Toyota to replace 3.8M gas pedals

worth a try.

 

CHEAP MOD see below

My dealer told me I could ignore the whole thing if I did a couple simple things- sign something that said I'm good with the old pedal, and also NOT to put double mats in the truck- as in, -carpet, covered by stock floor mats, covered by heavy, all-weather rubber mats.

honestly, who are these double mat people- are they from a paranoid super clean planet where dust is a sign of a lower caste? TWO MATS? Is the original carpet worth so much that we must protect it at any cost?

My solution- go to Ikea and get very lightweight mats and cut them to size. I tested the accelerator to see if it would lift 10 of them, and it did. There, I just saved Toyota 10 million dollars. All I want in return is 2 of each of the vehicles from this years lineup. Or at least a Yaris, Prius, Tacoma 4x4 v6 Trd, and a Land Cruiser v8.

Who ARE these engineers?

Mike

 

I am screwed no matter what they do. I am in Europe and can't get any factory stuff done to my baby until I get back to the US in five years. Maybe I will trade it for a brand new Hilux diesel.

 

The accelerator pedal is small enough I say it should be bigger and a bit wider I don't think this recall is in Canada

 

LOL ... I predicted in an earlier thread that they were going to take a hacksaw to the gas peddle but I was actually joking!!

What a joke

 

This recall has more to do with PR than anything else. Of course if you stack enough mats any car will have problems with the gas pedal. Maybe the gas pedal should be high enough that it would be pressed with your big toe only. Then you could stack mats for all four seasons without a problem. In the meantime nobody is going to hack a slice off the bottom of my pedal. I’ll take a fresh set of mats though.

 

What do they mean underlying defect? According to their findings, there is no problem is people use a compatible mat that is properly secured. Does their logic mean that I can secure a wheel to my truck with just a single lug and then claim the truck is defective when that wheel flies off and I flip over as I'm doing 70 down the expressway?

Technically this "underlying defect" still exists even if Toyota shortens the petal. I'm sure it'll still get stuck if some moron stacks 10 mats in his truck.

:edit: Haha, Comet beat me to that last thought

 

Maybe you just buy the floor mat that is intended for your vehicle and then secure it in place as designed? But then again that would make way too much sense...

 

I don't have a prob with the gas pedal, it's the clutch that won't engage if the mat has moved.

 

I can’t wait to see what one of these dealer shortened gas pedals looks like.

 

Amen! I have an '09 with the OEM All Weather mats that are installed CORRECTLY and the pedal is no where near touching that mat...even at full throttle.

My mats are staying and nobody is touching my pedal.

 

I just have to write this because it's been bugging me so much... folks, relax.

Toyota has an obligation to 3.8 million current owners out there and countless more to come as these vehicles get traded, sold and borrowed. I'm relieved that there's an apparent "mechanical" problem, as opposed to something wrong with the ECU, as I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea that the pedal is getting jammed, rather than some grounding defect or electronic interference. An intervening measure like shortening the pedal until a new one can be installed doesn't strike me as an outrageous concept. "Don't touch my pedal, Toyota!" What kind of paranoia is that??!!

I'm tired of reading self-righteous b.s. the likes of: "I'm able to post on the internet, so I'm smarter and know more than a Toyota engineer!" When's the last time you built the world's top selling automobile, Tacomaworld poster? Or, "I've got a manual. I'm better than everyone else out there. I'm the best driver in the world."

If you spent two seconds thinking about it, 3.8 million cars means, statistically, you've got pretty good odds of someone that's driving one of these recalled cars and trucks hitting you. Remember, the crash in San Diego did happen. A guy and three of his family members died after crashing at 120+. Oh yeah, they careened off an SUV - someone just going along in their life, not expecting to be rear-ended by a Lexus. I'm sure the driver and passengers of that vehicle take great comfort in knowing that you all are capable of stopping your out of control truck. I don't.

Not all Camry, Avalon, Lexus owners are as enthusiastic about their car, truck or driving skills as all of you... and, last time I checked, there aren't 3.8 million participants on this website. So, again, I'm pretty comfortable with an across the board recall.

And lest you bite my head off (as I've done here and will acknowledge that I may well have offended all of you) I'll point out that I've had a bit of history with "sudden acceleration." I watched our $22,000, 1982 Audi 5000 turbo's value plummet to a staggeringly low $2000 trade value in 1987, a short 5 years later... so, I'm not a real advocate of Toyota doing nothing. I just assume that I get some money back out of my $30k+ investment in a few years, as I don't feel like living that financial experience over again.

So, go ahead and spin my words however you want. Tell me to relax. I can take it. But, just take a moment to consider that your life, your family's safety and you wallet are not controlled exclusively by your choices...

 

I don't think too many of us are saying the recall is a bad thing. It's just that some of us feel like, in our personal situations, that a floor mat removal/change and/or a pedal mod or change is not necessary. Even my wife scratched her head when she looked at the setup in our Tacoma.

I saw the story on the NBC Nightly News last night and in all 4 vehicles that were shown, 3 had after market mats and one appeared to have OE mats that were not installed correctly....looked as though the left and right were swapped. There were no vids or pix of properly installed OE mats.

The media loves this kind of thing and Toyota really has no choice but to react to quell any public out-cry....much the same way Ford/Firestone had to.

 

Het vtguy, Just because I don't want my accelorator altered does not mean I think I'm smarter that a Toyota engineer. I am, but I don't think about it.

 

Vtguy,

Be sure to show us your dealer modified gas pedal and hacked up carpet and whatever else they do to solve this problem. I think the point for the rest of us is that there is no problem because our floor mats are installed correctly. So we are not enthused about some greasy mechanic with a hack saw and utility blade chopping away on our trucks.

As far as the crash in SD, to be fair the guy was driving a loaner with improperly installed mats. However, as a CHP officer it seems he should have handled it. If you have time to call 911 on a cell phone you have time to reach down and move the mat. I guess he didn’t think about it. But that is the first thing I would have thought about.

As far as your statistical analysis goes I think you need to go back to school.

 

I'll get the new pedal... who cares. It's not like I'm driving around with my size 11 just on the tip of the pedal anyway. I just looked and most of the pedal is beneath my foot. If they trimmed it a bunch, it wouldn't matter.

Plus, I have others to think about. My wife drives the truck and my kids are in it often. If this makes my vehicle less likely (even though it's 1 in a million) to hit and kill YOU, that's good enough for me. I hope many of you go sit in your truck, see where your foot is on the pedal and think of others and quit being so self righteous. Steel bumpers, reinforced with heavy winches, lifted to change the vehicle crash dynamics, going fast on the highway... come on...

The endless possibilities of someone at the car wash putting the floor mat back in your truck and not hooking it in, the wife spilling coffee on the mat and frantically emptying it out and not getting the hooks back in... etc... Too many dumb scenarios that just aren't worth risking for a FREE FIX!

Also, who the heck heel-toe downshifts a pick-up truck anyway...

 

Exactly!! Heck lets put in a hand operated throttle like in an airplane and be done with pedal issue.

 

Where, exactly, has Toyota proposed a greasy mechanic applying a hacksaw to your pedal as their solution?

Oh, I get it now. You're providing an example of the hysteria and hyperbole Vtguy was alluding to. Well, carry on then...

 

^LOL!

None of what you said makes any sense, this in particular. My family's safety and my wallet ARE controlled exclusively by my choices, aside from government theft (i.e. taxes). I've said from the beginning that I will continue to drive my wife and child around in this vehicle until I see irrefutable evidence that it is unsafe. I have seen no such evidence, save one isolated incident (the CHiP's officer) in which, according to the 3 articles I read, it still has no been proven without a shadow of a doubt that a floor mat or accelerator pedal was the cause.

If you feel your vehicle is unsafe, sell it and walk.

BTW, if you think Toyota is so inept as to produce a vehicle with a design flaw that could kill you, how do you KNOW it isn't the ECU? Just playing your game...