Most likely the car died and after hitting the brakes 3ish times the booster used up the vacuum reserve and she panicked because the vehicle no longer stopped as she was used to it stopping, she also could not turn the steering wheel because it had lost itâs power/electric assist and she didnât try hard enough or was to weak to turn the steering wheel and NOT because the brakes locked up⊠She simply freaked out, nothing more nothing lessâŠ
That being said, I am sorry she went through this especially being pregnant, but if experienced or taught/trained to drive and what to do in cases like this, she would have simply pushed on the brakes with both feet a little harder and stopped the vehicle safelyâŠ
Not trying to be mean, but it is the same thing as the people that say they hit the brakes and the car sped upâŠ
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Yes, and no.
In some (perhaps many) of those cases, drivers were stomping on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal.
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Meaning that people get confused, panic and blame the car for not knowing what happened, it is never their faultâŠShe said she couldnât turn the steering wheel because the brakes locked up all while still moving, when all she needed to do was push on the very hard brake pedal, harderâŠ
Very loosely, it is the same type of thing⊠lol
Yup!
In one of the first ârunawayâ Toyota incidents (the car was driven by an off-duty cop), we were told that ânothing would stop the carâ, whenâin realityâall he had to do was to turn-off the ignition. Clearly, panic can override common sense.
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Itâs hard to say how we will react or what we will do in the event of an emergency. I wrote about my own experience when I was plowing and came to a steep, downhill embankment. My big boots apparently stepped on the brake and accelerator at the same time. The fear of going down that embankment had me frozen for a time contemplating what to do. I came to my senses and shifted to park before lifting my foot.
We are encouraged to practice for various emergencies; fire drills come to mind. Many people find open, snowy lots to practice controlling skids. One of the reasons I practice using the parking brake to stop my vehicles and that recently came into play when the brakes failed on my truck. Scared pretty good but no panic and brought the truck to a stop.
Decades ago I awoke to a smoke filled room. Choking on smoke I instinctively got down on my knees and crawled to the door, feeling to see if it was hot before opening it. Turned out to be my idiot roommate incinerating a pizza and fries in a drunken stupor. But that reaction was still in my brain on how to react even though it was many years ago that we were taught what to do.
Practicing for emergencies in vehicles should be something that is taught and encouraged. Probably never need it but invaluable if you doâŠ
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Definitely!
My mother told the story of an out-of-control car hurtling toward her while she stood waiting for a bus. She was so frozen by fear that she didnât move out of the way, and it was only through the grace of â â â that the car didnât hit her.
(I think itâs interesting that the forumâs new censoring algorithm now censors the word G-o-d. Wow!)
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Twin turbo reminded me. I donât panic a lot in a car but just react. We had bought a lot back about 1985 when I was young. It had a deep ravine that I wanted to fill in and level the lot out just to better keep the weeds down. So I rented a D7 cat from a guy I knew and hopped on Saturday morning and proceeded down the hill. Then I discovered cats have no brakes. Hitting the bottom would not have gone well. I discovered in time to put the blade down and reverse back up to level ground.
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Motor was off? Coasting on level road? Wow.
Didnât matter, the engine was not running, hence the loss of power brakes and steeringâŠ
So how could the car be speeding away if the engine was off?
I didnât study the video but weâve had this discussion before. Everybody has their explanation. Floor mats, excitable female, wrong pedal. Personally my guess is software or electronic glitch. My dad admitted that his foot got tangled up. But face it folks, we just donât know.
Here is yet another one, from a few days ago:
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The OP vid, the woman is hysterical and doing a whopping 17 mph. Claiming the car wonât turn off and brakes have failed. Shift to neutral, coast to a stop. Prime example of someone caught up in emotion and unable to think rationallyâŠ
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Donât forget she couldnât turn the steering wheel either, so lets think about this for a minute, she said she couldnât turn the car off, she couldnât stop the car, she could turn the steering wheel âbecause the brakes are locked upâ, AND she was slowing down from 17-16-15 bam rear ended the LEO⊠All 3 things, No Brakes, No steering, Canât turn the car off = the freaking car had stalled out = Not running anymoreâŠ
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Watching the video again I guess I agree with you. The engine just stalled. Maybe out of gas. Without my glasses, I sometimes see double so from my quick initial look at the video thought she was going 116. 
The cop asked me how fast I thought I was going and I sad musta been somewhere around 330 mph.
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