To not know how this happened?

[howisthispossible]

So, sister was parked outside the post office today, with her jack Russell dog loose inside the car (not sure if this is relevant)
She’s told me that she got back into the car and her foot slipped and it’s flown forward with such force that it’s mounted a kerb and smashed right through the wall outside the post office. Looks like the wall was hit at about 30 mph to be honest.
She keeps changing her story though and now is saying she wasn’t in the car and it just rolled forwards as the handbrake must have failed (which would have just bumped the wall I imagine, not crashed through it)
DH thinks the dog has jumped into the footwell and hit the accelerator.
Is this possible in an automatic car?
I just can’t work out why her story keeps changing.

Does she have a drinking problem?

DH thinks the dog has jumped into the footwell and hit the accelerator

A bit of a bizarre theory! I’m not saying it happened, but I’d say it would be a lot more likely that your sister was under the influence!

No definitely not drunk. She’d been with me all day.
I just cannot work out how she’s gone from being parked to completely demolishing a wall.
And why keep changing her story?

Sudden unintended acceleration events

Hit the accelerator instead of the brake? I did this once as a new driver when approaching a junction, plenty of time to correct, luckily, but it was terrifying.

Would the dog have been heavy enough to press it? And the engine would have to be running, obviously.

I suspect she's changing her story to try reduce her liability, and or her embarrassment.

To clarify, terrifying because you press the brake much harder than the accelerator, so the speed increase is very rapid, and there is a split second that you actually 'brake' harder, so speed up even faster, before your brain cuts in and figures out what's going on. Doing it parked a pavement's width from a wall could easily do major damage I would have thought.

Someone I knew did this. Hit the he accelerator instead of the break and pressed harder when the car sped up. No dog involved.

I doubt a Jack Russell would be heavy enough to do that.

Was the engine running whilst it was unattended? I doubt the dog could do it in an automatic unless she left it running and in Drive.... if running and in Park then no one could accelerate incorrectly. Dog couldn't even accidently put it onto drive as you have to press a button on gear stick to do that

Did the dog put the car in gear too or was that your sister?

Dog wouldn’t be heavy enough to depress the accelerator.

Dog did well to put the car into Drive before jumping on the accelerator. Must be one heavy JR

I mean, I know Jack Russells are intelligent little dogs, but....

So she left it in drive with the handbrake on? Yeah likely story!

I drove into my garage once in an automatic car. I should mention the garage door was down and I intended just parking on the drive.

I couldn’t explain how I made such a stupid mistake. Turned out I was in very early pregnancy at the time- not sure if that was related, a blip in vital levels or something?

A bit worrying that she’s changing her story, I would be inclined to challenge her on that.

Dog wouldn’t be heavy enough to depress the accelerator.

And there wouldn't be room for the dog (even it was wearing a rucksack full of bricks) to get into the footwell and press the accelerator without her being aware of it - there's not that much room in the driver's footwell!

Really fortunate that there was no-one between her car and the wall . . .

Cars don't just spontaneously start when you touch the accelerator, surely you would need to start the engine first either by turning the key or pressing the "start" button? I say she put it in drive instead of reverse and powered into the wall instead of pulling out of the space. Now she's backtracking to try and avoid liability.

That is totally bizarre. I guess she was just embarrassed and is blaming the dog?

Also - dogs, like children, should;d ALWAYS be restrained in vehicles.

I once slammed into DH’s car on our drive in my brand new automatic. Thought I had put it in drive when I had put it in reverse (gears in opposite position to previous car). Then thought the car was rolling back so applied the acceleration to go forward. Oops!

Possibly a similar scenario happened to your sister.

Either way, your DSis is full of shit and digging herself into a hole.
Wonder what story she'll tell her insurance company?
Does the PO not have CCTV?

As an aside dogs by law should be suitably restrained while in a car OP.

I am not sure what the changing story is all about, but I have seen an accident before where an automatic car gained an awful lot of speed very quickly, so it is plausible that her first story was true. It seems a lot more likely than the other options.

Unfortunately, this very well can happen.

I once went to start a car that had been sitting in my drive way for a few months.

I always (wrecklessly) lent in and turnt the key to run the engine for a few minutes, instead of actually getting in the car.

On one occasion the car went through the drive gates, across the road and knocked down a small wall. Luckily no one was hurt but I have definitely learnt my lesson to always get in the car before starting engine!

Needless to say, I no longer have the car!!

May I also had, the handbreak was on when this happened, when taken to the garage, machanic confirmed hand break worked and didn’t understand how the car moved with speed with the handbreak on.

He did a break test and the breaks/hand break were absolutely fine.

Very bizarre. It's possible the engine was left running and the dog has nudged the gearstick into drive I guess. I know dh's just has to be in drive for the car to move, no foot on the accelerator. It's great in slow traffic!

I suspect her story would keep changing if she wasn't in the car, left the engine running and a dog loose in the car.

Otherwise you'd be embarrassed that your foot slipped but glad no one was injured etc.