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OT--Runaway Toyota (Car/Pickup) Lexus

N

noncompos

Well-known Member
Anyone who owns one of the above 2001 or newer should read the LA Times story now on their website.
It appears both NHTSA and Toyota did some very fancy juggling to decide no problem existed in seven or eight "runaway investigations"...it relates Toyotas and Lexus run away more often than ALL OTHER MAKES, and that some researchers claim to have evidence of two to four THOUSAND occurrences...
Toyota also apparently admits foot brakes will not necessarily stop a wide open runaway engine...
The problem appears bad enough that NHTSA, ordinarily a full-time supporter/apologist for the industry, is turning on Toyota...
I assume everyone here would immediately throw it into neutral and/or turn off the key, but your wives and kids may not think of it...
 
I'm suprised.... As a driver ed teacher, I have outbraked "runaway" cars hundreds of times - numerous makes and models. Can't imagine someone not being able to bring it under control with the brakes, gearshift to neutral, and shut it down! (34 years on the road with students!)
 

LOL on the parking, or shaking head in dismay. I have a 05 Toyota Tacoma which is supposedly on the recall list for floor mat interferring with the accelerator. There is NO way my floor mat is going to be close to the accelerator, there is a lot of clearance, and besides the mat is hooked to the floor. Also it's a straight drive so no problem to put it in neutral.

Hope you got corn in during your Indian summer.

KEH
 
There is no way brakes will stop a true runaway engine. The engine puts out way more power than you can induce by simply putting the accelerator to the floor. In fact, unless you have experienced it, you cannot even imagine the power.
 
There is at least a problem serious enough to investigate. One report is that it is a problem within the computer system, and overrides all other controls. Surely a California State Trooper would be as capable as you or I to stop the car if hitting the brakes or shifting into neutral would solve the problem. The trooper and his family were killed when it happened to them.

This is about the medias love affair with Toyota.
If it was GM. Ford or Chrysler they would have been lynched already.
 

It is a"keyless" ignition system. The button has to be held down for a full 5 seconds to stop the engine. A car traveling at 70+ mph will travel a long ways in 5 seconds.
 
Does not the accelerator pedal still control the throttle body valve?
How can an engine run away at full throttle without the throttle valve being wide open? Not enough air to run wide open.
 
Car companies have been fighting correcting this type of problem for years, not only in Toyota. I remember 35+ years ago a The Dart was noted for a motor mount breaking, the engine would pull to the side jerking the throttle wide open and pulling the vacuum hose off the braked booster. Both Dodge and the dealers would just pooh pooh it if you wanted the mounts checked in your car.
 
You have got to be kidding. "It takes a full 5 seconds pressing the ignition shut off and you go a long way at 70mph in five seconds." Well some one in the car had time enough to dial 911 and make a call of approx. one minute long so you should be able to shut the car off 12 times during the call. Also some one had presents of mind to make a 911 call but none of the four thought of taking the car out of gear. There are so many people that should not be driving cars especially high performance machines. If you want a "treat", go sit in a busy parking lot for an hour and observe drivers. At first it is funny and then it becomes scary! Can't stop a run away car with the brakes? I worked in a Buick/Pontiac garage in the late fifties and early sixties and saw several run away engines. In '65 I was in a police special Pontiac with a 421 engine with tri-power that ran away but I got it stopped. Pontiac was having motor mounts breaking and if you gave it quick full throttle the engine would twist up and lock the throttle linkage at full bore. That 421 with tri-power sure put out plenty of torque but I did get it stopped with the brakes and OUT OF GEAR! SO MANY PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Scroll on down the page and watch the others.

How about the guy who gets out to open the parking garage door and leaves it in gear to drive out on it's own so he can close the door behind the car.

Gary
 
Brakes that will overpower the engine have been a basic required safety design for decades. With the advent of ABS it works even better.
 
Or you could not let your floor mat pile up under/around your pedals and you won't have a problem.

Kind of like the suddenly accelerating Audis from a couple decades ago. After all the hoopla, it turned out drivers were stepping on the gas instead of the brake.
 
I don't think it's the floormat's. There are documented cases of computer problems with all new cars causing similar problems.

I had a 2004 Chysler and one day driving down the road suddenly all the dash panel lights came on (washer fluid, gas low, battery etc, even the seat belt buzzer chimed even though I had the seat belts clicked).

A split second later the car suddenly took off to the point the gas pedal was floored.

I felt the gas pedal go to the floor just like it was on cruise control, but it wasn't. I just turned the key off and luckily I was on my rural road. If I was on a busy street I probabaly would have rear ended the car in front of me because it happened so fast no one could have reacted quickly enough.

BTW: MY floormats are pinned to the floor.
 
i got a '06 Tacoma thats on list...same deal with floor mat...i cant even get it out to clean it...dont see how it gets jammed...only thing that worries me is throttle body is controlled by a motor...not sure what the deal is with this magic 5 second button some folks mentioned...mine shuts down as soon as i turn key off.
 
Another case of "If the media says it, it must be true", right?

EVERYTHING the filth of the media spews is either sensationalist garbage, or to promote the agenda of those who PAY for their adhering to the party line.

Who knows, this attack on a manufacturer of quality, reliable products by a media, which is bought and paid for by the same administration that OWNS GM and Chrysler, is probably nothing more than a well orchestrated attack in the hope of steering potential purchasers of Toyota/Lexus automobiles to the GOVERNMENT OWNED product line.
Government Motors products were so low in quality BEFORE the takeover, and something tells me that they haven't improved since.

Also, are Toyota/Lexus products built by UAW members, if not, another reason why the PAID propagandists of the media would fault a product NOT made by UAW workers who stand to greatly benefit by sales of GM and Chrysler products.

The AUDI 'sudden acceleration' case was a great example, just as were the 'exploding' gas tanks on GM pickups.

The filth of media are "experts on everything, and knowlegeable about nothing", and as such CANNOT be trusted to tell the truth about ANYTHING.
 
That doesn't even make any sense. I guess you can increase your HP by making the engine "run away". Tuners should have figured that out years ago!
 
Or the woman who put her motor home on cruise control, then went back to the kitchen to make a sandwich. She got several thousand dollars from a "jury of her peers"- all idiots, apparently.
 
LOL Someone needs to get back on their med'sand oput away your gun and/or pitchfork.
Toyota/lexus cannot have any quality control issues??

BTW: GM/Chrysler BEFORE the gov't took them over always seemed to have way more write up in mainstream media that their foreign competitors...even when the foreign competitors had more serious recall issues. The imports have been given a free ride for years by the press.
 
The Toyota issue has been traced to the floor mats.


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8708911


http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-lexus-consumer-safety-advisory-102565.aspx
 
Well,I guess the CHP man panicked because there wasnt a thing that would have stopped him from putting it in to neutral and then hitting the brakes.
 
I heard that on the news the other day and their solution was to put the car in neutral. Doesn't anyone know about the key that turns the engine off, then coast to side of the road.
Walt
 
The story i heard is they had a rental car so they didn't know the opertion/quirks of the car. We got a rental with a performance shifter, bout to turn around and take it back when we finally firgured out how to shift it.
I was standing next to one of those chevys when the motor mount busted. There were four skid marks on the road. The two front tires from the brakes and the two back tires pushing it.
Knew two guys in the Chevy truck when they had an accident and were lit up, one survived with burns the other didn't.
 
"You just haven't experienced it and probably never will"



There's a reason for that. A "runaway" engine does not put out more power than an engine in proper tune and running condition. A governed engine that over revs might do that - but peak HP is produced at a certain RPM (usually the governed RMP) going above that RPM produces less HP and less torque.
 
The type of engine surge we're talking about is obviously way beyond your comprehension. Again, if you haven't experienced it you won't believe it. The problem, which first occurred with the advent of computerized fuel injection, had been pretty well engineered out but has evidently reared it's ugly head again. You can bet that Toyota is working overtime on this and will fix it but never admit the problem is/was in the design.
 
Problem with that it would also lock steering wheel , but they should some sort of emergency shut off incorporated into the injection system that would only let engine idle like the big trucks.
 
You would not buy a car from Bin Laden of today. Why would you buy a car from Bin Laden of Dec. 7 1941?
 
(quoted from post at 11:32:16 11/09/09) I'm suprised.... As a driver ed teacher, I have outbraked "runaway" cars hundreds of times - numerous makes and models. Can't imagine someone not being able to bring it under control with the brakes, gearshift to neutral, and shut it down! (34 years on the road with students!)
Click to expand...
I totally agree. Evedently Toyota is saying their brakes are not adequate!
 
(quoted from post at 11:32:16 11/09/09) I'm suprised.... As a driver ed teacher, I have outbraked "runaway" cars hundreds of times - numerous makes and models. Can't imagine someone not being able to bring it under control with the brakes, gearshift to neutral, and shut it down! (34 years on the road with students!)
Click to expand...
I totally agree. Evedently Toyota is saying their brakes are not adequate!
 
Some of you old timer, macho types need to be realistic. It is like saying "if the tail fell off the jumbo jet you were piloting over New York City, (like it actually did fall off of a Airbus 320) you, being the great pilot that you are, would just feather the props on your engines and glide into a safe landing in a nearby corn field".

Read the quotes from the LA Times:

Other experts say the numbers may be far higher, pointing to a 2007 NHTSA survey of 600 Lexus owners that found 10% complained they had experienced sudden acceleration.


The agency also has thrown out evidence for other reasons. In 2008, the NHTSA opened a probe of the Toyota Tacoma after a consumer found that the truck had accumulated 32 times as many sudden-acceleration complaints as any other pickup. But Toyota at the time said the complaints stemmed from "media and Internet exposure." The NHTSA closed the case without a finding after it whittled down a list of more than 450 complaints to just 62.

But The Times' examination of consumer complaints and a sampling of reports from Toyota dealers found more than 400 reports of sudden acceleration involving those models. And federal records show that the NHTSA knew about 260 of those cases and another 114 cases identified by Toyota.

Could your wife, mother or daughter do the panic situation driving manuveurs you say are so simple?

I'm surprised to learn that Toyota is so teflon coated with YT mag readers.
 
I only had a throttle stick once, on my 1943 Ford GPW jeep. Whet to shift to second, and the pedal stayed to the floor. Reached down for the ignition switch (no key on mine!) and shut her down as I pressed the clutch and coasted to the side of the road. Spring broke. Walked down the street to the parts house and got one that would work.
Can"t do that on the modern cars. My Mom"s Prius (junk) has no key. Just a button, and no real gear selector.
I guess I"ll stick with my 1950s MoPars and have complete control over my car if there is a problem. Either the clutch or the neutral button will do the job as the key gets turned.

Josh
 
If during a run away, this is the first time you ever thought a bout this condition, you probably will not make it. You have to think ahead and remember. My wife's cousin just died in a car because power steering went out and hydro-boost brakes do not work when power steering is out. I was in a gm van that raced up when idling. If you turned off the key it kept on running. Never knew how that happened. Cut battery cable if I recall correctly. Probably a big round maintain when pressed switch not a bad idea. Or gas shut-off.
 
The NTSB has shown that the issue is bunched up floor mats around the pedals.

Yes I agree what you describe is beyond my comprehension, just as the science behind Santa Klaus is to far out for me too.
 
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