WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

[fish]

april the 4th I got my 03 bird out to drive to the autofair in concord nc.It was in park warming up.When I put it in reverse it took off spinning the wheels in the gravel .I slammed on the brakes but would not hold it.Then I threw it in park to stop.This all happened in a split second scaring the hell out of me.Has anyone else had this problem and how to fix it?

[DavidA]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

The engine races around 2000 rpm when it starts cold. I usually wait about 15-20 seconds when first starting it and watch the tach drop to about 1000 before putting the car in reverse. It really saves it from clunking into gear.

If the engine is running too fast, it will try to move without provication. However, what happened to you should be looked at by a dealer.

[texasbird]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

Though it is unlikely with the floor mat clipped to the holder in the carpet, but could it or some other object have been pressing on the accelerator???

[FritsB]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

I remember when I joined TBN in 2005 there was an issue with pedals being too close together. It seemed some (don't remember who) pushed gas and brake in the same time.

Anyway...it's also a theme for a good movie: 'What happen in reverse..stays in reverse'

[Ray]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

If you haven't had the TSB for harsh shifts applied to your computer, you might try that. This was a problem with the 2003 model. I never had it happen to me in reverse, but I had it happen to me several times coming to a stop at a stop sign. There were times when I'd be pushing on my brake with both feet trying to get the car to stop. It's a scary situation for sure. After having the TSB applied, I've never had the problem again. Just go to your Ford dealer and tell them your car shifts harshly, and it surges when trying to stop. The TSB is a free update.

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

I remember when I joined TBN in 2005 there was an issue with pedals being too close together. It seemed some (don't remember who) pushed gas and brake in the same time.

That is definitely one of my few criticisms of our Thunderbirds. I've pressed both a few times.

Scared me when I've done that, but fortunately, no disasterous results. Now I'm more conscientous of that and move my foot to make sure I don't press both at the same time.

[VABird05]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

I remember when I joined TBN in 2005 there was an issue with pedals being too close together. It seemed some (don't remember who) pushed gas and brake in the same time.

Frits, I believe it was Bo Stewart.

[2Redbirds57/02]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

James, try the same thing again making sure that your foot is on the brake pedal only. This happened to me once while sitting in stopped traffic. I thought I was going to ram the bus in front of me, but luckily I was able to get it stopped. I'm very careful now that I touch the brake pedal only when stopping. Would love to see you at our cruise ins held every 1st and 3rd Monday of each month on main street in Mocksville.

[Welker]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

My guess goes along with the pedals being too close together crowd. You may remember when Audi almost went out of business in the US because of that issue which, even today, people swear was the car going crazy and not their foot on the wrong pedal. In the case of our cars it seems that the brake and the gas pedals are being pressed at the same time. It has happened to me, especially in an almost panic sitution. Combine that with the high start up rev situation and you have the makings of the sort of thing that started this thread.

[FritsB]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

[QUOTE=Welker;344765] You may remember when Audi almost went out of business in the US because of that issue which, even today, people swear was the car going crazy and not their foot on the wrong pedal. QUOTE]

Did you know the guy designing the Audi TT was involved in designing the T-Bird..makes you think huh...maybe he has tiny feet

[Welker]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

Fritz, that is interesting. I lived in Neustadt ad Donau, just down the road from Ingolstadt where the Audi was made and knew a couple of their engineers quite well. They said that the wheel well of the Audi in question took up so much foot room in that model that in the German versions, mostly all standard shift, the pedals were very small, as are many European ones, and in the American shipped cars the pedals were much bigger and had rubber covers. Audi would never admit to the problem in the American cars because they said they had no problems in Europe....where the pedals were different! Stonewalling problems has always been the solution to problems with German built cars. Even the ADAC magazine covers for them.

[joe166]

Re: WHAT HAPPEN IN REVERSE

They almost ruined a decent car in the Audi. There has NEVER been a case where a car can overpower its brakes with the accelerator barring a major defect in the brakes.

In other words, IF you had your foot hard on the brake, no matter how hard you push on the accelerator, the car will stop or not start! PERIOD!!!

No matter how many efforts were made by plaintiffs lawyers and their experts not one credible test ever showed that this was possible.

It is hard to tell people that they are wrong and they obviously did not have the brake pedal depressed or that they made a mistake and pushed the go pedal instead of the stop pedal, but that is apparently what happened in these cases of unintended acceleration.

The next thing they turn to is the design of the pedals. They are too close together, or they are too far apart, or the rubber pedal is designed wrong or whatever suits their purpose.

Truth is, they end up settling some cases just to avoid a catastrophic loss and that leads to more cases.

I suppose there are some super powered cars (jet dragsters?) that could overpower the brakes but no production car I have ever heard of can do so.

The most interesting statistic of the Audi debacle is that some huge percentage (maybe as many as 75% but more than half) of the drivers involved in the incidents were not the regular driver of the vehicle and were under some relatively short height suggesting that they were not used to the car and might have had some trouble reaching the pedals IF they had not adjusted the seats properly, which of course, they all claimed to have done.