Engine cut out - safety feature

wsl70

My Peugeot 206 broke down after I hit a huge pot hole in the road. Immediately after I hit it I lost all power and ground to a halt and the car would not restart. Called a mechanic and told him what had happened. He showed me a cut off button in the engine, told me to press it, and the car started again! Apparently when I hit the pot hole the car reacted as if I had had an accident and cut all power to the engine. This magic button resets it. He told me all cars have one and it tells you about in the car's manual. So now I am left feeling a bit stupid although I have spoken to several people since and no one else has heard of it either. Interested to know if anyone else has heard of it?I shall be avoiding all pot holes in future!

saintjanet

Yes i have heard of this too,motorbikes have a kill switch that you can operate yourself if you get in trouble.The ones on cars are a type of reset button .As michael Caine would say"not alot of people know that":D

mr_accountant

i think its the fuel shut off valve, most cars have one, and as the name suggests they cut the fuel off in an accident to prevent the risk of fire. Press it gain and the fuel supply returns.

Must have been a big pothole!

reheat

mr_accountant wrote:

i think its the fuel shut off valve, most cars have one, and as the name suggests they cut the fuel off in an accident to prevent the risk of fire. Press it gain and the fuel supply returns.

Must have been a big pothole!

Right on all counts I think

onejontwo

wsl70 wrote:

My Peugeot 206 broke down after I hit a huge pot hole in the road. Immediately after I hit it I lost all power and ground to a halt and the car would not restart. Called a mechanic and told him what had happened. He showed me a cut off button in the engine, told me to press it, and the car started again! Apparently when I hit the pot hole the car reacted as if I had had an accident and cut all power to the engine. This magic button resets it. He told me all cars have one and it tells you about in the car's manual. So now I am left feeling a bit stupid although I have spoken to several people since and no one else has heard of it either. Interested to know if anyone else has heard of it?I shall be avoiding all pot holes in future!

There are several cars with them fitted but some like certain fiat models are tucked away somewhere and therefore not that obvious.
Other cars like vauxhall have never had them fitted.

onejontwo

wsl70 wrote:

My Peugeot 206 broke down after I hit a huge pot hole in the road. Immediately after I hit it I lost all power and ground to a halt and the car would not restart. Called a mechanic and told him what had happened. He showed me a cut off button in the engine, told me to press it, and the car started again! Apparently when I hit the pot hole the car reacted as if I had had an accident and cut all power to the engine. This magic button resets it. He told me all cars have one and it tells you about in the car's manual. So now I am left feeling a bit stupid although I have spoken to several people since and no one else has heard of it either. Interested to know if anyone else has heard of it?I shall be avoiding all pot holes in future!

There are several cars with them fitted but some like certain fiat models are tucked away somewhere and therefore not that obvious.
Other cars like vauxhall have never had them fitted. It is just a fuel cut off switch in case of impact.

wsl70

It was a massive pot hole.Athough I did know it was there and always usually try to avoid it,just misjudged it this time! Reported it to the council to repair so need to wait a few years to see if they do anything.

onejontwo

wsl70 wrote:

It was a massive pot hole.Athough I did know it was there and always usually try to avoid it,just misjudged it this time! Reported it to the council to repair so need to wait a few years to see if they do anything.

I remember several years ago when ford sierras were around, the impact switch was in the boot , so if someone changed a spare wheel and threw it in the boot , they then had to call a breakdown service because the car wouldn't start ! and like yourself they were un aware of this switch.:rotfl:

colin79666

better check your suspension, tyres and wheels because a jolt big enough to kill the engine may have done some damage to the suspension, steering etc

wsl70

30111987 wrote:

better check your suspension, tyres and wheels because a jolt big enough to kill the engine may have done some damage to the suspension, steering etc

I think I may get that checked out, thanks the help

tomstickland

When I had a Peugot hire car I found it put the hazard warning lights on if your braked hard.