Another out of control Toyota

There was just a story on my local TV news regarding a woman who's Toyota Camry went out of control through a parking lot do to a stuck accelerator. What the h*ll is going on with this stuff?

Here is a link to the news clip http://kdka.com/local/Hampton.Township.car.2.1305949.html

 

Pretty simple to just turn the key to off. I had this happen to me back in the 60's. It is a very scary situation.

 

Its a conspiracy. The GM and Ford are paying people who own Toyotas to act out a failure of the accelerator. Has anyone been hurt badly from these "accidents". I blame "Government Motors".

But seriously, anyone got anything better?

 

You must have missed the thread where four people in a Lexus were killed by this...so yes, there have been people hurt by these "accidents". Is that not serious?

 

yep i seen that on the news yesterday, she went a really far distance before she went through the guard rail and over!!

 

If they cannot figure out how to turn the key off or hold the start button for 3 seconds then they should just jump from the moving vehicle.

 

Yes, serious indeed, but an isolated incident.

Yes, that is a thought, but who is gonna follow through with that? How about dropping it into neutral, mashing the brakes, and hitting the parking/e-brake? Just a thought!

That is why I will never own a push start vehicle.

 

Put your hand in a vise and count to three. It is a natural reaction to speed things up in your mind, 2 minutes seems like 2 hours. So if you are paniced and you hold the button for 1 senond it would feel like 5. Not all people can be calm in a situation like that.

 

My vote would be mash the brake pedal for all it's worth.

In this report I am skeptical about a stuck accelerator. You would need to push it all the way to the floor to get it stuck, no? How many opportunities do you have to go pedal to the metal in a parking lot? More likely I think she was heading for the brake and hit the accelerator instead. That happens a lot, particularly with older drivers and this one was 68.

So, in addition to the strategies of turning off the car, shifting out of drive and mashing the brake, we add "blaring the horn."

 

NEUTRAL. Sorry for yelling so early in the morning.

 

The gas has a pivot right in the middle of it. You don't need to floor it all the way, just push on it at the bottom. This happened to a friend of mine with his tundra twice before he figured out what was causing it, and he's a sharp guy. It's a legitimate problem.

 

Some of the reports are also saying that the mashing the brakes isn't necessarily effective either...because - #1, something about the vacuum is reduced (or something like that) AND #2, If the acceleration continues, you'll burn up your brakes far sooner than you'll actually be able to stop.

I personally haven't been notified of this recall yet. Imagine that?? THey haven't notified people yet and people are still experiencing the problem. I hope nobody else gets killed before Toyota decides to notify all the owners to remove their floormats (regardless if this is the actual cause or not)

 

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There are very few cars and trucks produced where the engines can overpower the braking systems; remember power braking? Some might be too young to remember but back in the early 80's CBS almost put Audi out of business from their stories on 'unintended accelaration.' Turns out, most of the incidents were caused by people stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake.

 

Putting the vehicle in neutral and then hitting the brakes to stop would be the best way to go in this type of situation, in my opinion.

I still don't see this as a floor mat problem. The mats are double hooked in place. I owned a number of Toyota's including an 07 Tundra, 06 Tacoma and currently a 09 Tacoma and never had a hint of this type of problem.

 

Because you hook the mats.

Lots of people take their cars to the wash, where the car washers remove the mats, clean em, toss em back in and don't bother with the hooks. That's exactly what happened to my friend with the Tundra.

 

If that's the case it could happen to any brand of vehicle. Maybe Toyota should switch to a different type of fastener. Something similar to the fasteners that hold interior door panels on maybe?

 

If the people don't bother with the hooks what would make them bother with the snaps?