central materials laboratory testing manual 2000 ford

With modern drive by wire fuel controls, problems are believed to occur exclusively while the vehicle is under way. These tests were meant to simulate reports of the time suggesting that the vehicles were at a standstill and accelerated uncontrollably when shifted from park. All vehicles were equipped with automatic transmissions, that is, no vehicles had manual transmissions with left foot clutch pedal disengagement of engine power.

However, the newest vehicle involved in the study was a 1986 model and no test vehicles were equipped with the electronic control ( drive by wire) systems common in 2010. In the lab tests, throttles were positioned to wide open prior to brake application in an attempt to replicate the circumstances of the incidents under study. The report is taken from a study, begun in 1986, in which the NHTSA examined ten vehicles suffering from an 'above average' number of incident reports and concluded that those incidents must have resulted from driver error. In a typical scenario, the incident begins at the moment of shifting to 'Drive' or 'Reverse' from 'Park'. 'Sudden acceleration incidents' (SAI) are defined for the purpose of this report as unintended, unexpected, high-power accelerations from a stationary position or a very low initial speed accompanied by an apparent loss of braking effectiveness. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported a narrow definition of sudden acceleration only from near standstill in their 1989 Sudden Acceleration Report: The US NHTSA estimates 16,000 accidents per year in the United States occur when drivers intend to apply the brake but mistakenly apply the accelerator. Such problems may be caused by driver error (e.g., pedal misapplication), mechanical or electrical problems, or some combination of these factors. Sudden unintended acceleration ( SUA) is the unintended, unexpected, uncontrolled acceleration of a vehicle, often accompanied by an apparent loss of braking effectiveness.

Central materials laboratory testing manual 2000 ford