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9.5.14
RENAULT SUDDEN ACCELERATION
INCIDENTS - FRANCE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The case of the mad Vel Satis "Vel Satis Folle" outlined below is
unique. The incident started just before midnight on October 3rd 2004.
The driver telephoned the police on his mobile to tell them that he
could not slow down the vehicle. It seems that someone was listening to
the police radio and informed the press who immediately took up the
story. Meanwhile the driver, having eventually stopped the vehicle, and
not knowing anything about this media interest, arranged to have the
car taken to a repair garage and took a taxi home to get some sleep.
Renault "collected" the car in the early hours of the 4th October,
without the owners permission, and took it to their research
laboratories for tests and promply took legal action against the driver
for allegedly causing damage to the company. How the matter was
eventually settled is not known.
http://www.leblogauto.com/2005/05/electronique_em.html#comments
Par Christophe Labédan
le 23 mai 2005 : lire également/ Also read:
- October 3rd 2004 Renault Vel Satis
- Alleged sudden acceleration
incident on A71 between Bourges and Clermont Ferrand, France on
Sunday 3rd October 2004
- Story according
to
Reuters Oct 2004: Cruise control issue [L'histoire de la Vel
Satis folle] French carmaker Renault challenged a driver's
statement that a fault in one of its top-of-the-range cars had embarked
its panic-stricken owner on an involuntary 200 km per hour motorway
dash.Renault said its engineers had given a clean bill of health to the
40,000 euro ($49,190) Vel Satis, whose owner Hicham Dequiedt
<<Draa,not Dequiedt>> told police a malfunction in the
electronic cruise control was to blame for Sunday's high-speed
incident. The company said in a statement it wanted a judge to appoint
an independent expert to audit the car's systems and confirm the
findings of its own engineers who inspected the vehicle. Renault said
it could take legal action "without prejudice to other legal actions
taken in compensation for any damage suffered by the company." A
spokesman said the company had not decided whether to pursue legal
action against Dequiedt personally. Dequiedt was not immediately
available for comment.Police said a panicked Dequiedt, convinced he was
going to die, had called them several times on his mobile telephone on
Sunday as his car tore down the A71 motorway toward a toll station. The
police officer who took the calls said Dequiedt was forced to veer left
and right to avoid traffic and switched to the hard shoulder reserved
for rescue vehicles to avoid traffic. Police attempting to escort him
along the motorway found they were quickly overtaken. Eventually the
driver managed to bring his car to a halt around 20 km (12 miles) from
the toll station, which had been evacuated as a precaution. No one was
injured in the incident.
- Justice
-
Expertise
de
la
Vel
Satis : nouveau report. Par
Philippe
MATHON, le 01 juin
2005 Les
deux
spécialistes,
mandatés
par
la
justice pour
comprendre pourquoi le
véhicule se serait mis à rouler à 200 km/h durant
près d'une heure, ont
obtenu mercredi matin un second report. Le délai d'un mois
supplémentaire devrait leur permettre de "finaliser la
rédaction de
leur rapport".
- March 22 2005: Speed Regulators : A
motorist takes out proceedings against Renault after an accident.
BORDEAUX ( AP) - A Bordeaux motorist has filed emergency
proceedings against the Renault Company in the County Court of Bordeaux
(Gironde) after an accident which she considers due to a failure of the
speed regulator of her Renault Clio or to the failure of the braking
system,
it was learnt on Tuesday from her lawyer, Me. Scarlett Berrebi.
The
accident occurred on March 12th on the highway A63 to Cestas, to the
South
of Bordeaux. Christine Mourtier had set the speed regulator to 110
kph
when traffic slowed down in front of her. She asserts that she was not
able
to free the regulator, in spite of using the brake. She collided
with
the vehicle ahead. In the accident, she was hurt in the neck. She
will be off work and have to wear a neck brace for 13 days. Her son and
the driver of the car with which she collided were slightly hurt.
Christine
Mourtier asks for a technical examination of the Renault Clio which she
was
driving and the provision of a replacement car for work. On Monday, CEO
of
Renault Louis Schweitzer indicated that there are around thirty cases
in
France where the function of the speed regulator has been called into
question.
He dismisses the hypothesis of a failure in the electronic system,
which
he attributes to incorrect use by the drivers, to whom Renault offers
free
sessions where they can learn how to master this device. AP REF:
Régulateurs
de vitesse: une automobiliste se retourne contre Renault après
un
accident.
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