Good Morning America aired Toyota acceleration issue

I thought it was a passenger that called not the driver.

 

Point being, that if all that is wrong is a car suddenly accelerating, and nothing else was broken, this guy didn't have to make any kind of crazy split-second decisions. Yes, I would have been crapping my pants, but yes, I honestly believe that if there is no other problem I could have put the thing in neutral, and I think its false to make it sound like all of a sudden the thing went off like a shot and he hit a tree a half second later. If that was the case, I would understand not being able to shut the thing off, but it isn't.

Whether he was unable to put it in neutral, and then didn't know to hold the button for 3 seconds, and the floor mat was not the issue - if that's all true, fair enough. But otherwise, assuming it was just the floor mat, the man did not handle a very unfortunate incident in the best manner, and the results are tragic (though not directly his fault, he still should have been able to do something about it.)

 

I find it amusing that so many people bring up the small surge in rpm at red lights and such. What happened to the lexus and other motorists that have had their cars stuck at WOT is completely different.

 

while its realy not that simple, how long would a 4.0 takr to go from 70 to 110 mph. I'm thinking at least 10 seconds. So a lot of time to react, 120 mph never "just happens", you never go 70 to 120 in 1/10 of a second in any street legal vehicle.What would I do in a milliscond if goin 120 mph.. die who wouldnt. I think we needto remember his brakes were reportedly smoking too. So this accident took over 15 more like 20 seconds to develop.

BE WARNED NOW... if you haven't practiced going into neutral i fell you may(notice may) be being delenquent as a driver. Yes I dont go off a lot without understanding a shift pattern on anything i drve at work, thats up to 14 different vehicles at work. And add 1 little Taco for after work.

in that sound clip you never hear anything like " it wont shift/go into neutral/how do you.../ the shifter is stuck.." I wonder if he thought of it.

 

If it takes you 4 seconds to realize your car just went WOT you ....

A) Drive a slow car and are deaf
B) Drive a quiet car and have vertigo
or
C) Shouldn't be driving


....just sayin

 

Its like a blowout, few have had em , ALL should be aware of what to do and what not to do.
I'm wondering if this is occuring in Europe too, and with the same statistics, or Canada. Are their Lexus's (Lexii? plural) having the same issues.

 

We all take it for granted perhaps, the fact that the way we all drive as a whole, that there is too many situation that seconds count. It can be Darwinistic at times.

We have to accept that while "its not my problem" , actually it is, its our responsability even if it want our fault. I think none of it may have been that drivers fault,not even the accident we dissect and find some fault on. But the rest of us better take something away from this as a lesson learned.
There is a learning curve for all technology in surprising ways, airbags w/o seat belt in the 90s..... ABS not stopping when there is no traction....cars w/o seatbelts in the 60s..... what new stuff will get you or me? If you not asking , its gonna get you.

 

Its a conspiracy to kill off stupid people, end of story.

 

i wonder why nobody has had a "surge" while offroading? You'd think that with the amount of time that people on this site spend in their trucks in odd situations, someone would have said it happened on a trail...not just at a stop light or on an open road. imagine the throttle sticking trying to climb. I agree, it's impossible to say unless you've been there but i rely on sites like this where vehicles are "stressed" to find out what the issues really are. so far, i'm not seeing much to support what is being reported.

 

Speaking of WOT, since I've owned my truck, the only time I've ever put the pedal down to the ground was when I was giving it a test drive to make sure everything went smoothly

 

Wow, that audio was disturbing. It made me really mad, i can't believe those people died out of sheer stupidity. It scares me that people like them are driving around, and i am not really surprised, watching all the stupid things people do on the road.

It makes me want to show my mom how to shift to neutral just in case.
I really feel bad for the people in that car Something like that should never happen.

 

I drive my wife and child in the truck every day and I will continue to do so,

Any questions?

 

When I'm sitting still in the drive-thru for several minutes - there's no load on the engine, no load on the alternator, no load on the accessories either. The only load, is on the brake pedal. The only load (if any at all) is vacuum for the booster but I've never heard of any other vehicle that surged like that at a full stop and at idle. That's why they call it IDLE. It should go down and stay at a certain rpm. It's like there's some computer mis-management that it can't decide which rpm to stay at.

 

Actually, some of the articles in the news stated that witnesses saw smoke from the car. I bet he'd already burned out his brakes, or seriously wore them down.

I wonder if he just tried saying "F it" and threw the car into neutral, or even reverse?

 

There is always a load on a modern engines charging system. All the control units, lights, accessories and infotainment-radio's. Now having driven mine for over 70k miles now it still exhibits rpm changes at idle under changing loads. The software for throttle tip in and a/c and elec system loading needs to be revamped imo. I don't think it's worthy of a NHTSA investigation or a major recall for the small amount it varies. I've been in cars where idle speed variations are much worse. With more weight in the bed or the trailer hooked up I can't even tell it's cycling the a/c. 20 years ago it was rare to see a 130A alternator, now it's the norm.

 

On the video Brian Williams? said don't turn it off you loose the power steering and power brakes. Don't the brakes still work with out the power assist like they did before there was any such thing as power brakes ? You can still steer with out power steering. I don't get it. If the engine is off how can you not slow down. Am I wrong or is the news guy wrong ? Also, sorry for the family but what kind of highway patrol man doesn't try putting it in neutral, turning it off and kills his family ? I don't get it.

 

In some situations like on an open road with less traffic, i can see cutting off the engine and working without power steering / brakes. The goal is to stop the w.o.t. so steering might not be in the equation, if the vehicle is moving ,it'll steer. No power brakes...rememvber to leave it in gear and use what braking is left.
I have steered 3/4 tons when the engine died(older rigs) a Tacoma w/o power would be a bit easier depending on tire size and speed.
If the shifter wouldn't go into "N" (just sayin if..) , oh yea, kill the ignition next.

Thats not too likely in the bigger cities, but out here (oregon) its an option.