Modern Day "Christine"

[NoDak]

On Jan. 30, as Angel Eck, 20, drove her Pontiac Sunfire on Interstate 70 toward Denver, she suddenly could not slow down. The car was locked in overdrive and climbed to 100 mph; the ignition would not disengage; and the clutch and accelerator were stuck. A half-hour later, two enterprising Denver police officers, having been alerted by cell phone and reprising a tactic from the old "CHiPs" TV show, slowed the car by allowing it to repeatedly bump the rear of their squad car until it came to a stop. A few days later, idling in the shop at Green Mountain Auto Service, the car jumped gears and pinned a mechanic against an inside wall until a colleague set the emergency brake. [Rocky Mountain News, 2-2-04; Denver Post, 2-13-04]

 

[GatorGreg]

That's pretty weird.

BTW, the real Christine just got auctioned off over the weekiend at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Auction for $167K - that is one brave guy :nervous:

<img src="http://www.barrett-jackson.com/images/carjpg/2004pbcca/2/397/2004PBCCA2_397_34.jpg">

 

[mikes4runner]

Pontiac Sunfire..... why am I not surprised. Not a modern day Christine just a piece of junk.

I never understand why people don't just put it in neutral and stop then shut it down.

 

[EDGE]

I think it's just your basic POS, last summer some girl called 911 she was on the LIE in a POS blazer that lost it's brakes, never occured to her to put it into neutral and coast to a stop, instead she had the troopers pull up to her and then they brake to slow the vehicle down:arrow:

These people just don't have common sence

 

[Iman74]

Back when I was 17 or 18 I was going down this hill in my 83 Camaro when I pressed the brakes I heard a "snap" and then the pedal just went to the floor: turned out the brake line snap. So here I am going down hill and picking up speed. As I am contemplating what to do with the few seconds I have I see a older woman in a car several feet in front of me, and a stone wall. The first thing that comes to mind is, "the stone wall can't sue you" so that is where I was headed.

Jump into the future a several minutes later the female officer whom was about to give me a ride home asked me why I hit the wall, and I told her it can't sue you. She thought that was smart.

 

[snowjay]

Well if your accelerator is stuck and you throw it in neutral you'll most likely blow the motor as you are coasting to a stop. Your power brakes wont work very well either so you'll have to use the ebrake if you need to stop quick. Definately better than killing you or someone else but it's something to think about. You could also turn the key off after it's in neutral but be careful about the steering wheel locking.

Iman74, your car didnt have a working ebrake?

 

[Iman74]

No, and the seatbelts didn't work either. They just hung there at their full length. The e-brake worked for one week after getting it tightened which I also had the same problem with my Blazer. Another reason why I don't go American.
I could have down shifted for I was driving a standard: but you have to understand I had a matter of a few seconds to make a decision, and I was young with about two years driving experience. All things considering, I still think I made the right decision.

What's funny is, a lot of people came to my aide: one being the woman I avoided. This woman happened to work at my Jr. HS I went to back in my day. She even said I look familiar.