Toyota's runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats

I'm there, what do I look for pertaining to you ? I need your ODI number.

 

Not me specifically, look up complaints filed on Tacomas. You should be able to do a broad search on all Toyotas. The accident was in December of last year.

 

This will help:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/

 

No, I want to see YOUR case. What is your ODI number ?

 

I'm not really sure what your issue is but I have given you all the info you need to find what you want. If I would have known I was going to get attacked like this I would have never said anything. The issued has been resolved and all is well.

 

Come on, give tomonian77 a break! Can't say that I agree with all the steps he took to "fix" the problem but if it happened then that really sucks. It's not that hard to spin one of these trucks completely around especially with the power of the 4.0 and if it was at all damp or wet on the road.

 

I'm curious why the car could not be shifted to neutral. When I was 17 or 18, I had the accelarator stick while driving my brothers 1970 Chevelle. I was going about 85-90. I shifted to neutral, slowed down, ppulled of the road and shut down the engine. I didn't like revving the engine so high in neutral, but it was that or ride it until the gas ran out.

I have shifted my modern (2008) Toyotas to N at slow speeds, can they not shift to N at high speeds?

Sorry, but when reporting leaves me with more questions than answers, I just get suspicous.

 

I was upside down when I broke the gear shift. Have you ever tried to shift a car upside down?

 

Yeah I agree too but their are some REALLY dumb people in this world. I can think of a few people that have zero knowledge about cars and yes, would absolutely panic in this situation.

 

EXACTLY!!!!

And to elaborate....
When or if you're ever in an accident sitation - first, your brain has to WAKE UP and realize you're in a life/death situation. By the time your brain reacts to that, your brain still needs a brief moment to figure out WHAT is going on. Then, after you process that....your brain has to diagnose your decision to do something about it.

Believe it or not....but...the 'reaction time' of your brain isn't necessarily fast enough to save your ass. The time you reach down to shift in neutral, might be too damn late!

 

5280 feet in one mile
@ 120 mph = 633600 feet in one hour
divide by 60 for feet per minute = 10560 feet in one minute
divide by 60 again for feet per second = 176 feet in one second.
176 x 3 seconds = 528 feet.
No hole there.

I think they're assuming that he may have pumped the brakes. They're just putting up possible explanations on why a brake system may not work. The point is that it is possible for the brake system to fail where one would not be able to stop the car.

I don't really understand what you're saying here. If the acceleration was out of control, it would be feasible to be at 120mph.

My first thought on hearing the story was why he didn't just shove it into neutral. If you listen to the 911 call there was enough time for the passenger to open the cell phone, dial 911 and explain what was happening. That seems like a lot of time to try stuff. I would think even slamming it to a lower gear should have slowed the car considerably. It still doesn't absolve Toyota for a defective product though.

Your test doesn't really simulate the problem. The engine was at full throttle while trying to brake. According to the article, after two pumps, the force required to manually brake would be 225 lbs because the power assist is no longer available.

If it's bullshit, why is it in the owner's manual? Does it kill it instantly when it's driving or just when it's sitting parked? Perhaps being in gear changes the computer state to prevent involuntary shutoffs due to bumping the button.

 

When I was talking about shifting to N, it was for the situation where the vehicle is upright and traveling in a straight line. Your case sounds like you were upside down before you knew what was happening. Glad your'e ok. At the point that I go upside down in a car, all bets are off.

 

I was telling my husband about this whole thing and he begged me to remove my floor mat.... so I did.

I took the clips out also. Those clips that hold the mats in place, are LAME.

They're clipped to the underside of the carpeting. Same design clip as holds the glove box shock absorber in place (and that thing sucks). I can see them easily coming out over a period of time and/or the carpet stretching with it underneath.

Those clips should be anchored to the floor board, not the carpet .

 

Thanks. All I wanted to do is let people know that this is happening and they need to know about it. If you do the research you will see that it has been going on far longer than most people know. I came out of it ok simpy because I was going so slow. Toyota took care of me thru the whole process and never gave me a hard time about any of it. Just to reiterate I have no problems with Toyota or the vehicles they make. I love my truck and I feel safe in it. I have a newborn son and if at anytime I felt unsafe in a Toyota vehicle you can rest assured he would not be in it.

 

Seems like a lot of people are absolving Toyota by blaming the driver for not being able to get the car back under control. The "driver could have done such-and-such" arguments don't really address the point that he should not have been put in that situation to begin with. Let's remember that the uncontrollable acceleration the car exhibited placed them in a life and death scenario. Whether he could recover or not is moot. The fault is Toyota's, which they acknowledge.

 

Very well said IMO

 

I wish I could give you more technical info to help you but I can't. All I can do is let you know what Toyota replaced: Throttle Body System, ECU, Accelerator Assembly. Pretty much everything that had anything to do with the accellerating process was replaced with new components. I signed a letter stating I would not pursue them for anymore damages that resulted from the accident and I was accepting my vehicle back repaired as an end result of the dispute. Since then I have had no problems with the vehicle.

 

When I said the problem doesn't present itself at 120 mph, what I meant that was unless you WANTED to go 120, you'd be looking to let off the throttle at what, 70--80--90? I know there isn't much time available here, but drastic action would be warranted as soon as you realize it's running on it's own.

Some other excellent points have been made, and I can imagine a dozen situations on every drive where a sudden dose of WOT would spell disaster, even at low speeds. So I hope some "smoking gun" can be found, and a solution other than zip ties can be applied.

 

..so there is a t.p s. sensor to record any discrepency with the pedal.
This is a weak theory, hopfully someone can shoot down.
In cruise control it wouldn't apply due to no pedal postion. So, with cruise control, not activated, but maybe on, could an errant signal from cruise control/ecu cause throttle position to go wide open ( or stay there if the pedal was put it there).

 

i love these kind of conversations....we love each other soooo much