Stuck throttle and the results on way to show

OSHA requires multiple Emergency Stop buttons on machines and I don't know why it hasn't progressed to motor vehicles. As has been said, many people panic in an emergency and nothing short of a kill switch on the brake pedal would help.

 

I have a kill switch on my dash where the choke knob was, and my throttle works perfectly.

 

Glad your friend wasn't hurt worse.

I always use double return springs on my cars throttle linkage,,I worked with the NSRA safety inspection team for several years and it really opened my eyes. HRP

 

Good to hear he's OK, there's always parts around to fix your ride!
On the ignition switch topic, the reason that keys sometimes fall out of a lock is that the mechanisms wear , not in the rotating bit itself, but in the keyway, because of heavy keyrings which hang off the key and swing in the breeze while you are driving. Most people (including me) are guilty of having a half-pound of keys and gee-gaws on the same ring, and the weight wears out the mechanism.
(I got this from a locksmith years ago)

 

Glad he's OK. That's really all that matters. I had to put a kill button on my rototiller after it got away from my buddy and he tilled my tranny stash and a pile of old wheels. Seven raging HP is tough to hold back. The key sometime falls out of the worn old switch on my '53 pickup. I should fix that, but I do have a kill switch too.

 

Kill switches are a great idea but when things are going wrong very fast you tend to hang on the the wheel and try to dodge various things that suddenly are in the way.

I'm thinking an old "dimmer" floor switch would work 'cause you will want both feet firmly planted on something!

 

in high school i drove a '69 chevy pickup that the keys would fall out of. it wasn't a problem till the day the keys went out through a hole in the floor and since the parking brake did not hold i had to find a spot to "chock" the truck on so i could get out and run back to find the keys.....ahhh high school....i miss those days.

 

Jim,

That sucks for Gary! Glad he didn't have any serious injuries! That is a very nice tub and it hurts to see it so smashed up. Hopefully he'll get it back together soon. I have experienced stuck throttle on some of my OT factory vehicles and it's no fun. Lucky, both times were at speed with no traffic in the way and I was able to stick them in neutral and kill the ignition at the same time. It's always scary.

 

Some food for thought - which is worse -
a brake pedal suddenly going to the floor or the accelerator sticking wide open?

Both can be disaster but are preventable for the most part.

If I had a big motor car, I would want a squeeze type kill switch on the steering wheel.

 

That's some carnage! It looks like the battery cable is the only thing that kept the engine/trans in the chassis, and it's stretched out at that. I hate it when Murphy decides to go along for a ride. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Throttle linkage sticking and the engine going out of control was a fairly common issue in the 40's ,50's and 60's . This eventually was rectified when the goverment mandated safety catches be a part of all motor mounts. I can still remember in the late 60's installing GM's factory repair for this issue that consisted of a cable bolted to the l/upper control arm and the front bolt of the l/exhaust manifold . I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this in this thread as it is the most probable cause of this incident . The statement of the engine being moved forward after the incident is the clue to the diagnosis.




This pic shows no safety or catch to limit the engine twist during acceleration. A properly designed engine mount would have eliminated or at least minimized the chance of this occurring . A kill switch is an after the fact idea or a back up but not the solution to preventing a similar occurrence .

 

Hey..your photo is not big enough..^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Yea really, what's wrong with the thumbnail in post 2?
My device is having a stoke opening this thing

 

Not only that, but how would an engine strap keep the throttle from getting stuck?

 

If the mounts break loose the engine will torque or move pulling the throttle wide open, If the motor has a strap the throttle can not be pulled open.

 

Correct, and the extra movement of the motor will usually bend the accelerator linkage which will cause it to jamb and not return to an idle position.

I fixed the pic , sorry but as I get older , well you know.

 

when I was 15, I had a 70 dodge charger, in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot showing off I stomped it and the motor mount broke, the motor lifted and held the throttle open, I was zippin donuts like a mad man on crack and then shut it off before I killed anybody, what a ride indeed, 30 + years later I still grin when thinking about it. I got seriously lucky with all the light poles, parking stops etc etc.

 

what's a piggly wiggly?

 

Everybody's car has a kill switch. It's where the key goes.

Of course, in this case, it was broken. D'oh!

 

On my way home from my shop(about a 20 min drive) in my old International L110, cruising at about 25-30mph I had a guy in front of me lock up his brakes to check out a garage sale. I hit the brakes, started skidding when the pedal hit the floor(lost a wheel cylinder). Talk about crapping my pants! I managed to swerve to avoid rearending the Kia, but baja'd thru the garage sale and their lawn before getting the truck stopped via eBrake.
Faulty brakes, faulty throttle, it all sucks when it doesn't function properly. At least y'all are ok. Vehicles are fixable.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

From this photo,,it appears that both of the motor mount bolts sheared off. HRP

 

A Supermarket chain

 

But, is that what happened in this situation? When one of my mounts broke, all I got was a split radiator hose. Nothing happened with the throttle linkage.

 

Wouldn't that have happened AFTER the collision?

 

I'm sure it could have,,It was said early on in the thread that someone else built the car but had the new owner spent some time doing some preventative maintenance this accident never have happened.

I don't mean for this to sound critical but throttle linkage hanging can be avoided,,I've seen some cars that didn't even have a return spring. HRP

 

In looking at the photos HRP posted from page 1, leads me to the conclusion that the l/side (drivers) motor mount bolt failed . Most likely from the nut working its way off the bolt due to vibration , lack of a lock nut, or poor quality bolt. This is the cause for the stuck throttle linkage . The r/side mount probably then sheared in the subsequent impact . This type of mount was very common in the 50's and was infamous for this type of failure. We used to see several of these a week at the bodyshop .

Tfeverfred , you were lucky you only nicked the radiator hose . That was one of the early waring signs of engine mount failure .

 

Based on both broken front motor mounts, as well as the broken transmission mount, it seems to me that they all broke when the car hit the concrete...the weight of the motor and transmission carried it forward and into the radiator.

Lots of woulda, coulda, shoulda suggestions on this thread. Kill switches are kinda like the debate over single vs. dual master cylinders. May save your life, may not matter.

I know the driver personally and have ridden in this tub more than once. Despite this unfortunate accident, I still have no plans to install a kill switch in mine. I know for me, in this circumstance with my tires frying and my ass coming around and pointing me at a wall, I'd be riding the brake with my hands on the wheel, not looking for a kill switch on the dash.
I'd wager that the damage was done before he would have had a chance to hit a kill switch anyways.


Posted via telegraph.

 

I've been here in my roadster before. Terrifying.

 

Excellent! I used a similar method, the impact switch, placed correctly will shut things down.

 

Yes, but it broke completely loose. In the OP's case, I don't think the motor mounts had anything to do with what happened. I'm betting a linkage issue was the culprit.

Scary stuff, either way.