Speed Limiters

All new cars have them, but what are they really? Computerized speed limiters were placed on vehicles as a safety device not only for driving fast but for overdriving a cars limits. Most smaller cars are limited to about 108MPH based on tire size and ratings, structure of the vehicle, and engine design. Picture driving down the highway the road is wide open your girlfriend puts the pedal to the floor and as the speedometer hits 108MPH the car stops accelerating. Her foot is still firmly planted on pedal holding it to the floor but the car will not go any faster. It has happened on many occasions and my girl wanted to test this again with a small sports car.

We rented a Mitsubishi Eclipse with a 4 cylinder and headed out to the open highway.

Without wasting a moment she floors the gas pedal in her platform heels

The 4 cylinder comes to life screaming at the top of it's RPM. The speedometer passes 80MPH with her foot still firmly planted on the gas pedal

 

The small car starts to shimmy a little as the wind speed picks up around the vehicle. My girl's foot never leaves the floor continuing the push for higher speeds

 

The speedometer passes 100MPH in what seems to be a lifetime with that little 4 cylinder working as hard as it can.

 

My girl tells me that her foot is starting to hurt from holding the pedal to the floor in hopes to reach the top speed of the car.

 

 

Finally the car reaches it's speed limiter of 120MPH with no further acceleration

 

Excited and depressed all at the same time she lets off the gas pedal to slow back down. She tells me that it sucks that a sports car only goes to 120 when the speedometer shows 160, false advertisement!

 

After our "testing" my girl examined her footwear and asked if it would make any difference if she wore differnt pairs of shoes. Well, we would have to test again to find out I told her... To Be Continued!