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To: MeganC

“Nope. Brake overrides are not standard in most 2011 model cars and have been standard in every BMW since 2001.”

I think Conan’s point was that, with the exception of some very powerful vehicles, generally the brakes are way stronger than the engine and can bring a car, at speed, at full throttle, to a stop.

This is generally true, but if you ride the brakes just to slow the car, rather than immediately stopping it and turning it off, you can heat the brakes up and have them fade to near unusability. It’s also true that on cars with vacuum assisted brakes at full throttle there is not much vacuum available to boost the brakes, greatly increasing the required pedal pressure.

Having a car go full throttle is not a good thing to have happen. Even worse if you can’t easily turn off the ignition (without locking the steering) or even shift the vehicle into neutral because those controls are no longer mechanical (the car’s computer might refuse to shift to neutral at full throttle at speed, although that would be a poor design decision).


35 posted on 02/10/2011 11:56:59 AM PST by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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To: -YYZ-

“Having a car go full throttle is not a good thing to have happen.”

Especially in a Bugatti Vayron. On the upsiode you’d have a good excuse for doing 275mph in commute traffic.


36 posted on 02/10/2011 12:01:20 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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