that fast unless they have built up to it.

I guess there is always the stupid decision moment. Maybe another car egged him on and his focus was not on the speed but beating a jerk to the turn. <--- I know; Total left field speculation.

Originally Posted by JeremyD

I always tell people at the track this - modern safety systems are governed by the institute of traffic safety and NHTSA. These systems are designed for normal speeds. Anything above 80 mph is considered excessive speed and not where these systems were designed for. most are designed for the automotive sweet spot where most accidents occur - 35-45 mph. So when they say, I have an airbag I'll be good - they may as well have a unicorn at the track

My son starts driving in about a year and I preach this to him all the time. He races karts so I hope that teaches him to keep it on the track. But I tell him 100mph and above is the DEATH ZONE. I don't care about a 1st to 2nd blast now and then. But top speed kills. These cars tear in half at over 80mph now.
Hopefully he learns from me that Freeway on-ramps are the only place where a 20 to 80mph blast is safe. I love merging.

[JD159]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Even if you are of "normal" local fitness, you have to weigh enough to get the job done.

I remember back when I was a young man, and not even 130 lbs lifting myself out of the bench seat of a 1968 F-150. Everything was manual and trying to turn the wheel sharply at low speed took everything - had to put my body into it, it was like gym class.

Nowadays one can steer a full sized truck with their little finger.............unless like you say the power goes out.

I was turning right at a stop light when the power steering in a GMC Yukon died. Instantly had to get both hands on the wheel and turn pretty hard. I'm a pretty fit young lad too.

[pavulon]

If an impact is violent enough to take a motor and trans out of their mounts, imagine what happens to the people parts and their mounts.

[Don Ro]

^^^
Is it, was it, Aston Martin who mounted their engines/trans on rails so that they would be forced under the vehicle in the event of a head-on collision?

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by 1979-930

How many here have been 150mph in a straight line let alone into a turn? Even if the Officer is wrong and it was 110mph; it was in a turn. Maybe it was coming out of a turn? But going 130, 140 or 150mph is surreal and into or out-of any turn at 100mph plus takes serious nerves to keep your foot in it.
IMO; The behavior and wife's story don't add up. Nobody decides one day out of the blue to take a turn at 150mph. I don't believe people have the ability to overcome the fear and head into a corner that fast unless they have built up to it.

Snip...

This is to confirm much of the above.

If one Google's the site of the accident, it's easy to see the following: 1) He was traveling west on Wade ave. which is a long straightaway of approximately 1 mile from a slight curve to the accident site. 2) Wade ave. becomes the on-ramp to I-40 West if one continues straight. 3) The on-ramp from Wade ave. to the East I-40 is the one the victim wanted, it is a 360* loop and the exit speed is posted 30 mph. The victim used this exit regularly, knew the posted speed and, in fact, the sign is placed at the beginning of the exit. It appears obvious that if he made any attempt to exit to this ramp at anywhere near the estimated speed, he would immediately leave the roadway and crash into the trees which are straight ahead. This is exactly what happened.





I agree with the above post with regard to things "not adding up." There is no telling how long he was traveling at excessive speed at this point. It could have been sudden acceleration, or not, as there was ample distance before the crash site. The approach to the crash site is straight, enabling a driver to maintain a course for quite a distance should a mechanical problem cause the acceleration. There was no need to try to make the exit turn in a malfunctioning car.

There are a lot of questions to be answered.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by daepp

Once again I learn something new.

What I thought I knew was that the airbags were there mostly for those who failed to buckle up.

But what I think I learned is that if you fail to wear your seatbelt you also have no airbag. Is that correct?

I thought the same, too. Airbags (and remember those motorized mouse belts?) were mandated back in the 1980s as protection in case a driver/front seat passenger failed to wear a seat belt. The whole point was that if you weren't smart enough to don the seatbelt to protect yourself, the car would already have some method in place to do so.

Mercedes used to call their airbag system SRS: Supplemental Restraint System. Said so right there embossed on the steering wheel cover. A major directive of airbags were to protect an occupant in case they didn't wear a belt.

So in the intervening 30 years, the regulations have changed such that an airbag won't go off unless the seat belt has been worn? That seems to circumvent a major reason why airbags were mandated in the first place.

[onewhippedpuppy]

One other factor, in many cars including newer Porsches, the airbags won’t deploy if there is a system fault. So if your seatbelt sensor goes bad, which is common in Porsches, you don’t have airbags.

[pwd72s]

Thanks for the maps...made where it happened clearer. Why? Who knows?

[gordner]

As to the air bags, I think the difference in modern cars is the systems are smart enough to know when an airbag will help you and when it will not, or will in fact hurt you more. Airbags today are a far cry from those of years ago, and have a lot more logic built into their deployment parameters.
I had an accident in a 2001.5 audit S4, side on collision, and I was astounded at how the progressive airbag system deployed partially, enough to cushion the blow, but not enough that the airbag struck you with any force. I remember an accident years ago my friends mom had with an old Chrysler, first gen air bags, and the fact that most of the injuries she sustained were from the airbag (broken wrist, broken nose, muscle damage.)