Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

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theholycow
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Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by theholycow »

Mom bought a 2015 Lincoln MKZ 3.7 v6.

tl;dr: Would there be any reason I can't take this ultra-modern car for a drive and test emergency procedures for killing the engine and shifting to neutral? I can't imagine there is, but mom would be pretty upset if I broke her car!

I love the sunroof or whatever it might be called. It's pretty much the entire roof, and it slides back over the rear window. It's wasted on her, like every roof hole she's had; she's always cold and never wants her hair messed up. I'd have the dang thing open all the time. Nice looking car. Center console is massively huge but at least it's not wasted, it's made of loads of cubbies and stuff...but nobody is getting cozy with their SO while driving it, that's for sure!

Anyway, she has keyless pushbutton start, pushbutton PRND*, and electric parking brake. In the event of some kind of major computer failure combined with unintended acceleration/stuck throttle she has no way to regain control or stop the 300HP car, period. Granted, that is so incredibly unlikely that it's not worth worrying about.

How about a more realistic unintended acceleration, like a floor mat that gets stuck and she can't unstick it? Brake + gas will trigger limited power mode but she'll still need to stop the car. How would she get it into neutral and kill the engine? Will the 'N' button obey? Will the Start/Stop button obey? The owner's manual doesn't say. It says:
http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_ ... abled=True
Stopping the Engine When Your Vehicle is Moving
WARNING
Switching off the engine when the vehicle is still moving will result in a loss of brake and steering assistance. The steering will not lock, but higher effort will be required. When the ignition is switched off, some electrical circuits, including air bags, warning lamps and indicators may also be off. If the ignition was turned off accidentally, you can shift into neutral (N) and re-start the engine.

Put the transmission in position N and use the brakes to bring your vehicle to a safe stop.

When your vehicle has stopped, put the transmission in position P.

Press and hold the button for one second, or press it three times within two seconds.

Apply the parking brake.
Their title is inaccurate; the instructions are for stopping the vehicle and then stopping the engine. 2015 is long enough yet recent enough after the whole Toyota unintended acceleration that they should know to put proper information in there.

So...is there anything totally weird that would actually get messed up if I test shutting the engine off at speed in Drive and Neutral? How about shifting to Neutral at speed? I just looked it up and found that it has a "Ford 6F50 (Ford-GM transmission)" which sounds like a common planetary automatic that should be fine. Plus, with all that smarter than the user technology I can't imagine it would allow me to break it with those electronic controls.
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by IMBoring25 »

I can't imagine it would let you break it either.
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Wow, neither of you guys have as active of an imagination as I have!

I remember something about Chrysler's first electronically-controlled slushbox having a default to go to 2nd gear if it lost power - even at highway speeds! They were thinking that above all else it needed 2nd, reverse and park, so those were always available.

The engine wouldn't over-rev if you just shifted to Neutral, and you would still have your powerful steering assist. If the throttle was burried, would you run out of vacuum for the brake booster? If so, then you have only mebbe 1 or 2 assisted brake applications remaining.

Also, you have mebbe one chance to stop a vehicle with a runaway throttle - one steady moderate to hard application of the brakes as you steer it over to the side of the road. Those Toy Odor people went and tried to limp them home by lightly dragging on the brakes to hold the speed down to something reasonable, but this only worked until the brake temperatures built up to where there was severe brake fade and then there was not enough brake force to resist the engine power.

You should go experiment and report back to us!
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by potownrob »

theholycow wrote:Mom bought a 2015 Lincoln MKZ 3.7 v6.

tl;dr: Would there be any reason I can't take this ultra-modern car for a drive and test emergency procedures for killing the engine and shifting to neutral? I can't imagine there is, but mom would be pretty upset if I broke her car!
why would you try this on such a nice car, let alone someone else's, let alone mom's??? :?
I love the sunroof or whatever it might be called. It's pretty much the entire roof, and it slides back over the rear window. It's wasted on her, like every roof hole she's had; she's always cold and never wants her hair messed up. I'd have the dang thing open all the time. Nice looking car. Center console is massively huge but at least it's not wasted, it's made of loads of cubbies and stuff...but nobody is getting cozy with their SO while driving it, that's for sure!
sounds familiar, other than the electrical parking brake (mine is manual) and the tons of storage cubbies and luxuriously padded seats. oh and the 300 hp... i say as long as she doesn't keep the under cover on the moonroof while it's nice out (and just keeps the roof closed), then she's still taking advantage of dat roof. i usually keep mine closed but with the sunshade open, unless i need to vent the cabin for sometimes unspeakable reasons.
Anyway, she has keyless pushbutton start, pushbutton PRND*, and electric parking brake. In the event of some kind of major computer failure combined with unintended acceleration/stuck throttle she has no way to regain control or stop the 300HP car, period. Granted, that is so incredibly unlikely that it's not worth worrying about.
i'd rather not think about that stuff, but it does make you wonder...
How about a more realistic unintended acceleration, like a floor mat that gets stuck and she can't unstick it? Brake + gas will trigger limited power mode but she'll still need to stop the car. How would she get it into neutral and kill the engine? Will the 'N' button obey? Will the Start/Stop button obey? The owner's manual doesn't say. It says:
http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_ ... abled=True
...
Their title is inaccurate; the instructions are for stopping the vehicle and then stopping the engine. 2015 is long enough yet recent enough after the whole Toyota unintended acceleration that they should know to put proper information in there.
don't do it man... :o
So...is there anything totally weird that would actually get messed up if I test shutting the engine off at speed in Drive and Neutral? How about shifting to Neutral at speed? I just looked it up and found that it has a "Ford 6F50 (Ford-GM transmission)" which sounds like a common planetary automatic that should be fine. Plus, with all that smarter than the user technology I can't imagine it would allow me to break it with those electronic controls.
probably will be okay, but don't do it man... 8)
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by theholycow »

potownrob wrote:why would you try this on such a nice car, let alone someone else's, let alone mom's??? :?
Because if the shit hit the fan and she was hurt or killed and it could have been prevented by a small experiment and a tiny amount of education, I'd never forgive myself. If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it, and what I've learned is that those systems + non-technical drivers == no functional emergency procedure == death in the event of an emergency. She is more important than the car, which can be replaced.

And obviously, trying it on another car would only teach me about that car.
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by bk7794 »



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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Cow,
You REALLY need to record some video (ok, audio too) when you do these experiments on your mom's car and post them on Moo-Toob

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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by potownrob »

theholycow wrote:
potownrob wrote:why would you try this on such a nice car, let alone someone else's, let alone mom's??? :?
Because if the shit hit the fan and she was hurt or killed and it could have been prevented by a small experiment and a tiny amount of education, I'd never forgive myself. If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it, and what I've learned is that those systems + non-technical drivers == no functional emergency procedure == death in the event of an emergency. She is more important than the car, which can be replaced.

And obviously, trying it on another car would only teach me about that car.
doesn't sound like a small experiment nor potentially just a tiny amount of education. then you follow it with some sappy emotional reasoning. for your mom's sake at least, i hope you're kidding. :? 8)
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Re: Newfangled stuff on 2015 Lincoln MKZ - how about emergency procedures?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

potownrob wrote:
theholycow wrote:
potownrob wrote:why would you try this on such a nice car, let alone someone else's, let alone mom's??? :?
Because if the shit hit the fan and she was hurt or killed and it could have been prevented by a small experiment and a tiny amount of education, I'd never forgive myself. If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it, and what I've learned is that those systems + non-technical drivers == no functional emergency procedure == death in the event of an emergency. She is more important than the car, which can be replaced.

And obviously, trying it on another car would only teach me about that car.
doesn't sound like a small experiment nor potentially just a tiny amount of education. then you follow it with some sappy emotional reasoning. for your mom's sake at least, i hope you're kidding. :? 8)
I know....get your mom to do the testing. If anything goes terribly wrong, and they blame it back on you, you can throw yourself upon the mercy of the courts because "I am a half-orphan"
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