Toyota Runaway Cause: Electronic Throttle/Cruise Control?

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/

On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:52:56 -0500, C. E. White wrote:


>
>
> "john" > wrote in message
> ...
>>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/
>
> I would bet that this is mostly crap. The guy driving the Lexus that got
> all the attention was an idiot. How could he not put the car in neutral?
> Even my 82 year old Mother knows to do that. I tried it on her Higlander
> today ... works no problem (well except the engine wasn't racing out of
> control since her floor mats are properly secured).


IIRC, it was a rented car. I bet he said "Let's see what this baby will
do!" and pressed the accelerator to the floor, it got out of hand and then
he freaked out.

"john" > wrote in message
...
>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/

I would bet that this is mostly crap. The guy driving the Lexus that got all
the attention was an idiot. How could he not put the car in neutral? Even my
82 year old Mother knows to do that. I tried it on her Higlander today ...
works no problem (well except the engine wasn't racing out of control since
her floor mats are properly secured).

Ever since the Audi 5000 faux unintended acceleration problem, it seems that
every few year a different manufacturer is accused of building cars that
mysteriously accelerate as if they were demon possesed. I suspect in most
cases the problem is pedal confusion, or pressing on both pedals at once.
Ask yourself who benefits from spreading these stories around (think
ambulance chasings scum suckers...).

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

"Hachiroku ????" > wrote in message
news
> On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:52:56 -0500, C. E. White wrote:
>
>
>>
>>
>> "john" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>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/
>>
>> I would bet that this is mostly crap. The guy driving the Lexus
>> that got
>> all the attention was an idiot. How could he not put the car in
>> neutral?
>> Even my 82 year old Mother knows to do that. I tried it on her
>> Higlander
>> today ... works no problem (well except the engine wasn't racing
>> out of
>> control since her floor mats are properly secured).
>
>
> IIRC, it was a rented car. I bet he said "Let's see what this baby
> will
> do!" and pressed the accelerator to the floor, it got out of hand
> and then
> he freaked out.

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

On Nov 5, 6:37*am, "C. E. White" > wrote:
> "Hachiroku ????" > wrote in message
>
> news >
>
>
>
>
> > On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:52:56 -0500, C. E. White wrote:
>
> >> "john" > wrote in message
> ....
> >>>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/
>
> >> I would bet that this is mostly crap. The guy driving the Lexus
> >> that got
> >> all the attention was an idiot. How could he not put the car in
> >> neutral?
> >> Even my 82 year old Mother knows to do that. I tried it on her
> >> Higlander
> >> today ... works no problem (well except the engine wasn't racing
> >> out of
> >> control since her floor mats are properly secured).
>
> > IIRC, it was a rented car. I bet he said "Let's see what this baby
> > will
> > do!" and pressed the accelerator to the floor, it got out of hand
> > and then
> > he freaked out.
>
> 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- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Or turn off the key and put on the parking brake

"ransley" > wrote in message
...

> > 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

On 11/5/09 6:54 AM, in article , "C.
E. White" > wrote:

>
> "ransley" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>> 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?

"C. E. White" > 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.

"E. Meyer" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> On 11/5/09 6:54 AM, in article
> , "C.
> E. White" > wrote:
>
>>
>> "ransley" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>>> 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..._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

"C. E. White" > wrote in message news:hcum2j$bn1
>
> 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

I tried this technique and there is nothing to stop you from flipping the
shifter up to
neutral. You might over-rev an engine (especially if the electronics have
rebelled)
but you will be able to slow and stop. The brakes dont stop working if the
vacuum is lost...you just have to depend upon your leg muscles. You may
THINK
you have lost all brakes, but they are still there.