I was driving slowly in traffic. There was a car in front and I was maybe doing about 20mph. I see the car in front (about 3 car lengths) and I stepped on the brakes. The car braked hard (nose diving down) but my car appears to be not slowing down one bit and maintained the same pace until I had no choice but to hit the car in front.

It felt that my accelerator was stuck or something. What could've gone wrong? Could I have been pushing both the brakes and accelerator at the same time? The brakes appeared to be working since the nose was diving down. Has anyone one else experienced something like this? It happend very fast so it was hard to remember exactly what had happened. I am also a very careful driver, have been driving for 12yrs, and this is my first accident ever.

Anyway, the bumper and one light are busted, and part of the hood is bent. There is a very small leak of coolant. The guy I hit also had some minor damages.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Baron

 

Did your tires screech?

 

Sorry to hear about this.

Will (thinks the title suggests you have a "fetish" with your car)

 

Brakes are quite a bit more powerful than the driveline. At 20mph and 3 cars distance, you should have been able to stop your vehicle even if you were stomping on your brakes and gas pedal at the same time. However, I can speculate that you did press both pedals with one foot, but most of the pressure went to the gas pedal, and enough pressure went to the brakes to pull your nose down. It's a simple mistake...can happen to anyone.

Once, while driving the Z, I have unintentially pressed the gas pedal with the edge of my foot while intending on braking. That has never happened to me in the 17 years that I've driven. It startled me!!! Luckily, there was a lot of room, and I corrected myself very quickly.

 

I dunno about you guys, but you cannot apply gas and brake at the same time with the Z... Its electronically prohibited.

For example, when the Z first came out, a magazine (I think R&T) wanted to do a cover shoot of the Z doing a brakestand (Gas & Brake at same time). The car wouldnt let it happen. They had to remove the brake light fuse to get it to do it.

So, unless your fuse was removed (and you have no brake lights), you just misjudged and rear ended the guy. I wouldnt look into mechanical failures or anything, just seems like driver error. Not trying to be a dick, but just being honest bro.

 

^^^ I didnt know that....


But how do people with Auto's burn out?? I know you can breakstand with a G coupe....

 

Nforce- you have a beautiful house.

 

You can definately do a brakestand with the Auto.

 

I wonder if the issue is only with the 6MT models then? Im pretty sure the one tested was a track edition. But again, my memory does not serve me and I cant remember where I saw the article.



Nforce, dude every post you make, someone says "nice house". Well, this one shouldn't be any different - Nice House!!

 

When I'm braking and downshifting on my 2003 Track, I blip the throttle all the time to sync the revs for the lower gear. That seems to contradict what you read about not being able to brake and hit the gas at the same time... or I'm just misunderstanding...

 

Perhaps the floor mat pushed the accelerator?

 

I just went out to my z 6mt and you can push both the brake and gas at the same time for sure.

 

you can push them both for sure. if you try to do a "brakestand" with an auto, the ecu reads the rmps and the speed, and corrects it, and i believe cuts out the throttle. When the brakelights are on, it doesnt allow this, but i heard that many people take out hte brake light fuse, and have no problems doing brake stands. I may not have it exactly right, but thats the jist of it.

 

I think that mag was Sport Compact Car. And yes you can hit the brake and the gas at the same time but I think the computer will not let you go WOT when the brake is applied.

 

with heel toe shifting, you're technicall revving the engine while applying breaks, and it works just fine.

 

Yes, this is true, but you are adding another variable here... the CLUTCH. Every good driver knows how to heel-toe, so why would a car mfgr make a car that restricts this?

However, as **** and Padam said, there is some type of system involved that does restrict brakestands. Maybe it is triggered when the clutch is fully engaged. Who knows. Long story short, dont follow people too closely, and dont do brakestands (unless you are at the dragstrip).