Thread: Malfunctioning car runs over 7 students, killing one

[quote=who;1809495]

Originally Posted by Spin

Originally Posted by Latindancer

. An automatic will roll as if it is in Neutral if it is in Drive.

are you sure about that?

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Then he may have thought he'd start it................whereupon it would have surged forward, having been started in gear.

With the engine stopped and gearlever in drive, every single auto I have ever driven will not start when the key is turned.

I think you are talking utter shite. Perhaps not.

Everyone seems to be assuming that the car had an automatic transmission. If it were an older Mercedez and had a manual transmission, it could start and move.
One guess is that the man left the car IN GEAR. If so, being an old car with a low compression ratio, the engine could very well start when the ignition was engaged. Even if the car didn't start it could jump ahead when the key was turned on and the car left in a forward gear. So: maybe, perhaps, possibly ...

My wife said something about his not starting it in "P", which indicates it was auto. Also, someone else here said it was automatic, so I thought they must know.

Originally Posted by who

"With the engine stopped and gearlever in drive, every single auto I have ever driven will not start when the key is turned.
I think you are talking utter shite. Perhaps not."

DEFINITELY not ! It's a dangerous and stupid thing to do, but if some mechanic hotwired the inhibitor switch because it was worn out, he could start the car in ANY gear.
I'm a mechanic, and have done it to my own car......as a temporary measure until I got a new inhibitor switch.
Or, as you say, he may have started it in gear. Sometime during the last 3 years, a famous Australian bushman got squashed against a tree (and killed) by his door as a result of doing the same thing....he had a habit of starting the car _AS_ he got in, whilst out in the bush.