Turning the X5 off in an Emergency

[ABMW]

All,

I brought this up earlier, prior to the massive Toyota recall, and many complained I was misinformed in that the stuck throttle was the result of floor mats.

We all now know that is not the case, and has resulted in numerous accidents when vehicles have accelerated due drive-by-wire malfunctions and owners who have been too fearful to take action or without knowledge as to how to turn their car off while moving.

Given that our X5s are Drive-by-Wire vehicles and there is a tremendous amount of technology sharing that takes place within the industry, I think it's prudent that each BMW owner knows how to shut his or her vehicle off in an emergency.

There is no official protocol for this, that I've found, so I've experimented on my own.

A) The car can be put into neutral while moving. When I did so, at very slow speed it automatically put itself into park (this was at 1 mph) in a parking lot.

B) I've put the vehicle into neutral at 20 mph. and it has not shifted into park.

C) The X5 will shut off at speed by pressing the start/stop button for the normal amount of time needed to start or stop it. I've attempted this at speeds of 30 to 40 mph. Keep in mind you will quickly lose brake pressure, and power steering with quickly fade.

E) Applying the brakes and the throttle at the same time, will not cut the throttle and the brakes will operate to the point in which they will stop the car (seemingly). I have NOT tested this at any magnitude of speed.

Point being, I recommend everyone at the VERY least practice a shutdown while the car is moving in a parking lot or on a zero-traffic road or industrial park on the weekend.

Things do happen, and malfunctions do take place. This issue with Toyotas and Lexus Brands has been a known problem since 2004. I've followed it for some time. It's not ONLY mechanical in nature, but also electrical.

Toyota has indicated that gas pedals will become stiff over time, or slow to rebound. That may take place, but it appears to be only part of the cause.

Back in 2003 some of us with Nissan 350zs experienced issues that were similar to what's taking place with Toyotas now, but those cars were equipped with keys, that could be manually shut off.

The point is, knowing your vehicle and making sure each person who drives your vehicle is aware of what each switch operates, and specifically how to turn off the vehicle in an emergency is imperative.

One can not assume that an unintended acceleration could only take place on a straight highway. It has, and can, also take place on a windy road. So, please make sure you're aware of how to shut your BMW off, and until BMW releases official guidelines, I'd suggest you all experiment with your own vehicles to make sure they operate in manners that are consistent with what I've found.

It would not surprise me if BMW built in some sort of feature that prevents the vehicle from shutting off at a certain speed, without using some sort of specific combination of ignition switch "pushing," so please take what I've written above with a MAJOR grain of salt and realize that I've only experimented at speeds of 30 miles per hour max, and never to the detriment of the vehicle. Thus, be aware.

And please, let's not turn this into "this will never happen to BMW type of discussion." If you're familiar with servos, servo speed controllers, you'll know that errors can occur, do occur, and just because we haven't heard of them occurring doesn't mean they haven't. It's better to be error on the side of caution, given this new technology that we're seeing in cars.