Renaults ? Pah !

[daktari]

The car with a mind of its own and a taste for speed

A French man found himself literally taking the ride of his life when his car began to drive itself - at 120mph down a busy motorway.

Hicham Dequiedt, 29, went to overtake a lorry in his 16-valve Renault Vel Satis saloon car and found to his horror that the car kept on accelerating. Neither the gears nor brake pedal had any effect on the rampaging machine as it hurtled down the A71 road which runs between Bourges and Clermont-Ferrand.

The terrified driver called the police on his mobile phone to warn them, and turned his headlights on full beam in the hope that cars would move out of his way. Many didn't and he was forced to make drastic lane changes to avoid collisions. When the traffic became too heavy, Dequiedt had to veer off the road completely.

"I tore down the hard shoulder with inches between me, juggernauts and the verge" the shaken motorist recalled.

Police cars sent to try and escort him to safety struggled to keep up with the speeding vehicle.

He pulled off one last daredevil feat - speeding through a narrow toll booth unscathed - before he managed to remove the magnetic keycard which starts the Renault's engine. The car eventually slowed and stopped.

Renault boss Louis Schweitzer told French television: "As its been described to me, this incident surprises me and seems highly improbable."

The Vel Satis was introduced in Europe in March 2002, and was praised for its hi-tech features. Renault technicians are now inspecting the car in question to find the source of the problem.

JEEEEZUSSSS

[breezer]

hmmmmmmmm

[Bibbs]

hmm, what about neutral or ingition ..

Probably driving like a peen and had to think of an excuse ..

[breezer]

[alanbradley]

hmm, what about neutral or ingition ..

Probably driving like a peen and had to think of an excuse ..

Either that or BS... I'm not too sure there are any Péages on that stretch of road, I think they're all at the exits <_<

A

[jaxx]

handbrake???

ok so not fully effective but would eventually stop

[Stu8]

thats what you call Va Va Voom

even an automatic still has neutral

[Stu8]

handbrake???

ok so not fully effective but would eventually stop

handbrake at 125mph, I think he values his life :o

[kalmr2]

i've drove one of these vel satis thingy-me-bobs, and this doesn't surprise me.

they have more toys than you can shake a stick at.

as for the handbrake, its actually a hydraulic button-switchy type thing. (don't know if it will work the same way) <_<

also a lot of new auto's will not let you put them in neutral over 40 mph. (in case you put it in reverse ((really not good)) ;)

[Moffmo]

i really cant see something like that happening but crickey!

did he forget about cruise control?

[houston]

seem to remember somthing similar with ford mavericks, accelerator pedals sticking to the floor and unable to prise them back up! my mate has a new megane and i tried takin the key card out whilst he was movin and it didnt do anything till he stopped and tried to move away, might be a problem like the hdi engines where the fuel pump brushes are worn away and the fuel is constantly pumped, happened to quite a few 406s and xantias round here and its a problem they know about!!!

[LimeyMk1]

I think I'll stick with my nice LOW-tech Mk1

[Charlies Angel]

"Fly by wire"

what a wonderfull thing :ffs:

[knightrider]

hmm sounds like the car was taken over by a chav demon!

[Bibbs]

a french car trying to kill itself with a french passenger .. sound like the kinda car we need more of :)

[starletcraig]

lol brings a new meaning to Renault's advert ''shakin that *****''.........

what a driving sensation

[wise1]

seem to remember somthing similar with ford mavericks, accelerator pedals sticking to the floor and unable to prise them back up! my mate has a new megane and i tried takin the key card out whilst he was movin and it didnt do anything till he stopped and tried to move away, might be a problem like the hdi engines where the fuel pump brushes are worn away and the fuel is constantly pumped, happened to quite a few 406s and xantias round here and its a problem they know about!!!

That was the Ford Explorer - thankfully their not sold in the UK anymore..... come to think of it, nor is the Maverick :P

The fault was the carpet of all things! The mats would slip under the peddle and jam it open!!! You would think US designers could come up with Non-slip mats wouldn't you...

They also had a similar fault later on which was with the crusie control sticking - no carpet being the culprit with that one though

[CraigT]

Actually something similar happened to me.

My other car is a new shape Clio 1.6 16v and that went through a little bout of wanting to drive itself.

Basically the revs would start going ballistic when you were driving and the car would start surging forward by itself very quickly.

I would have to jam the breaks on, pull over, turn the car off and then back on again. Would be okay for a bit after that.

Renault said that a fault code had gotten stuck or corrupted in the cars ecu and thats why it wanted to drive by itself LOL

[GLIExec]

On the subject of Renaults I walked past a dealer the other week & saw this, fresh off the transporter & yes it does say 'starting fault'! Camera phones are handy :)

[Blue84]

I've never liked Renaults! On another forum I go on one of the women has a new Megane Scenic and its handbrake got stuck on..apparently its an automatic footbrake or something..