Toyota: If Your Car Speeds Up, Keep Driving

[Guest]

I think people take for granted that just because a company was good years ago it will always remain good for the rest of time. I agree 100% that although most Japanese cars still have good gas mileage the overall quality is not anywhere close to how it was in the past. I am glad that in recent years American car manufacturers have actually got their heads on and started putting out some quality cars again, especially Ford. I will without a second thought buy American for the next car I buy and I think a lot of other Americans are starting to realize this also. Not only are we buying a quality product but we are also creating American jobs and supporting American business which is desperately needed in this world that seems to be Made in China.

 

[intelliclint]

[citation][nom]Parrdacc[/nom]My exp. never had a gas pedal sticking, hope I never do, but did have brake failure. Had brakes then 10 minutes later no brakes, thank God for the emergency brake. Like you luckily it was on a country road and not in traffic.[/citation]

I lost breaks, including the e brakes while heading to a busy 5 lane crossing 5 lane intersection. Down shifting saved my life. I was able to slow down, turn into the first parking lot that I was able to get into and finally kill the engine once I reached a slow speed.

One note... some automatics you have to press the catch to get them into neutral from drive. This is to keep folks from bumping it out of gear because the shifter is on the floor. I don't like that because once the catch is pressed it would be to easy to slip all the way into reverse. Using neutral is a common way of assisting stopping on icy roads as your break then don't have to stop the inertia off the engine.

 

[extremepcs]

Yes, that's what you want to do... throw it in neutral and let the engine hit 8k RPM and throw the rods through the oil pan. Good plan. Hope they have rev limiters!

 

[azgard]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]Heard about this problem a while ago. A few people died already. What I don't understand is why those people just didn't put the car in neutral?Note to all: If your accelerator is stuck and the car keeps going, take it out of gear. In an automatic, simply slap the stick towards R (it won't get into R) and in a stardard tranny just press the clutch and/or put the car in neutral. Stop on the side of teh road and turn off the engine.[/citation]

Good luck people spend more time talking on their phones and eating food then they do thinking about driving. Had a similar problem like this happen to me a few years ago on the highway though, slapped it in neutral flicked on the hazard's and pulled over, had to be one of the easiest "challenge's" of driving in my life. Getting and keeping a license is way too easy.

 

[jerther]

[citation][nom]extremepcs[/nom]Yes, that's what you want to do... throw it in neutral and let the engine hit 8k RPM and throw the rods through the oil pan. Good plan. Hope they have rev limiters![/citation]
You mean that some modern cars don't have rev limiters?

Besides, I totaly agree with you.

 

[Guest]

So just out of curiosity I tried flooring the gas on my car and applied the brakes at the same time... The throttle just totally cut out after about 2 seconds. I drive an 08 VW GTI, and I am sure it has DBW throttle, so it seems to me a like a programmed response in the ECU. Cut throttle if throttle >= X% and Brakes are applied.

Seems like a no brainer to me. I would have thought this would be a standard feature on all DBW cars.

 

[techguy378]

If you want high quality, buy Hyundai. Nobody makes better cars than they do.

 

[tempelife]

The NTSF will may start requiring an easily accessible kill switch on all autos sometime in the future with electric (instead of mechanical) gas pedals. Yeah, because electrical systems never have any problems (cough).

 

[chripuck]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Like the fact that US teamed up with other Western nations and repeatedly put economic blockades around Japan so it would starve? Like denying oil, rubber and food to Japan using the economic blockade? All this action done by the US and you call it unprovoked? Desperate people do desperate things in desperate situations. The same applies to a country. Mod me down all you want, but I frankly believe the US had sown the seeds of the Pacific War.[/citation]
Then you attack the blockade you numbnuts, not hit em in the blindside.

It's like a guy trys to block you from going somewhere and wait until he turns around and then punch him in the kidney. That would be a real douche move.

 

[one-shot]

[citation][nom]chripuck[/nom]Then you attack the blockade you numbnuts, not hit em in the blindside.It's like a guy trys to block you from going somewhere and wait until he turns around and then punch him in the kidney. That would be a real douche move.[/citation]

Did you forget it was in wartime?

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]salgado18[/nom]

If the vehicle is equipped with an Engine Start/Stop button, firmly and steadily push the button for at least three seconds to turn off the engine. Do NOT tap the Engine Start/Stop button.

Then turn it on again, go into Safe mode and disable the Accelerator service in the Control Panel.[/citation]
Hat's off to you sir! Well played. :lol:

 

[ram1009]

I own a 2006 Avalon & also 1995 Avalon and I can say absolutely that all this talk about floor mats is a diversionary tactic by someone. The floor mat attachment scheme on both my Avalons is the same and neither will allow gas pedal interference if properly installed. If there are some cases of such interference I believe it's likely that the mats were removed for shampooing (probably by car wash personnel) and not properly re-installed because re-installing is tricky and likely exceeds the pay grade of most car washers. The real problem here is the electronics associated with the throttle. Nobody I've heard talk about this has explained that the throttles in question do not employ a mechanical linkage but rather a sensor on the gas pedal that provides positional data to the car's computer which then electronically rotates the throttle plate on the throttle body. There was a report on NIGHT LINE a few nights ago featuring an Avalon owner who survived a run away throttle and explained, in detail, the whole experience. First of all he had his floor mats in the trunk so forget about that fantasy. Fortunately this guy was on the freeway when his car began to speed up on its own. He managed to control the car by alternately shifting into nuetral and braking and actually managed to drive it into a Toyota dealership with the engine still racing. This is the nightmare scenario that has my 2006 Avalon parked in my driveway while I drive the '95. Actually, I like the '95 better anyway.

 

[badaxe2]

[citation][nom]Jerky_san[/nom]Ignorance is bliss i suppose.. The Japanese gave FAIR warning and it was ignored/hidden to give the US a chance to enter the war. If you paid attention in history you'd know they sent a warning of attack before their attack and the US "dropped" the ball if you want to call it that..[/citation]

True. Japan was allied with Germany, no secret there, and Roosevelt had frozen Japanese-American assets in the U.S. long prior to Japan's attack. Plus Jewish-American concern was building over what was happening in Germany, which made it inevitable that we would get involved. Pearl Harbor gave us the public "fuel" for the fire. Anti-Semitism in the U.S. was still too high back in those days, and a "rescue the Jews" campaign as the focal point of entering WWII would've caused too much public dissent.

 

[knowom]

[citation][nom]sliem[/nom]Ouch what the hell happened during the design/test?[/citation]

It's a feature that's why you pay so much more for Toyota's!

 

[eddieroolz]

[citation][nom]chripuck[/nom]Then you attack the blockade you numbnuts, not hit em in the blindside.It's like a guy trys to block you from going somewhere and wait until he turns around and then punch him in the kidney. That would be a real douche move.[/citation]

They attacked the blockade you idiot, it was called the US. Look up your damn history. US was the only thing fearing Japanese rise as a major power. They also single handedly caused the Pacific War, because guess what, US has to be a world police and demand Japan get out of China even back then.

 

[logitic]

[citation][nom]meat81[/nom]"In Soviet Russia, Car Drives You!"[/citation]


I liked it!

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]Heard about this problem a while ago. A few people died already. What I don't understand is why those people just didn't put the car in neutral?[/citation]

That's easy, the average person is not used to a car "having a mind of its own" and would be very confused and scared if the car took off on its own. Sure some will quickly think to shift to neutral, but most will just be in shock and not react fast enough or at all. The average person expects their car to just do what they want it too, and can't even entertain the idea of the car speeding up by itself.

 

[MiamiU]

This article doesn't mention how Ford also has to recall/halt production on cars because they bought the same faulty parts from CTS, the same company Toyota buys from. Like most things build these days, they all have parts build in different countries by different companies, we shouldn't blame a company or a country for this kind of crap.

BTW, some of the comments here are ridiculously funny and how did we get almost a page worth of WWII stuff??

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]Like the fact that US teamed up with other Western nations and repeatedly put economic blockades around Japan so it would starve? Like denying oil, rubber and food to Japan using the economic blockade? All this action done by the US and you call it unprovoked? Desperate people do desperate things in desperate situations. The same applies to a country. Mod me down all you want, but I frankly believe the US had sown the seeds of the Pacific War.[/citation]
And don't forget that Japan's attack on the US wasn't as much of a "surprise" as most are lead to believe. I am not beating the conspiracy drum here, but dropping the atomic bomb(s) on Europe was out of the question, so who else could be targeted...and how to get them hated enough so that nobody would feel bad? Hmmm...Japan fell into a fatal trap and for that they were treated to two atomic bombs even though they lost the war and were prepared to surrender but were practically not allowed so that the mission would be completed, and the World would be introduced to the sight of mushroom clouds.

 

[matt87_50]

"2009-2010 RAV4,
2009-2010 Corolla,
2009-2010 Matrix,
2005-2010 Avalon,
Certain 2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander except hybrid models,
2007-2010 Tundra,
2008-2010 Sequoia"

so all of them then...

[citation][nom]barker[/nom]I thought they announced that no one has died from this issue??[/citation]

hahahaha lol!

"the car for no reason, even when stationary flips upside down and bursts into flames, but its ok, no one's died from it yet, so we will continue to monitor the situation to see if it becomes a problem..."