23-Month-Old Takes Mom's Van For Spin

[KatherineQ]

This doesn't look like a mistake to me. Can somebody else look at this article, and think about this?

How do you get a car out of park if you can't reach the pedals? You can't, is the answer.

 

[lostfaith]

This doesn't look like a mistake to me. Can somebody else look at this article, and think about this?

How do you get a car out of park if you can't reach the pedals? You can't, is the answer.

My son did. I certainly did not try to kill him! My son slipped it into reverse though. It can be done, specially if a car is not new and maybe has some problems.

 

[JBean]

My son did. I certainly did not try to kill him! My son slipped it into reverse though. It can be done, specially if a car is not new and maybe has some problems.

I was just going to say, my friend has a car with problems and you can move her gear shifter any time. Also, didn't the older cars allow you to shift without depressing the brake?

 

[lostfaith]

I was just going to say, my friend has a car with problems and you can move her gear shifter any time. Also, didn't the older cars allow you to shift without depressing the brake?

I dont know about the older cars, but both the cars we have now have problems and sometimes will slip when driving. These are both automatic cars. We blew an engine in our SUV, it happened when I was driving. I have always been afraid that it was because I noticed when driving it was in second instead of drive, and I just moved it into drive, within min. the engine was smoking and it blew. The mechanic said that wasnt the prob. But yes, it was easily moveable while driving. Dont know about when parked and running, I have never tried it. But it does move when driving@!

 

[strach304]

Might be possible that she didn't have it locked in park so it was easily pushed back into reverse when he climbed up front he grabbed it and the police seem to think it drifted which is entirely possible if it was a steep incline. Driving in areas of West Virginia I myself have drifted backwards in an automatic at lights with my foot on the brake and why anybody that lives there has a manuel transmission I'll never know because it's very common for them to slide back into the vehicle behind them when trying to go forward at a light. Cars sliding out of their parking spaces w/emergency brake on in park is also very common in bad weather in these areas that don't have flat surfaces but just a slight incline and makes no difference if you pull in or back in.

 

[concernedperson]

I remember reading a story about a little Florida boy who slipped out of the hotel room while his mom was in the shower and started the car and drove into parked cars. The police came and was citing the mother and the little boy did it again. With police present!! I think this was last summer...but time flies.

 

[Tom'sGirl]

I was just going to say, my friend has a car with problems and you can move her gear shifter any time. Also, didn't the older cars allow you to shift without depressing the brake?

The answer is YES JB!

My last car w/auto trannie could shift without depressing the brake. In fact my daughter's dog jumped from the back seat one time through the bucket seats while I was driving and threw it out of gear.

Brake Shift Interlock Failure

There have been countless rollaway accidents that have resulted due to brake shift interlock failure. Despite drivers putting their vehicle into 'park' it somehow shifts gears on its own into reverse and drivers are alarmed when they see it start to roll away. As early as 1914 an interlock device was created to prevent a vehicle from shifting into motion on its own. There have been several different types of interlock variations that many car companies have developed, including a brake transmission interlock, a brake shift interlock, and a starter ignition interlock.

A brake transmission interlock works by applying the brakes automatically if no one is in the driver's seat. If the safety restraints are not being used the brakes are also automatically applied. A brake shift interlock does not allow the gear shift to move unless the brake is applied. The starter ignition interlock it requires a key and the brake to be applied for a manual vehicle to start. Automatic vehicles must have the gear in 'park' or in 'neutral' in order for the ignition to be started or for the key to be removed.

While not every car model includes an interlock system it has been estimated that the cost and labor time for the addition is very minimal. This is an easy solution to preventing rollaway accidents and saving the lives of children that are injured while in a vehicle rollaway or that is run over by a rollaway vehicle. The majority of gear shift accidents were due to children moving the vehicle into gear, which a brake shift interlock could have prevented. Most children will not engage the brake simultaneously as they are shifting gears, preventing the vehicle from resulting in a rollaway accident.



http://www.crash-worthiness.com/html/shift.html

 

[Mitty]

Older vehicles can be put into gear without depressing the brake pedal. It could even be done just by reaching in through the window - don't even have to be inside the vehicle. Just grab the shifter on the column, pull it towards you, and poof - vehicle in neutral or any other gear...no brake, or anything else required. This I know because there is a car and a truck both in my family that do not require the use of the brake for taking the vehicle out of park.

If he couldn't reach the gas petal, he couldn't reach the brake petal either, which is required to switch gears.

You can't just put a car in drive from park without depressing the brake fairly hard while shifting gears.

AND, that's one of the things that makes car seats dangerous when toddlers are locked in cars - the toddlers can't get out of them to help unlock the car and help free themselves from a locked car. This child got out of a carseat, and then reached the brake (but couldn't reach the gas) and got the car in motion.

I don't even know what this story is about.

 

[eve]

I am told that I did something similar when I was a baby. I'll have to ask my mother how old I was. She left me in the car for a minute and I crawled up and released the brake. The car rolled forward and hit the front of the house. I have no memory of it, but for years the brickwork lining the flower bed in front of the house was broken--left as a reminder. This was in the early 60s before seatbelts were even mandatory in cars.

Cypros, my little brother did the same thing. Crashed right through the closed garage door. He was 2. No kidding. It was in 1962.

Eve