Toyota Runaway Cause: Electronic Throttle/Cruise Control?
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From: john on 4 Nov 2009 22:26 A Prius owner tried to resume her cruise control, and then the car accelerated out of control. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=8982147 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/RunawayToyotas/
From: C. E. White on 5 Nov 2009 07:54 "ransley" <Mark_Ransley(a)Yahoo.com> wrote in message news:0b6605b2-aac9-44d2-8710-5ddd3f4f2b27(a)j24g2000yqa.googlegroups.com... > > The guy was supposedly a highway patrol officer....I just find it > > hard > > to believe they had time to make a 911 call and not time to put > > the > > car in neutral. I can understand the confusion with the start/stop > > button if it was a rental, but not the shift level. > > > > Ed >Or turn off the key and put on the parking brake Supposedly the car was a Lexus with the Start/Stop button. With the car in gear just pushing this button does nothing - you have to press and hold it for three seconds for it to kill the engine if the car is in gear. Since it was reportedly a rental, I can understand the driver not knowing this fact. However, I still cannot imagine him not putting the car into neutral. And why call 911? Did they figure Scotty was going to beam them out of the car? Ed
From: E. Meyer on 5 Nov 2009 08:09 On 11/5/09 6:54 AM, in article hcui2i$94p$1(a)news.eternal-september.org, "C. E. White" <cewhite3(a)mindspring.com> wrote: > > "ransley" <Mark_Ransley(a)Yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:0b6605b2-aac9-44d2-8710-5ddd3f4f2b27(a)j24g2000yqa.googlegroups.com... > >>> The guy was supposedly a highway patrol officer....I just find it >>> hard >>> to believe they had time to make a 911 call and not time to put >>> the >>> car in neutral. I can understand the confusion with the start/stop >>> button if it was a rental, but not the shift level. >>> >>> Ed > >> Or turn off the key and put on the parking brake > > Supposedly the car was a Lexus with the Start/Stop button. With the > car in gear just pushing this button does nothing - you have to press > and hold it for three seconds for it to kill the engine if the car is > in gear. Since it was reportedly a rental, I can understand the driver > not knowing this fact. However, I still cannot imagine him not putting > the car into neutral. > > And why call 911? Did they figure Scotty was going to beam them out of > the car? > > Ed > > "The guy was supposedly..."; "Supposedly the car was a Lexus..."; "Since it was reportedly a rental..." I feel like I'm reading a court transcript or a CYA newscast. Are you guys all lawyers?
From: hls on 5 Nov 2009 08:48 "C. E. White" <cewhite3remove(a)mindspring.com> wrote in message news:C8idnW5A- > Now when I was young, we had a car that had true intentional unintended > acceleration. My Father bought it used and it had been wrecked and abused. > The motor mounts were weak and it had the old style throttle rod setup > (not a cable, but hard rods and bellcranks) If you backed out of the > garage and yanked it from reverse to drive without stopping, the motor > would flex on the mounts enough to open the throttle and the car would > peel out. The efffect didn't last past a short distance but as a sixteen > year old I thought it was very cool. > > Ed > I had a similar problem with a 57 Ford Thunderbird. Even at a dead stop, if you turned the steering wheel to the left it would accelerate wildly on its own. It was a broken motor mount.
From: C. E. White on 5 Nov 2009 09:02
"E. Meyer" <epmeyer50(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:C7182AB3.13675%epmeyer50(a)gmail.com... > > > > On 11/5/09 6:54 AM, in article > hcui2i$94p$1(a)news.eternal-september.org, "C. > E. White" <cewhite3(a)mindspring.com> wrote: > >> >> "ransley" <Mark_Ransley(a)Yahoo.com> wrote in message >> news:0b6605b2-aac9-44d2-8710-5ddd3f4f2b27(a)j24g2000yqa.googlegroups.com... >> >>>> The guy was supposedly a highway patrol officer....I just find it >>>> hard >>>> to believe they had time to make a 911 call and not time to put >>>> the >>>> car in neutral. I can understand the confusion with the >>>> start/stop >>>> button if it was a rental, but not the shift level. >>>> >>>> Ed >> >>> Or turn off the key and put on the parking brake >> >> Supposedly the car was a Lexus with the Start/Stop button. With the >> car in gear just pushing this button does nothing - you have to >> press >> and hold it for three seconds for it to kill the engine if the car >> is >> in gear. Since it was reportedly a rental, I can understand the >> driver >> not knowing this fact. However, I still cannot imagine him not >> putting >> the car into neutral. >> >> And why call 911? Did they figure Scotty was going to beam them out >> of >> the car? >> >> Ed >> >> > > "The guy was supposedly..."; "Supposedly the car was a Lexus..."; > "Since it > was reportedly a rental..." > > I feel like I'm reading a court transcript or a CYA newscast. Are > you guys > all lawyers? No. I just resist stating information as facts known to me when I am repeating things reported by the press. If you review a bunch of web sites you can get a pretty good picture of what happened in this one particualr case. http://www.10news.com/news/20831532/detail.html That report refers to the car as a loaner, not a rental. It mentions all weather floor mats as a potential cause. It also implies the 911 call lasted at a relatively long time. http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=6395 This one mentions that the car had all weather loor mats that were longer than the correct ones for the car. http://www.ennislaw.com/toyota_floor_mat_recall_news_10262009.html This one mentions that the mats in the car were actually mats intended for a Lexus SUV and that they were not properly secured. My Mom's Toyota Highlander has two clips that very securely locate the floor mats. As long as the mats are proplerly installed I can't see haw they could cause a problem. This site also mentions that the car would lose braking power with the throttle wide open. This is true for any vehicle that uses engine vacuum to provide brake boost, not just a Lexus or Toyota. The booster only stores enough enough vaccum for a few stops. An engine at WOT doesn't provide any additional vacuum. So if your throttle is stuck wide open, and you repeatedly press on the brakes, you will loose boost. However, I still say if the guy had moved the shifter into neutral, he could have stopped the car. But that is jsut my opinion. Ed |