Reading the article about the woman whose car crashed into the Auburndale Cleaners when it suddenly accelerated (Dec. 5) prompts me to write about a similar experience that I had and what caused it. It was a mechanical cause and not human error.
Driving on Route 2 coming out of Wilton, my car suddenly and uncontrollably accelerated at full throttle. I could not stop it with my brakes. After I shifted into “park” mode, the car came to a stop, still screaming at full throttle. The cause: a screw had vibrated loose and had fallen into the throttle cable linkage and was holding the throttle open. It could not be closed until the loose screw was removed.
How many other, sometimes fatal, accidents have been caused by this, which went undetected because the car was wrecked?
It would take a simple engineering change to protect the throttle linkage on all cars. A screen could cover the area so nothing could ever fall in to block the throttle.
Allidah Iles, Bethel
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