Mitsubishi Montero Sudden Acceleration Accidents [MERGED]

[ghosthunter]

[SIZE=3]Mitsubishi Motors Philippines' deposition on the Montero Sport's Unintended Acceleration[/SIZE]
Words by Christopher Kho

When stories about the Montero Sport's unintended acceleration went viral over the web, it certainly raised a lot of questions on Mitsubishi's reliability, safety, and integrity. Accounts from several owners around the country described to have experienced their vehicles accelerating uncontrollably upon shifting from Park to Drive. Allegedly, the behemoth SUV continued to speed up and ended up crashing into structures and other cars even with the driver’s foot firmly on the brake pedal. With a big sigh of relief, no one got seriously injured in the incidents; but in the search to find a cause, the Montero Sport was quickly singled out as the culprit.

continued at the link: Mitsubishi Motors Philippines' deposition on the Montero Sport's Unintended Acceleration

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines' deposition on the Montero Sport's Unintended Acceleration

[spotdog11]

Top Gear's Vernon Sarne article:

Unintentionally yours - All Will Drive | TopGear.com.ph

[111prez]

Top Gear's Vernon Sarne article:

Unintentionally yours - All Will Drive | TopGear.com.ph

i love what he wrote here:

"Below is my reply to the good doctor. And let it be the conclusion to this already long-winded column:

“Yes, we’ve seen the blog, and yes, we’ve asked Mitsubishi about it. If you’re a regular visitor of our website, you must have noticed by now that we have not posted any story related to this. Why? Frankly, after hearing Mitsubishi’s side, I personally don’t believe the ‘unintended acceleration’ cases being leveled against the Montero Sport. That’s the same thing that happened with Toyota (which was eventually dismissed by the US courts). I am not saying that the accident victims are fabricating their claims. I’m just saying I don’t believe them. As a motoring journalist, I (together with my colleagues) have been test-driving these SUVs for years and have yet to encounter something remotely similar to what the ‘victims’ are claiming. I only ask that you don’t quote me on forums and social-media sites. I don’t want to get ganged upon by rabid keyboard warriors--the same reason Mitsubishi is choosing to keep silent in the middle of all this (although they have not been remiss in having the cases investigated, even flying in a couple of engineers from Japan to ascertain some claims). Again, I’m not saying the claims are bogus, but I want to tell you that I honestly don’t believe them.”

[arsen]

I think both Mitsu (Strada/Montero) and Toyota (Hilux/Fortuner) diesel engines are using the same controller developed and patented by Denso.
Both has ETS (Electronic Throttle System) having an ETC (Electronic Throttle Controller) that controls a DC motor driven throttle valve (throttle body).

The main function of the ETS/ETC is to control the flow of fresh air during the normal running operation by partially or almost completely closing the throttle valve depending on the load of the engine. By doing so, two ideal condition/environment is created:

1. Because of ETS/ETC , there will always be enough vacuum in the intake manifold. The almost continuous presence of vacuum makes the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculator) system operation efficient, thus effectively lowering the NOx emission therefore the engine complies with the regulation.

2. Since the engine has turbocharger, there will ALWAYS be enough pressurized fresh air accumulated in the tubes prior to the throttle valve. That volume of accumulated fresh air is just waiting to be released once the engine needs a large volume of fresh air in order to produce more power when needed or during full load condition. The throttle valve is acting only like a dam and since the throttle valve is close to the combustion chamber of the engine. Power lag is greatly reduced especially when accelerating from full-stop where maximum load is only for a few seconds.

The secondary function is to completely close the intake when shutting OFF the engine. This prevents the engine from shaking excessively.

The safety function is to immediately disengage the DC motor mechanism so that the throttle valve will be fully opened mechanically by the spring. The safety function is to prevent the engine from stalling. Nobody wants their engine to stall while driving uphill or while doing hill-start right?

By having an idea how the system functions (somehow), these could be possible to happen:
1. Driver forgot to release the handbrake or continue to step on the brake after shifting the lever to "D".
2. The vehicle is accelerated at fully loaded condition due to the handbrake, continue stepping on the brake or both.
3. Since fully loaded, the engine does not rev up normally or there is some power lag so the driver pressed the accelerator pedal further and/or the driver becomes aware and released the brake but maintains the accelerator position.
4. Unfortunately, the engine detect a possible stall event so it disengage the ETS/ETC while the driver is releasing the hand or footbrake. The throttle is opened fully by the spring. Then a sudden burst of power is likely to happen depending on how far the accelerator pedal is pressed. The sudden burst of power should not take any longer if the accelerator pedal is released.
5. Problem is the vehicle is not on a straight, wide open road. The driver usually reacts first to what he see and that could be a very near obstruction ahead.


So be gentle on the accelerator pedal.
If you accelerate hard coming from a full stop make sure the hand brake is released and your left foot is not on the brake thinking it is a clutch in order to avoid accelerating the vehicle like in the video below (the video is intentional but look closely during the 0:03 to 0:05 seconds of the video and see how the engine behave when the brake is pressed ) Imagine what will happen if it is on a tight road full of obstructions:

[dr. d]

remember how we dry our brake pads whenever we get out of a flood? step on the accelerator and brake pedals at the same time? well, anyone who has done it, knows that it is easy to stall the engine by just applying more pressure on the brake pedal. unless you thought you were putting on the brake when you were actually pushing the accelerator pedal...

[5 C'S]

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines' deposition on the Montero Sport's Unintended Acceleration

Thanks ghosthunter, thats the answer I'm looking for. Unlike others, makapag comment lang, di bale ng maka offend...

[X_Bow_823]

Thanks ghosthunter, thats the answer I'm looking for. Unlike others, makapag comment lang, di bale ng maka offend...

Mitsubishi issues statement on Montero Sport sudden-unintended-acceleration cases - News | TopGear.com.ph

Here's MMPC's reply to the thread. Free checkup for all owners, FYI.

[Ry_Tower]

Kitam, the answer has always been the same. No inherent defect! Hope this rests the case since free check-up pa yan para lang makahinga ng malalim!

[111prez]

Kitam, the answer has always been the same. No inherent defect! Hope this rests the case since free check-up pa yan para lang makahinga ng malalim!

hopefully

but for some, hindi nila bibitawan ito

herherher

[niky]

What Vernon's saying is basically what some of us have been saying in this thread all along. Many, many years of experience testing, driving, racing and drag-racing these cars, and not once have we seen anything like the behavior claimed in those reports. And I think I also pointed out the NHTSA findings in the Toyota cases, too.

I think both Mitsu (Strada/Montero) and Toyota (Hilux/Fortuner) diesel engines are using the same controller developed and patented by Denso.
Both has ETS (Electronic Throttle System) having an ETC (Electronic Throttle Controller) that controls a DC motor driven throttle valve (throttle body).

The main function of the ETS/ETC is to control the flow of fresh air during the normal running operation by partially or almost completely closing the throttle valve depending on the load of the engine. By doing so, two ideal condition/environment is created:

1. Because of ETS/ETC , there will always be enough vacuum in the intake manifold. The almost continuous presence of vacuum makes the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculator) system operation efficient, thus effectively lowering the NOx emission therefore the engine complies with the regulation.

2. Since the engine has turbocharger, there will ALWAYS be enough pressurized fresh air accumulated in the tubes prior to the throttle valve. That volume of accumulated fresh air is just waiting to be released once the engine needs a large volume of fresh air in order to produce more power when needed or during full load condition. The throttle valve is acting only like a dam and since the throttle valve is close to the combustion chamber of the engine. Power lag is greatly reduced especially when accelerating from full-stop where maximum load is only for a few seconds.

The secondary function is to completely close the intake when shutting OFF the engine. This prevents the engine from shaking excessively.

The safety function is to immediately disengage the DC motor mechanism so that the throttle valve will be fully opened mechanically by the spring. The safety function is to prevent the engine from stalling. Nobody wants their engine to stall while driving uphill or while doing hill-start right?

By having an idea how the system functions (somehow), these could be possible to happen:
1. Driver forgot to release the handbrake or continue to step on the brake after shifting the lever to "D".
2. The vehicle is accelerated at fully loaded condition due to the handbrake, continue stepping on the brake or both.
3. Since fully loaded, the engine does not rev up normally or there is some power lag so the driver pressed the accelerator pedal further and/or the driver becomes aware and released the brake but maintains the accelerator position.
4. Unfortunately, the engine detect a possible stall event so it disengage the ETS/ETC while the driver is releasing the hand or footbrake. The throttle is opened fully by the spring. Then a sudden burst of power is likely to happen depending on how far the accelerator pedal is pressed. The sudden burst of power should not take any longer if the accelerator pedal is released.
5. Problem is the vehicle is not on a straight, wide open road. The driver usually reacts first to what he see and that could be a very near obstruction ahead.


So be gentle on the accelerator pedal.
If you accelerate hard coming from a full stop make sure the hand brake is released and your left foot is not on the brake thinking it is a clutch in order to avoid accelerating the vehicle like in the video below (the video is intentional but look closely during the 0:03 to 0:05 seconds of the video and see how the engine behave when the brake is pressed ) Imagine what will happen if it is on a tight road full of obstructions:

The problem with this theory is that when an engine is under load straining against the brakes, you should notice it. The torque converters on these machines only lock up at about 2000 rpm, so an observant driver would notice it "idling" at twice the normal idle speed.

I've experienced the anti-stall function on the Focus. It will bump it to about 1.5k, but not any higher. We used to play a game with the manual TDCi where we would shift into gear while parked, and drive around without using the gas pedal... just the clutch.

But there is an idea there... if perhaps the system over-reacts to a perceived stall... it could temporarily bump up the revs too high... but such a situation has never been replicated/simulated under controlled testing.