Audi problem never proven...just more torts for dollars crap
Any Audi with an S before the number is fine as grits
I have no quarrel with that. My comments were mainly about what happened in the past.
I do have a problem, however with blanket statements about entire makes of cars.
I owned a BMW X5 (issue year) that was a frigging engineering nightmare (my wife’s car she had to have). Manual 5 speed shift. 1st gear was geared so low it wouldn’t move over a mile or two an hour. Geared for pulling on inclines it could never travel.
Other aspects of the care that include maintenance and repair were just plain comical if it weren’t for costs involve. An example was a front turn signal replacement. The entire headlight assembly had to be removed solely from the front in a three handed procedure that required non-standard tools. The dealer charged about $130 for this typically. It took me about 2 hours to do it myself with a third hand. Essentially the car was just a piece of crap rushed out too soon before the engineers could see just what they’d done.
The Audi problem was in selection of its drivers.
From a human factors perspective, it was an error to put the “GO” button right next to the “STOP” button, and put both on the floor out of eye sight, to be operated by the feet.
In the beginning, brakes needed a lot of force, and the foot was the only limb with sufficient power. The steering wheel needed both hands. Using the foot for both brake and accelerator made sense.
Today, with power brakes and power steering, the same layout suffers from its inherent ergonomic deficiencies. When a car becomes stylish for people who drive distracted, and may operate it while not familiar with it (say a two car family), it will get a bad reputation.
A police officer hopped into an ambulance to move it to safety after an accident. He was not familiar with it, and was monitoring the accident situation. He put his foot on the accelerator when he intended the brake and got a run away vehicle.
See it isn’t just ditzy house fraus, it can be anyone who is
(1) not familiar with the vehicle and
(2) distracted
When the car moves after you “step on the brake” anyone’s first reaction is to “step on the brake” harder....