Chevrolet Equinox offers sudden acceleration déjà vu
Another runaway vehicle?
Local Louisville news station, WLKY reports that a Kentucky woman was driving on Interstate 64 with her twin daughters when she claims to have experienced sudden unintended acceleration in her 2008 Chevrolet Equinox. Marlene Taylor says that she set the cruise control and then watched in horror as the vehicle began to accelerate uncontrollably to 90 miles per hour.
Taylor called 911 through her vehicle’s OnStar system and was instructed to put the vehicle in neutral. She claims that she was unable to do so and the operator asked her to engage the parking brake and to try pulling up on the accelerator pedal with her foot. Taylor again claims that neither maneuver worked.
The Kentucky Highway Patrol was dispatched to help and finally caught up to Taylor’s vehicle around mile marker 58. After thirty miles and twenty minutes of intense driving, one officer positioned his cruiser in front of the Equinox and was able to bring the situation to a halt. It is unclear if Taylor was able to stop the Equinox on her own or if the highway patrol officer had to use his cruiser to forcibly slow the vehicle.
Marlene Taylor has since hired attorney, William McMurry who announced, “We simply want the manufacturer to investigate thoroughly.” No lawsuit has yet been filed, though McMurray says that he has already contacted General Motors to request a full investigation.
With so few details available at this point, it’s unclear if the incident was staged or real. Why did Marlene Taylor’s car not accelerate past 90 miles per hour, for instance? Why also did her attempt to place the transmission in neutral fail?
Toyota experienced a similarly sensational episode in March when Prius driver, Jim Sikes led police on a wild chase on the freeways outside San Diego. Electronic and physical evidence from the Prius later suggested that there were significant holes in Sikes’ story, backed up by large debts and a former business associate who alleged that Sikes was an untrustworthy con man.
Time will tell if Marlene Taylor is the new Jim Sikes or if her harrowing experience means that automakers still must work to convince a nervous public that there are no ghosts in their machines.
UPDATE: General Motors refutes Taylor’s claims following an investigation of the vehicle. Click here for the full story.
2 Comments
I work in Communications at General Motors. We have examined the 2008 Chevrolet Equinox and while we do not know what happened on the night of May 27 in Kentucky, we know there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. GM’s examination of the vehicle on May 31 and June 1 revealed: 1. There is an aftermarket floor mat placed on top of the production floor mat. 2. There are no unusual wear marks visible on the brake pads showing that there was ever any heavy, extended application of the brakes at any time. 3. There were no diagnostic trouble codes set during the incident. 4. Data downloaded from the event data recorder shows that that the vehicle traveled at a constant speed of 87 miles per hour during the 2.5-seconds recorded; that the cruise control was engaged, and that there was no application of the brake pedal during the period recorded.
During two emergency calls placed from the vehicle to OnStar during the incident, 911 authorities were engaged and counseled the driver to apply the brakes, to put the transmission into neutral, to disengage the cruise control, and to shut off the ignition. She allegedly was unable to accomplish any of these tasks.
“We looked at all the systems in the vehicle, including cruise control and the braking system; we went over that vehicle for two solid days,” GM senior engineer Vic Hakim said. “We don’t know what happened that night, but we do know nothing is wrong with the vehicle.”
Hakim said the examination included the brake rotors and the brake pads, both of which showed only normal wear. “If the driver tried to apply the brakes and cruise (control) did not disengage, I would have expected to see some over-heating and there was none of that.”