FULL SPEED AHEAD

THE TEEN WAS TRAPPED IN A CAR ACCELERATING OUT OF CONTROL. COULD IT BE STOPPED BEFORE HE RAN OUT OF ROAD?

- Eric Raskin

Catherine Dutcher had just turned into the Hardee’s parking lot to pick up dinner for her family on an otherwise routine Tuesday evening last September in rural West Fargo, North Dakota, when her phone rang.

“Mom,” her 18-year-old son, Sam Dutcher, said when she answered, “it’s happening again.”

Catherine knew immediately what “it” was.

About a week and a half earlier, Sam was behind the wheel of his mother’s pearl white 2022 Honda Pilot SUV when it seemed to develop a mind of its own. Sam’s foot wasn’t on the accelerator, but the car, which had never given the Dutchers any problems, was accelerating anyway.

The first-year student at Minnesota State Community and Technical College slammed his foot on the brake. He held it there until the car went into “limp mode,” a safety feature of modern cars that activates when the automobile detects a problem with a critical system. When the Pilot came to a stop at the side of the road, Sam called his mom, and they agreed that he shouldn’t attempt to drive the vehicle home. Instead, they had it towed to the Honda dealership in Fargo.

For several days, the technicians ran every diagnostic test they could, but they were unable to duplicate the sudden acceleration Sam had experienced. After the mechanics said that, as best they could tell, everything was fine, the Dutchers—a three-car, three-driver family that was feeling the strain of being down a car—decided to pick up the SUV and bring it home.

On that Tuesday in September, Catherine dropped Sam off at the dealership to pick up the Pilot, then headed to Hardee’s. The teenager, who has a mop of wavy brown hair a bit like Mick Jagger’s signature hairstyle of the late ’60s, got behind the wheel, adjusted the seat and mirrors, and pushed the power button. The engine started, no problem. All systems normal.