The strange Chinese car crash footage and other more plausible examples of "jumping cars"

a reply to: FormOfTheLord

Your right .

He seems to appear out nowhere.

Then he just ignores the chaos that is right in front of him .

I still think the cable theory is the most likely explanation ,but your post made me look at that clip again .

a reply to: SlowNail

This also my understanding of how a car works .

I don't accept that they can start on their own let alone leap about of there own accord .

a reply to: thebabyseagull

Get in a manual car, turn the key with the handbrake off, foot off the brake and clutch and with it in gear.

What happens?

It'll jump and lurch.

And it's actually quite easy to "short out" a starter motor, you just need to bridge two points on the solenoid. It's a well known trick, all you need is a screw driver, but it's entirely possible that something that conducts electricity could fall across these two points, add that to the above scenario, apart from the key turning bit, and there you have a car, with no one in it, lurching and jumping around.

Oh and then add years of the story being retold, with people adding their own embellishments, and we have the OP..

originally posted by: thebabyseagull

I still think the cable theory is the most likely explanation ,

What other explanation could there be, especially when you see the cable, and it being removed!

a reply to: hellobruce

For the same reason people make up silly stories about a man in the clouds creating the universe. ^_^

Well, I guess in this case there's actually an observable phenomena that can trick you in this case. I'm curious as to if the cable snapped from the strain.

Ok just my 2 cents on the Chinese video. It definitely was caused by a cable......because the follow up video showed the cable and how it happened....but.. as others have said.. there is definitely a mysterious person that appears seemingly out of thin air on the left hand side of the screen.. they seem to be totally unaffected by what's happening around them and yes they do seem to have some type of a cloaking effect around themselves... so even though I think the cars were caught by the cable I am still very intrigued by this mysterious person/thing.

a reply to: HarryJoy

Shadows, poor video quality, are what makes them appear out of nowhere.

a reply to: Chadwickus

Shadows, poor video quality, are what makes them appear out of nowhere.

Reminds me of this neat little video from China.



China sure does have a lot of people who appear out of nowhere when these types of things happen.

Or they just use the poor quality cameras for their traffic cams. You would think China would have better quality cameras.

As far as the car in South Africa. The most likely explanation is a short circuit at the solenoid on the starter. A short circuit at that point...would bypass ALL safety switches.

Magneto

a reply to: hellobruce

There could always be a possibility of another explanation to any event.

We can never be 100% certain of anything.

We can make very reasonable and probable assumptions but never with 100% certainty.

What other explanation could there be ?

UFO with a magnet ?

Chinese xmen ?

Weird localized weather phenomena ?

A cable dose seem the most likely.

a reply to: HarryJoy

Can a short circuit occur when there is no power ?

a reply to: Chadwickus

Seems like a reasonable explanation .

a reply to: Chadwickus
>Get in a manual car, turn the key with the handbrake off, foot off the brake and clutch and with it in gear.
What happens?
It'll jump and lurch.

The car in question had no one inside to to turn the key and the hand break was on .

Also the two police officers in attendance described the car as leaping not lurching.

Heres the quote .

"in full view of the Schietekats, the tourists and the two police officers, the vehicle "suddenly made a type of roaring sound and gave two powerful leaps to the back"

I would say that the two police officers make credible witnesses and i would expect them to know something about cars.

If the explanation to the south African jumping car case is so mundane why dont we see more examples of this happening ?

Why dont we ever see any accidents caused by unoccupied vehicles hoping around ?

a reply to: thebabyseagull

There is ALWAYS power going to the big post of the solenoid. The big positive cable from the battery runs directly to the big post on the solenoid ( mounted on the starter ). There are two smaller posts beside the large post on the solenoid one of the small posts ( the one that gets energized when you turn the key to the start position) is the wire that energizes the coil ( electromagnet ) in the solenoid that pulls the contact plate up against the backside of the big post ( and also engages starter drive gear ) and connects it to the conductor that energizes the actual starter motor. If a mechanic is not careful when tightening the nut that holds the small wire ( that energizes the electromagnet ) it (the connector on the end of the small wire )can get twisted around so that it is up against the big ( main positive cable ) post. It won't bother until the insulation wears away from heat and vibration and then it will make contact ...thereby energizing the actual starter motor.

It is feasible in that type of a situation that the car would try to start on its own and could actually keep starting and stalling and cause it to lurch repeatedly due to being in gear.

Disclaimer...I am describing the type of starters that have the solenoid mounted to the starter ( Which in my experience is the majority )...there are cars that have remote solenoids...in that case what I described cannot happen.

a reply to: thebabyseagull

No i never said that if one of those parts were to fail it could cause a car to do that. A car simply can not produce the torque required to do something of that nature. I simply specified that the statement made must have been done so with no knowledge of automobiles.

originally posted by: HarryJoy
a reply to: thebabyseagull

It is feasible in that type of a situation that the car would try to start on its own and could actually keep starting and stalling and cause it to lurch repeatedly due to being in gear.

.

Well it would never actually start seeing as how they would be no source of fuel or spark on a modern car without an ignition being on and all neutral safety switches somehow being bypassed. Go to your started on your vehicle and jump out the starter solenoid. It will not start in unless the ignition is on and the vehicle is in park.

a reply to: Chadwickus

I just performed your proscribed expiriment, exactly as instructed. Nothing. Starter did not engage. Because the clutch interlock was engaged. Won't turn over in neutral, 1st or reverse. Tried all three. Without the clutch depressed, the starter does not engage in anything from a major manufacturer built after about 1989 or so.

a reply to: thebabyseagull

Oh, come on. Chinese XMen? Get real. We all know it was a 'weather balloon'.

a reply to: pfishy

Interesting.

Why do you think they introduced such a thing?

And I was talking about older cars btw..