A Note on Automobile Cruise Control Faults and Sudden or Unintended Acceleration

by Dr Antony Anderson C.Eng FIEE

• January 26th 2007 Driver Found Not Guilty in Sudden Acceleration-related incident  On November 22, 2005, Park was parking a Land Rover on the side of the road in Mapo, Seoul. However, the car suddenly jumped out onto the one-way road in the opposite direction and drove 160 meters in just a few seconds at a speed of more than 100 kilometer per hour, hitting three different cars. During the process, one female worker (67) at a restaurant, who was doing some chore near the road, died, and five other people including Jeong (30) were injured. Judge Song said, “CCTV cameras installed at the restaurants near the accident scene recorded that the brake light and a backup light of the car Park drove were lit,” which appear to acknowledge Park’s claim that he had the brake and rear-gear in use in order to stop the car. Song also took witnesses’ testimonies into consideration such as one that stated, “At that time, the car was making a roaring sound, and there were sparks coming from the bottom of the car.”

• 2002 Land Rover Discovery II cruise cable recall  Land Rover of North America has recently issued recall (No. D274) which affects 2002 Land Rover Discovery II models with Vehicle Speed Control (build dates April 2, 1998 – January 31, 2002). The problem is that on some 2002 Discovery II sport utility vehicles with speed control, the accelerator cable could have been kinked during vehicle assembly, resulting in chaffing of the cable. Continued chaffing can lead to breakage of the interior cable strands. Breakage of the cable strands can result in the throttle being stuck in the open position, increasing the risk of a crash.