OT Toyota

[Oren]

My Toyota, I press a button on the lever and pull into low gear. All else fails I can always use an emergency brake.

[Stormin Mormon]

That's the last thing I'd want to do, palm it up to neutral. I know, that's what they say on the radio. Because the engine would race to wide open throttle, and throw a rod.

I heard some earlier Toyotas, the pedal was catching on the floor mat. This sounds like a return spring is snapping.

[Stormin Mormon]

Guess they made it too complicated. Maybe the old Model A Fords had some advantages, after all.

[aemeijers]

A new engine is a hell of a lot cheaper than the hospital or the body shop. And with a modern unit-body crush-control car, wrecks that used to be fixable with a new doghouse, are now totals. I seriously doubt the engine would grenade- most are rev-limited by the computer these days. But I don't really care if they have to pick up the car with a shop vac, as long as I don't get messed up. I can always get another car, and on the newer one at least, insurance would likely cover it anyway. Me, not so much. I don't heal up nearly as well as when I was 18, even from minor injuries.

-- aem sends...

[Van Chocstraw]

They specifically say 'DO NOT PUMP THE BRAKES'. Apply steady pressure. How about turning the fuckking key off stupid.

[The Henchman]

I have a throttle by wire car and all you have to do is tap the shifter into neutral and ease the brakes. Simple.

[The Henchman]

You are supposed to palm it into neutral. Modern cars have governors that ensure you don't race up the rpm. My V6 locks about 4500 RPM, unless it determines a normal power band, like exiting a hiway offramp. If you just punch the throttle in 3rd 4th or 5th, oftentimes the car will govern itself until it determines what the hell you want to do.

You can downshift your automatic tranny into a lower gear if needed, like on a hill or somesuch but if the rpm's are too high to do it on the fly, the car's transmission computer module will not allow a downshift and lock you from doing that.

I drive a POS Sebring and it does all this.

[The Henchman]

motorbikes now have throttle by ware too. And pretty soon most automatic transmissions will be getting rid of the shifter to select or change gears and will have a dial or buttons to select gears. Many high end cars already have electronic transmissions.

[ransley]

Years ago working on my camry under the hood I reved the motor and released the half round cable holder that I reved it with, the motor stayed at Full Rev, the cable did not slide back into the sleeve at the top of the motor fast enough, the plastic cable holder binded up, folded over in a kink, until I reved it or yanked on it again. Didnt Audi "supposidly" have an issue years ago, Anybody who hits anyhing now in a toyota says their car did it, not them, but the non accident claims of acceleration are what make me wonder since they are not finding beer cans wedged in the pedals, or the drivers quickly remove them.

[Jim Yanik]

aemeijers wrote in news:dLSdnS4tI-33G_jWnZ2dnUVZ_t- [e-mail]:

on a new car,the power-train warranty should cover it.

[Van Chocstraw]

Drive by wire is still against the law. A cable runs from the pedal to the throttle body. Brake by wire is also illegal. Steering by wire is illegal too.

[aemeijers]

Van Chocstraw wrote: (snip)

Watch ypur mouth. Not everybody has antilock brakes. Absent antilock brakes, ones the tires start skidding, no point steering. And on modern fancy cars, not all of them have keys. Even on cars that do, if you accidentally turn the key all the way back (which would be the reflex most people have), the steering wheel locks.

-- aem sends...

[Van Chocstraw]

Turn the key off. Simple

[RickH]

A good driver would slam it in neutral and be reaching for the parking brake and be braking with regular brakes, a good driver would be reaching for the key to shut off the engine, a good driver would also not hesitate to use the Parking gear if all else failed. A good driver would make all these decisions in about 5 seconds time. The case where the guy called 911 because he was accelerating was crazy, he was a lame-ass driver, what the hell is a phone operator supposed to do? (The car was later T-boned in an intersection and all died I think).

My Toyota is un-affected fortunately:

Yes I will continue to drive Toyotas, if it were on the recall list I might consider using my spare car until I got to the dealer.

[mm]

This line of mine is unclear. Failing to use a seatbelt is negligence but isn't legal negligence unless one has a duty to someone else, such as to drive or ride carefully, that isn't performed unless one wears a seatbelt. And even if a scenario could be creat ed where failure to wear a seatbelt endangered other people in the car, unless someone else B is actually injured because A failed to wear the seatbelt, it is only "negligence in the air" and it's not actionable.

I had an annoying, compulsive acquaintance who insisted once that I wear a seatbelt when I drove in our infrequent carpool. Maybe he thought that if we got hit from the side, I'd be better able to control the car afterwards if I was wearing my seatbelt. It's conceivable but unlikely it would make any difference at that point. And since we were in a rural area, or on a mostly empty expressway, it was very unlikely I'd get hit from the side. Had there been an accident, unless my failure to wear the seatbelt somehow caused the accident or caused him greater injury than if I had been wearing the seatbelt, my failure to wear the seatbelt wouldn't have mattered.

[clare]

Actually they can ALL be shifted into neutral, and the ECU will limit the RPM in neutral to a safe limit by cutting the injection. IMPOSSIBLE to over-rev any OBD2 equipped vehicle in neutral or with the clutch depressed.

Try it some day. Start the car. In neutral. Floor the accellerator. What happens??? At about 4000 - 4200 RPM the engine cuts out and it just sits there, bouncing between about 3500 and 4500 RPM until you lift your foot. The engine protects itself from driver stupidity and gives the driver a safe "out" if a throttle malfunctions.

This has been true since at least 1995 on most vehicles, and since

1996 on all vehicles officially sold in North America.

[mm]

I would rather have a thrown rod than a thrown me.

It does sound like the spring is snapping, but how long would it take for even the dumbest mechanic to figure that out. It must not be a broken spring.

Is this true of diesels too? There was a case on the People's Court where 3 said and no one disagreed, that if for some reason the fuel pump doesn't turn off, and let's assume the car is in neutral, the engine will just run faster and faster until it breaks up.

Two said that the only way to stop it is to pinch the fuel line closed.

I don't know if the car was new or old.

YOu also can't actually go into park until the speed drops very low.

[clare]

It is the pedal ASSEMBLY - which includes the pedal, proper, a bellcrank type linkage with a damper, on a pivot, with a return spring and a throttle position indicator.. This whole assembly fits into a separate case, or box, that goes through the firewall

Apparently, if all the right (or wrong) conditions occur, condensation can form and get into the damper mechanism part of the pedal assembly, causing it to swell or deform, increasing the friction to the point eventually the return spring cannot ovcercome it to return the pedal to idle. They are working on a "field fix" to avoid having to replace all the throttle assemblies of this type currently in the "wild". Apparently it may be as simple as inserting a stainless steel shim into the damper assembly to prevent the clearance from closing up and increasing the friction.

[clare]

Aftermarket cruise on 1980 Corolla (it could have been ANY other car - being aftermarket) stuck on my wife while going to her brother's home in Windsor from Kitchener with our 2 young girls with her. She was able to keep it under control with the brakes until she got to her brother's place, where she put it out of gear and shut it off. It dieselled something awfull, and filled the catalytic converter with fuel so it flashed white hot. The heat melted the floor-mats and console, filling the car with smoke. She called me in a panic on the phone asking what to do. I told her to turn the key back on, foot hard on the brake, put it in gear, and then shut off the key - call the fire department and point the garden hose anywhere she saw smoke.

When the fire department got there, it was dead and out. Insurance company totalled it and gave me a negotiated cash settlement

- I fixed the car with used parts and drove it another 5? years - with the balance of the insurance payment in the "car fund".

[clare]

The engine will NOT throw a rod because it is electronically rev limited to a safe RPM (usually around 4200 - 4500 RPM).

Try it some time. With the car idling in neutral, jab the throttle to the floor and see what happens. It WILL cut out, and surge until you let off the pedal.