The world really is a funny place. Fifty years ago there wasn’t much concept of ‘health and safety’. The view was more along the lines of, if you do something stupid and get hurt, it’s your own darn fault.
Nowadays though anything and everything comes with a warning label, explaining in laborious detail that your cuppa joe is hot, or that your child will suffocate if it wraps its head in a plastic bag, and that you will die if you eat old batteries. Common-sense has clearly been bred out of our kind.
Not to be left out, vehicle manufacturers are often asked by safety regulators to recall hundreds of thousands of their cars every time some silly driver can’t wind down their window properly. The latest case of this foolishness is aimed at Nissan, who may have to recall 360 000 Nissan Versa’s and its derivatives because the yank behind the wheel got his clown shoe stuck on some plastic trim and couldn’t stop accelerating. Poor chap.
By the by, according to some reports there’s an outside chance that Nissan Sentra’s (also sold locally) may be affected too. No need for concern though, I drove one last month and can report that not once did some bit of plastic cause ‘unwanted acceleration’. MD
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) – U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that a carpet cover trim panel is causing unwanted acceleration in Nissan Versa cars and preventing drivers from braking.
According to a document posted online on Saturday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency has opened a preliminary investigation into 360,000 Nissan Versa, Versa Sedan and Versa Note from model years 2012-2014.
The NHTSA said it had received four complaints that the tunnel carpet cover trim panel on those vehicles had trapped the edge of the driver’s shoe, interfering with the driver’s ability to reduce acceleration and to apply the brakes.
“I attempted to remove my foot from the gas pedal, but could not, because my foot was stuck,” said one complaint on the website. “The plastic piece that covers the center console extends around to just next to the gas pedal… The corner of that plastic panel wedged between the sole and leather upper of my work boots, preventing me from taking my foot off the gas pedal.”
A preliminary investigation is the first step in a process that could lead to a recall if regulators determine that a safety issue needs to be addressed by a manufacturer.
“We’ve just been made of aware of it and we will be cooperating fully with that investigation,” Nissan spokesman Steve Yaeger said. (Reporting by Sandra Maler; editing by Gunna Dickson)
