Wild ride at 90 mph+
#1
Thread Starter
Wild ride at 90 mph+
Turning the car’s ignition off at 90 miles per hour is not the first thing you think of. It is what I should have done.
Coming home from Larry’s Day-in-the-garage MG meet in Fenton, I had just gone past the Ann Arbor Main Street exit on M-14 in my 1997 F-150. Plans were to take I-94 west. Those plans quickly changed. The throttle cable stuck wide open and suddenly I went from 70 mph to 90 mph+. I was slamming the brake pedal to the floor while trying to avoid crashing. I slammed on the emergency brake which helped. My mind raced as I thought I might have to crash to stop. It took me nearly three miles to stop. I put it in nuteral, the engine sounded like was going to blow; I didn’t think that would help. Standing on the brakes I pulled to the shoulder and put it in reverse long enough to come to a complete stop. Smoke and heat poured from the front rotors. Half-hour later when an MDOT truck stopped he said they were still red hot.
I had pulled over just past the M-14 on-ramp from Miller Road. The one and half hour wait for a tow truck was almost as scary. Non-stop high-speed two-lane traffic plus the entry lane traffic. I set out a red triangle road sign my son had given me. There was no safe place to leave the vehicle and experts say to stay in it.
The tow truck driver opened the hood and confirmed the throttle cable would not move. After returning home the thought of turning off the engine occured to me. According to Consumers Report test drivers in October 2022 the steering and brakes will continue to work despite conflicting claims on some discussion groups.
Coming home from Larry’s Day-in-the-garage MG meet in Fenton, I had just gone past the Ann Arbor Main Street exit on M-14 in my 1997 F-150. Plans were to take I-94 west. Those plans quickly changed. The throttle cable stuck wide open and suddenly I went from 70 mph to 90 mph+. I was slamming the brake pedal to the floor while trying to avoid crashing. I slammed on the emergency brake which helped. My mind raced as I thought I might have to crash to stop. It took me nearly three miles to stop. I put it in nuteral, the engine sounded like was going to blow; I didn’t think that would help. Standing on the brakes I pulled to the shoulder and put it in reverse long enough to come to a complete stop. Smoke and heat poured from the front rotors. Half-hour later when an MDOT truck stopped he said they were still red hot.
I had pulled over just past the M-14 on-ramp from Miller Road. The one and half hour wait for a tow truck was almost as scary. Non-stop high-speed two-lane traffic plus the entry lane traffic. I set out a red triangle road sign my son had given me. There was no safe place to leave the vehicle and experts say to stay in it.
The tow truck driver opened the hood and confirmed the throttle cable would not move. After returning home the thought of turning off the engine occured to me. According to Consumers Report test drivers in October 2022 the steering and brakes will continue to work despite conflicting claims on some discussion groups.
#2
Just dont accidentelly turn it to lock
Steering will work no matter what, even if the eps is not powered. May be harder to steer with assist but you can still steer it.
Brakes are the same. If you turn off the engine the brakes wont have brake boost so will be harder to depress but will still work.
Glad you got it safely off the road!
You wont find a throttle cable for an AP1 unfortunately, but I believe I saw another person on here confirm that one from an RSX or RSXS does work. Search around on here and you should be able to find that thread.
Steering will work no matter what, even if the eps is not powered. May be harder to steer with assist but you can still steer it.
Brakes are the same. If you turn off the engine the brakes wont have brake boost so will be harder to depress but will still work.
Glad you got it safely off the road!
You wont find a throttle cable for an AP1 unfortunately, but I believe I saw another person on here confirm that one from an RSX or RSXS does work. Search around on here and you should be able to find that thread.
#3
And a change of underwear needed
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engifineer (Today)
#4
Site Moderator
Yikes. Really glad you're alright Dave, that had to be a scary moment.
#5
Dave you've had some adventures in those MG's of yours. Glad to hear you are safe. My first instinct would have been to put it into neutral, but everyone reacts differently. Hopefully you get the gremlins worked out of it and you can enjoy many more safe miles with the car.
#6
Site Moderator
Dave you've had some adventures in those MG's of yours. Glad to hear you are safe. My first instinct would have been to put it into neutral, but everyone reacts differently. Hopefully you get the gremlins worked out of it and you can enjoy many more safe miles with the car.
#7
Scary stuff, Dave. Glad you are well. What kind of repairs with the truck need? Anything besides the throttle cable?
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#8
Thread Starter
Joey, I did put it in neutral and it sounded like the engine would blow up. Thankfully I did not hit anything in the 3 miles it took to stop. I now know I could have and should have turned off the ignition and even if its a one in a million chance of happening I wanted to share the story for others safety.
Last edited by dlq04; Today at 09:05 AM.
#10
That's one of the multitude of issues that pop up with older vehicles.
Technically not really complex but really annoying.
I think I would have followed your path of neutral and gotten it to the side of he side.
I had a weird case while driving a rental jeep. It got bumped into neutral from drive.
While moving the transmission would not go back into drive until I stopped and restarted.
So we had the fun of navigating traffic on the Denver 470 loop from the left lane over to the breakdown lane while coasting.
Technically not really complex but really annoying.
I think I would have followed your path of neutral and gotten it to the side of he side.
I had a weird case while driving a rental jeep. It got bumped into neutral from drive.
While moving the transmission would not go back into drive until I stopped and restarted.
So we had the fun of navigating traffic on the Denver 470 loop from the left lane over to the breakdown lane while coasting.