xioix

you mean pushing the car with the engine off, then yes I have turned the wheel with it off, its not that hard, and I'm a real small guy

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

It's just a 318, the brakes would have held it enough to slow it until he could kill it.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

you can turn your front wheels (of your lexus) when the engine is off? something must be wrong with my gs400 then. i just tried this afternoon again, when the engine is off, i can't turn my steering wheel, and as soon as i turn it, it locks up. i thought this is a safety measure?

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Is your ingnition in the "Run" position? If you leave it in ACC only it should lock up I believe. All cars do this. If you set in in the "Run" position (The second click) it should not lock and I believe all cars are like this. Like someone mentioned above, that is how we push cars around without the need to start them, or if the engine can't run.

LEXUS FAN!

if you were to turn the car off in the middle of driving what would happen?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

umm i gotta try it again tonight if it doesn't rain bad. i will make sure it's the 2nd click

spwolf

its very hard to think when you are going 130mph and avoiding other cars. question is if he could it properly or his steering would lock, and to unlocking it he would have to jerk the wheel left/right.

TheRupp

Err I meant "run", not ACC. Whatever position you would have it in before you can turn it to start it.

I dunno... If it's just a 318 then it'd probably take a good while to get up to 130 mph. I'd think that I would've had time to think to hold the brakes down and downshift, or kill the engine, etc.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

okok, i just tried, if you are in ACC, the steering is definitely locked, but in ON, you can turn the steering wheel but of course you get no power steering, so when stopped, steering is super tight (but it's not locked).

also looked, and you gotta be VERY careful when you try to put the car from START back to ON without going over to ACC. it's very short. a bit more force (i had to stare at it to make sure i didn't go over) and you are back in ACC, not good

GFerg

WOW...this is crazy. I didnt know they were so strict out there in Cali.

AZ-GS300

Driver is an idiot and looking for attention.

number 1: Screw downshifting. Just pop it into neutral. Blow the motor.

number 2: (as has been pointed out) key to ACC position doesn't lock the wheel but will shut off the car.

number 3: Try it yourself, push both brake and gas pedals and see if you can get to 70mph.

number 4: Car was a 1998 BMW 318. You would think this problem would have surfaced by now if it was really a problem with the car.

rominl: what kind of car do you drive? year/make/model? I just tried in my 98 GS300 and was able to turn the wheel from one extreme to the other in the ACC position.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

All he had to do was turn the ingition one click back to kill the engine then one click back on again. As long as he wasn't steering the vehicle it would not lock the steering wheel. Unfortunately, I have to admit as a younger person I used to do that myself sometimes late at night. I used to do that in my manual car to show friends how you can jump start the car again without engauging the starter. The main point of all this is he should have put the car in neutral and killed the engine before he even reached 130 MPH. As soon as he knew his accelerator was stcuk he should have done this, or at least anytime while he still had some brakes left and had no cars in front of him. Also, I've seen many cars where the brake can hold a car still even under full throttle. I know muscle cars sometimes hold the brake and do burn outs as the engine HP over powers the rear brake, but the front brakes still hold and you need a heck of a lot more power than a 98 4 cylinder 318 has. If this really is a true story it is a very rare and strange one.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

The engine can't overpower the brakes. QED.

toy4two

exactly. Power steering at 100 MPH isn't going to be any different than manual steering.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

im surprised a 318 can even go that fast