Tacoma gas pedal problems (just a matter of time)

I saw this in my local newspaper. I figured it was just a matter of time before the Tacoma had "gas pedal" problems.

Anyone else heard of any "gas pedal" problems with the Tacoma?

Mine sometimes lunges forward at a stop, even with my foot firmly planted on the brake pedal. I wonder if this is something that is a known defect.

http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/driver-stuck-gas-pedal-caused-wreck-15332

Driver: Stuck gas pedal caused wreck
By By CATHY WILSON
The Perquimans Weekly
Thursday, February 11, 2010
HERTFORD — Nick Nixon is thanking his lucky stars he wasn’t traveling on U.S. Highway 17 or in a crowded parking lot when it happened.
Nixon said his 2009 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck recently accelerated on its own in a parking lot on Harvey Point Road. According to Nixon, the truck jumped the curb in a parking lot and struck the corner of a porch column in front of the Gregory and Associates building before he could kill the engine.
“I was actually pulling up to the front door into a parking spot and had my foot on the brake getting ready to put the truck in park when the engine started revving up,” Nixon said. “(The truck) jumped the sidewalk, hit the column, and went into the flower bed. ... I finally managed to get it into park even though the engine was still revving, and cut it off.”
Nixon said he had his foot on the brake pedal the entire time the truck was moving forward.
“There were marks left in the parking lot from the back tires showing the truck was accelerating, and marks from the front tires showing I had my foot on the brakes trying to stop it,” he said. “I was shocked when it first happened; it just happened so fast. I think turning the wheel and bouncing off the column helped slow (the truck) down to where I could finally get it in park.”
Other than a broken exterior light, the building was not damaged. Nixon’s truck, however, sustained $2,500 in damage, according to Hertford Police, who investigated the accident.
The incident is similar to others reported by Toyota owners and indicative of acceleration problems that have prompted Toyota to recall more than 8 million vehicles since November. Tacoma trucks built between 2005 and 2010 are among the 12 vehicle models now included in the worldwide recall.
Toyota has identified two potential causes of unintended acceleration in the recalled vehicles. One involves the gas pedal sticking in the down position. The other involves the gas pedal getting stuck in floor mats while in the down position.
Nixon said he received a recall notice for his truck’s floor mats. His floor mats were checked and deemed properly installed, he said.
Immediately after the incident last week, Nixon said he called both his insurance company and the Virginia Toyota dealership from which he purchased the truck last fall.
“They (the Toyota dealer) asked me if I was OK after I told them what happened, and they arranged for the local Toyota dealership in Elizabeth City to send a wrecker to pick up my truck at the scene,” Nixon said. “They didn’t want me to drive it until they looked at it.”
Nixon said the dealership gave him a number to call regarding the accident. He was interviewed by phone, and received a call from “corporate Toyota” within two days. He talked to the corporate office on Friday and was told an inspector would inspect his truck at Toyota of Elizabeth City by Wednesday. He was told no one is supposed to touch the truck or repair it until it’s inspected.
“I’m waiting to hear what Toyota wants to do with the truck,” Nixon said. “I know I don’t feel safe getting back in that one (truck). I’m just very thankful no one got hurt.”
According to Toyota’s Web site, drivers whose accelerator pedal sticks in a partially open throttle position can control their vehicle with firm and steady application of the brakes. Drivers should not pump their brakes, however. The vehicle then should be driven to a safe location and the engine shut off.
Toyota probing Nixon’s complaint
The Perquimans Weekly

 

I had this happen to me yesterday. I was coming to a red light, pushed the clutch in and applied the brake and all of a sudden the rpm's jumped up to 2000-2500. Once i came to a stop, the rpm's slowly returned to normal. This was not the rpm surge we see due to the emissions.

 

So now the pedal's not only sticking but it's magically pressing down and accelerating on its own? The guys an idiot!

 

I think all of these recalls and issues have to do with the "fly by wire" system they began using in 05 to control throttle position, not a pedal that sticks or a floormat.

 

Hmmmm....

 

Although I have no data to prove my half baked uneducated theory....

 

I have been saying this all along too. I refuse to believe a 18 year veteran Highway Patrol commercial vehicle officer did not know how to move a floor mat from the gas pedal. The next accident the mats were in the trunk, must have been the gas pedal! I guess it is going to take a car with the floor mats in the trunk and the new shim in the gas pedal assembly to get them to look at the fly-by-wire set up.

 

Things fail. The most looked at and engineered systems can still have undiscovered and not thought of flaws that ,unfortunatly, take time to present themselves when that rare situation occurs.
I work on aircraft that have the airplane equivelant of TSB's and mandatory TSB's for huge failures of something that has been trouble free and undiscovered for decades.

 

tl;dr...smry plz

 

The Tacoma's are listed in the gas pedal recall, I've had no problems with mine but I will have the worked performed so that in the event of a sale I can tell the next owner the recall work has been accomplished.

Like a previous poster stated aircraft have had similiar "recall" instructions for years some are SB's (service bulletins) which are voluntary and some aren't AD's (airworthiness directives). Along with a list of alphabet soup abbreviations.

 

I have a feeling it's going to get blown way out of proportion now because every toyota owner that is texting or not paying attention and rear ends someone is going to blame it on their gas pedal sticking.

 

I like how he keeps saying "the truck" did this and "the truck" did that. I have a dark place in my heart for people like this.

 

Other than the slight emissions related surge, the ony other 'surge' i've experienced is when i accidentally had my foot partially on the accelerator pedal while pressing the brake. This has happened with every vehicle that i've owned. I simply don't panic and quickly slide my foot over further. A while back, while driving another vehicle that i owned (which happens to have been a Toyota), while sitting at a traffic light i accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. The reason i did it was because i allowed myself to be distracted. Fortunately, because i allow enough space between me and the vehicle i stop behind, i was able to hit the brakes fast enough to avoid a rear end collision.

I have no doubt that some of the unintended acceleration issues are indeed electrical or mechanical glitches or defects in some vehicles, ie; drive by wire, accelerator assemblies and floor mats. On the other hand i think the majority of these reports are people who made a mistake and are either afraid or unwilling to admit it. It doesn't matter how old you are or how much experience you have, you can still make mistakes. It's called being human.

In our society it's difficult to admit that you're human and you made a mistake because mean spirited and hypocrytical people instantly want to crucify you on the spot. It's easier to just blame it on the vehicle and take advantage of the hysteria.

 

BINGO. Who wants to admit that their foot slipped off the brake and they hit the gas pedal? No, blame it on Toyota, maybe you'll get out of paying for the damage, maybe you'll get a big fat check from a big faceless corporation. (Note: I do not support this at all, but I know that there are too many people out there who would do anything to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions.)

Now, there may be a problem in the fly-by-wire system. I would think it would be designed to be very redundant, fault tolerant, and fail safe, but maybe not. It could turn out to be flaky ram chips, a processor microcode error, or an undetected bug in the program (or an intentional virus). It is possible we will never know.

But I'm about 99% sure that there are some Toyota engineers pouring over schematics and computer code checking to see whether something was missed in the design and evaluation phase...

 

He is getting crucified here regardless, so its a lose-lose situation for him lol

 

Mine is 5 years old and no problems

 

lol!

 

My 09 does a similar thing. Sitting at a light randomly it will surge, not enough to overcome the brakes with a solid foot on there. Thought it was just mine, I reported in my initial quality survey to Toyota. Mine has done it since 0 miles.

 

They must be talking about the floormat recall.

http://www.toyota.com/recall/floormat.html