Toyotas first attempt at population control.

Gas pedal, floor design at issue in Toyota recall
By TOM KRISHER and DAN STRUMPF (AP) – 5 hours ago
DETROIT — Federal investigators said of the 102 accidents caused by stuck gas pedals on Toyota vehicles, there are four possible causes involving the floor mats: The mats are too long or too thick, they weren’t properly secured, the gas pedal design is flawed or the floor geometry is defective.

The wide array of causes presents a challenge to Toyota engineers who are trying to come up with a way to fix the problem that is leading to a recall of 3.8 million vehicles, including the Camry, the top-selling car in the U.S.

“We’ve evaluated a number of different years, makes and models of Toyota and don’t believe that there is a one-size-fits-all answer as to why these incidents are occurring,” said National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson on Tuesday. “I think Toyota is going to have a challenge on its hands to come up with a remedy that is going to address the problem.”

Toyota spokesman John Hanson acknowledged the problem is more complex than vehicle floor mats alone, but involves the way the floor mat interacts with other parts of the vehicle.

“Other factors may be coming into play here,” he said. “That’s why we feel that probably the remedy could be different from vehicle to vehicle.”

On Tuesday, the Japanese automaker issued a safety advisory urging owners of 3.8 million car and trucks — including popular models like Camry, Prius and Tacoma — to remove driver-side mats. It wants drivers to watch out for loose or incorrect mats that could slide out of position and cover pedals.

Toyota is still studying the problem. Once it comes up with a fix, it will issue a recall of the models. It will be Toyota’s largest-ever U.S. recall, accounting for about 15 percent of all the automaker’s vehicles on U.S. roads, the company said.

The safety advisory was prompted by an accident last month killing four people near San Diego. In that incident, a floor mat trapped the gas pedal on a 2009 Lexus ES 350, causing it to accelerate out of control, strike an SUV, launch off an embankment, and burst into flames.

NHTSA said it had received reports of 102 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck on the Toyota vehicles involved. The problem has led to 13 crashes, 17 injuries and 5 fatalities in Toyota vehicles, according to NHTSA.

Toyota’s warning affects 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.

Source : Yahoo news.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0dtI6bJ2jp9rX/610x.jpg
http://fatlace.com/stayfresh/mark/files/07-08-15-es-350-floor-mats.jpg

And

Actual 911 call: Floor mat causes car to speed to 120mph crashes killing family of four in CA

:facepalm

:crazy

wow talk about a booboo

anyone with one eighteenth of a brain would put it in neutral :facepalm :facepalm

srsly though thats pretty fucked up for an OEM floormat to do that

ITS CALLED IGNITION SWITCH

NEUTRAL

SOMETHING???

SORRY but idc how bad the throttle sticks it aint killing me, unless on the bike then there could be a chance

It was disheartening to hear the last phone call before they died

Heard it on CNN.

There are a lot of things you can do to slow the car way down or stop it in that situation.

I’ll play both sides of the story on this one.

Giving benefit to the driver.

  1. Brakes won’t work too well at WOT as the vacuum will be insufficient to stop.
  2. Ebrake wouldn’t have helped
  3. The car has push button start that takes 3 seconds of holding to turn off
  4. It was a rental.
  5. Toyota possibly wouldn’t allow the transmission to shift into N while at speed.

Giving benefit to population control.

  1. The guy was a CHP Traffic safety officer
  2. There is probably not a member on this forum who hasn’t have had that happen to them where you just reach down and pull the floormatt off or the pedal up.
  3. If you want to stop there is always a guide rail, another car, or something. Choosing what you hit @ 80 > randomly hitting something at 120+

just heard the phone call, i cant believe this REALLY happens…

i guess this is something that isnt common sense, omg

In just about any new OEM car the brakes out power the engine typically in a 3:1 ratio. AKA if your car has 300hp, the brakes typically have 900hp worth of stopping power(in working order of course).

Throttle sticks, mash the brake for fucks sake. I’ve had throttles stick before on all sorts of shit(dirtbikes, sleds, cars, etc) and have never had an issue stopping the vehicle.

95% of the public is just plain retarded when it comes to driving and controlling a vehicle. :crazy

Ive never seen a car where you cant hit neutral on the highway.

Recalling cars for a floormat issue is rediculous.

i have never heard of a car that wont let you shift into neutral, in fact i feel like there should be a law that you HAVE to have your car be able to shift into neutral. if anything goes wrong with the motor that is one of the easiest ways to stop it from continuously accelerating the car

ok i understand the engine button thing, but what about Neutral thats bs it has to shift into neutral

agreed i would have slammed the brakes and had the ebrake on period, BUT these us took the chance and made phone call and tried to make it through a busy intersection is just beyond stupid

ya , i mean slamming the brakes ? ok but honestly? dude i’ve HONESTLY got my pedal stuck under the floor mat before and my first reaction was to move the floor mat back, BUT if it was in some intense moments, IM SURE it would of crossed my mind to throw it in neutral, hit the brakes and shut the engine off…

i mean even if they couldn’t of shut the engine off, use the brakes to stop the car, which it sounds like they burnt the brakes to all fuckin hell trying to stop the car… then…at least neutral, i mean comon

darwin

I totally agree with you singh. I was just saying even if ya get scared ya hit the brakes its just the matter of how bad the bad is going to be other than going into traffic besides at that point down shift that mofo and blow the engine you will slow down

thats actually happened to me in my scion, it happens alot, usuallt the floor mat just goes under my pedal, they are way too long. However, im not that retarded that I would just let my car accelerate uncontrollably as im behind the wheel

the thing that concerns me with this is that Toyota is no longer using drive by wire, what if this has to do with the sensors?

you mean they are using drive by wire. as opposed to DRIVE BY CABLE.

and FACT: Common sense is not so common.

pedal is stuck under floor mat, oh noessss what do i do?!?!?!? uhh pull on the floor mat dummy

sadly, its called Darwinism