Runaway 2009 Lexus ES fiery crash kills family of 4

So what's really going on is the terminator story. Only its not robot clones of Arnold S., its self-aware car computers selectively killing us off :)

The E28 BMW used a hydraulic booster somewhat akin to GM's Hydroboost not a vacuum booster so the nitrogen ball was to keep the hydraulic system pressurized when the pump couldn't keep up, so you didn't suddenly lose brake pressure or steering assist. i'm assuming that that was for packaging reasons because IIRC the 528s used a conventional vacuum booster but the 535s (different, larger engine block) used the hydraulic. I actually had a 535 back in the day and just before I sold it I believe the "bomb" failed - symptoms were that you would step on the brakes and there'd be a delay of about a second or so before the boost kicked in. A little disconcerting, but I ended up selling the car (cheap) because I was moving so I never had it fixed..

Nate

My '08 Impala has a hook on the driver side floor for the floor mat, but the ones that came with the car are stored away in a safe place while I'm using molded WeatherTech mats (which are great, by the way, even though their advertising seems a little cheezy. I still prefer the heavy black rubber ones that VW offers as an accessory through their dealerships, but GM apparently doesn't see fit to offer a similar product.) The thought of putting tan-colored carpeted floor mats in a car that is used for visiting construction sites seems a little silly to me.

I'm trying to remember if the '05 had a hook and now I just don't recall.

nate

If one had followed the Audi case they would have discovered the NHTSA ruled the cause was DRIVER error, period.

reminds me of the runaway Audi stories...

in the Audi case the gas/brake pedals were too close together and not aligned with the seat like other cars so drivers were simply stomping on the gas when they thought they were on the brake. (Manual shift Audi drivers loved the pedal placement, of course.)

in this case the fault is said to lie with improper floor matts; not with a driver too dumb to recognize the problem and place his foot under the gas pedal and pull it up to free it from the matt. I had this happen to me years ago in some borrowed car.

My Toyota car has a nice hook to hold it's driver's side floor matt in place. That's more than I can say for my Honda or GM products.

Thanks for the info. I have never heard of the Hydroboost system before but a web search took care of that right quick. :-)

It seems like a nifty, compact system and from what I've read, provides more linear braking. From the retrofit instructions, it seems pretty easy to install, although there doesn't seem to be provisions for ABS. OTOH, these seem to be mostly retrofitted to trucks.

My 92 Taurus did, and it worked. I miss it in the other cars I have had since then.

-- aem sends...