Toyota jammed throttle.

You don't drive an automatic I take it.

Just select neutral or and/or switch off ignition. I don't see your point.

If you turn off the engine in an automatic you lose the power steering, servo brakes, and they are a bastid to turn and stop.

Can't really see that no power steering should be a great problem it, usually decreases with speed anyway. Losing servo-assist would make brakes less effective but the car would immediately start to decelerate rapidly. Much Safer than crashing at 100mph plus.

The strange thing was that he had the time to make a call but not to think.

If he was doing 100+ .. fack him.

i must say my first thought was why not knock it out of gear

I had a Mk 4 Zodiac on the A2 once, coasting along the outside lane passing a lorry and a coach when it stalled (faulty coil) no facking joke trying to get across to the side of the road, even at 10 at night it was busy.

i can console myself that if the gas pedal jammed on my car it would probably go no faster than 75 mph!

Charlie. The problem seems to be that the throttles are sticking in the fully open position. I can see that this would take the driver by surprise. Apparently this Lexus driver was an off-duty cop. He phoned 911 but never thought of the obvious? Tragic.
It seems that quite a few cases are coming to light. Toyota sales plummet. Some government geezer says "Don't drive them until this modification is carried out" Toyotas and Lexi abandoned at roadside. You couldn't make it up.

I saw on the news earlier that the first cases were reported in November last year.

Bit slow on the recall imo.

I don't drive one - thank feck.

Didn't Ford 4x4 Rangers(?) have a similar problem a few years back? They only admitted it when it happened to one of the company directors. He ended up upside down trying to avoid a crash. It soon got sorted then!

No idea.

My cars old, but they never get recalled as far as I know.

it also affects Ford, Citroen and Peugeot as they use the same supplier

if you turn off the ignition wouldn't the steering wheel lock come on?

Probably will in a modern car, my old Zodiac never had one though.

Steering lock only functions if you turn the key too far. First 'off-click' will cut off ignition. I think there are usually 4 positions on the starter switch. Position 5 is starter motor which is a spring-return setting.

naydam 04 Feb 00:42
Apparently this Lexus driver was an off-duty cop. He phoned 911 but never thought of the obvious?
=============
I think one of the passengers (back seat) phoned 911 not the driver...
he came down a fast road ,throttle jammed, and hit an intersection at speed ..
all 4 occup[ants of the Lexus were killed ...incl the passenger who made the call....

Aren't brakes, gear change and ignition-off computer-controlled in this car to prevent you "doing something dangerous" while accelerating? The best option would appear to be sideswiping walls, lamp posts and even other cars rather than taking a full-on hit, imo.

I'd sideswipe something smaller, like a Golf, Ka, or a mini.

I'm like that.

So far ut aout all the accident hve been in Americ so not sure if Toyota dody accelerator pedal is to blame or thy just can't get their big fat feet out the way quick enough.

..US Transport Chief warns

"Don't Drive your Toyota ! "

:-( :-(

Police have found a trail of upended Golf's, Ka's, and Mini's
lying upside down in drainage ditches strewn around The Fens ..

great excuse for toyata drivers to escape speeding fines imo

Do toyotas go over 70 ?

only when pushed ;-)

Big Charlie 03 Feb 23:43


I had a Mk 4 Zodiac on the A2 once, coasting along the outside lane passing a lorry and a coach when it stalled (faulty coil) no facking joke trying to get across to the side of the road, even at 10 at night it was busy

Same happened to me on the M1 25 years ago. Just left a contra flow, there was a breakdown in the other lane and I was thinking 'phew, didn't choose that one' when it just died in the outside lane. Suddenly car behind getting closer and time slips into hyperdrive! Freewheeled to the hard shoulder across 3 lanes on a Sunday eve. Still gives me the shivers thinking about it :(

you can turn off the ignition but not all the way and u still have steering

Perseus

as far as I remember, that piece of **e was the only Ford I ever owned.

Wonder how many people will use the 'I wasn't speeding, my pedal got stuck' routine'.

I used to work for Renault many years ago and they don't tell you about things wrong with your car that might injure you they just**them on the sly when you are in for a service and don't tell you anything about it.
Renault 5 master cyliners used to pull you violently into the left if you had to do an emergency stop so when you were in for a sevice these were swapped over without your knowledge. Also Espace brake pedals used to snap because of a weakness in them so when you went in for a service the brake pedal was taken out and a strenthenng bar was welded across it then refitted without telling the owners a thing about it .

This throttle problem would not put me off buying a Toyota, they are still head and shoulders above everything else for reliability.
With any luck sales will plummet and prices will be slashed.

didn't renault have the fault with clio bonnets flying up on motorway? Were they ever recalled?

Im on my second Avensis and cant fault it

toyota aygo,citroen c1 and puegot 107 all built on same production line in czech republic.

what was that sill old biddy on the news going on about last night with her toyota ? that car was 10 years old

Glad that my Ravmobile is too old to be affected by these problems.... certainly wouldnt put me off buying another one though, most reliable car ive ever had ( touch wood )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8498257.stm

1. Use the footbrake, not the handbrake
2. Depress the clutch
3. Look for a route to the side of the road, and steer there carefully
4. Only switch the engine off if the clutch cannot be used instead
5. If footbrake has failed, you can use very gentle handbrake
Source: Stephen Mead


"In the case of the accelerator sticking, the immediate response for a lot of people would be to unjam the accelerator when the proper reaction is in fact to try to stop the car," says Mr Howard. "That is the difficulty here - human nature makes it so hard to sort out these things."

For most people the place where they are driving fastest is on the motorway.

"Imagine you're driving down the inside lane of the M4 at 70 mph," says Stephen Mead, assistant chief examiner at the Institute of Advanced Motoring.

"The car ahead brakes, so you take your foot off the pedal but nothing happens. What should you do?"

It's easier said than done but Mead insists that by following a few simple steps you can quickly bring the car to a stop, saving your own and other people's lives.

If the accelerator is stuck, you should first firmly depress the foot brake, he says. This will override the accelerator.

It must be the footbrake and not the handbrake, which could cause the brake pads to burn out and potentially put the car into a spin.

KEEP FOCUSED
Don't panic
Don't try to free the accelerator pedal
Don't waste time putting on hazard lights
Source: Stephen Mead
Next, the driver needs to depress the clutch, effectively stopping the engine from powering the car. The equivalent in an automatic car is to put the gearstick into neutral.

Continue braking and keep an eye out, forward and back, for an "escape route" to the hard shoulder. Do not try to steer straight across in one quick swerve - this could be dangerous, and destabilise the vehicle at such a speed.

In a short time - perhaps 10 seconds - you can bring the car to a halt, he says.

But what happens if the accelerator isn't the only faulty part of the car? It is very unlikely these days that the brakes will fail, as modern cars have dual brakes. There are typically two pistons controlling the brakes - if one fails you should still be able to stop the car, Mr Mead says.

But in the event the brakes do completely fail, you can still help by depressing the clutch.

Vanessa Guyll, technical specialist at the AA, argues it is easier to use the clutch to disengage the gears than to turn the key to switch the engine off.

It may be difficult at high speeds to put the car into a lower gear. So Mr Mead suggests a very gentle use of the handbrake to slow the car.

But what if the clutch has failed as well as the accelerator and brakes?

"Turn off the ignition but it's vital you leave the key there," Mr Mead says. "If you remove the key from the ignition, the steering lock will go on and that's the last thing you want."


Toyota has become the world's biggest car maker
If in addition to all the above, the key is also stuck, you are in the realms of the mindbogglingly unlikely.

"Then the fates are really against you," Mr Mead says. There is no ideal solution here as nothing is going to be painless, he warns. You can try and phone the police or take the car onto a grass verge or onto an HGV escape lane.

The last two are both dangerous ways of trying to slow down a car. Hitting the escape lane, designed to stop a 44-tonne truck by sinking its axle into gravel, would rip the front suspension off a car and be like hitting a brick wall, he warns.

If all else fails and there is something ahead of you that you need to avoid this might be your only option.

But all of this assumes you are on the motorway. Mr Howard says much of the same advice would apply at lower speeds on city roads, or minor roads in the countryside.

The speeds may be lower but there could be greater dangers in terms of junctions, pedestrian crossings, trees, sign and lamp posts, and closely-spaced cars.

"I'd rather it happened on the motorway in some ways," says Mr Howard. "It's not as if a few miles an hour change matters much. I wouldn't want to be approaching a zebra crossing when this happened."

A few years ago I lost the steering on my car and whacked into five other cars.
Eventually I came to a stop, sweat pouring down my face.

Then this pikey looking fellow jumped on the back, holding the pole for balance, and said, 'That's it, sonny, your time's up, it's somebody else's go now.'

I still have nightmares about it.

:-(