Throttles That Stay Open.

[Edward R. Cozzi]

Late model Toyota models, Camrys, Avalons, etc. do not have throttle cables. There are sensors at the accelerator pedals, wires to the ECM and wires to the electronic device that controls the throttle plate. The Toyota engineers know what going wrong, but do not know WHY. (It has nothing to do with floor mats.)

Yesterday I showed my significant-other how to not panic if something like that ever happens to her car. (Push the selector to neutral and turn-off the ignition before the engine over-revs. Then gently brake to a safe stop to the side of the road.)

We even practiced this and now, if it happens to her, she will be prepared to deal with a potentially dangerous or fatal situation.

Then it occurred to me that YOU guys might have wives or kids that YOU can pass this to and avert a disaster. The throttle can stick open in ANY car, not just a Toyota. Take a few minutes and stack the deck in your favor for your family and friends.

(To Toyotas credit all plants have been shut down until this problem is completely solved. You car will be recalled ASAP and Toyota will come out of this better than ever.)

[JupiterSunsation]

good lesson for all Ed....

[Sydwayz]

Or you could just pull the lanyard. I have one them in my two trucks and working on putting one in MS's Benz.

[TCEd]

Remember when Audi had this problem back in the late 80's early 90's ? They denied there was a problem, blamed it on the drivers.

[RLJ676]

Just FYI, you're giving credit to Toyota for "doing the right thing", as that is how they have spun their press release. The reality is the NHTSA had to remind them they legally must quit selling these cars, as Toyota continued to sell them for 5 days.

Much like they said it's a carpet issue, which is pretty obviously not the case.

[RLJ676]

Remember when Audi had this problem back in the late 80's early 90's ? They denied there was a problem, blamed it on the drivers.

I think that did turn out to be people standing on the brakes, but also hitting the gas?

[TCEd]

I think that did turn out to be people standing on the brakes, but also hitting the gas?

Yes, that was the final opinion from the NHSTA.

[Birdog]

I remember throttle return springs breaking fairly often on older cars...push in the clutch/pop it in neutral..No big deal...Always seemed to happen when you floorboarded it...LOL

[Ted]

I have been in the business a long time and there was never an actually proven unintended acceleration of an older car. Audi was flim flammed by a guy on TV with a "magic box" attached to the car which may be the single worst piece of journalism ever (if you discount the bottle rockets to make an explosion in the pick up truck). I worked for Nissan when that hysteria hit and the Z cars supposedly did it. As soon as we retro fitted brake-to-shift lock devices on the shifter it all stopped. People were simply shifting into gear and moving their foot to the accel pedal at the same time, they mashed the accel pedal when they thought it was on the brake. But this new thing is something that we all knew was coming. It has been happening to marine grade electronic throttles already, apparently because their quality control was not as good but eventually it had to happen in a car. There has to be a software glitch that is commanding WOT when the pedal is not asking for it. And considering all the other false inputs and outputs ALL computers experience is anyone really surprised this couldn't happen? I have always been leary of this idea and now it has apparently come to pass. And the worst thing is that since several groups probably worked on the programming, no one can probably find out where the coding went wrong, sucks to be them.

BTW- you do not have to turn the engine off after shifting to neutral, the rev limiter built into the injection will save the motor, and even better, the shift to neutral may actually override the WOT command and settle the engine back down, just tell anyone you know, SHIFT TO NEUTRAL, pull over.

[Bobcat]

Buy American....problem solved.

[Ted]

Buy American....problem solved.

Nope, they have electronic throttle control too, just haven't had the issue....yet.

[sledge]

Isn't at least part of these units..."American Made"? Could've been programmed in India/China though...

What about the cars with push button start/stop...they won't turn off while in gear right? But will they turn off in neutral?

How many cars/trucks AREN'T electronic throttle these days?

[.38Special]

The Toyotas in question were all built in America.

[Magicfloat]

Karen has a Sequoia,no issues,but we will take it in when the fix is available.The interesting thing is how brutal my local dealers are in their current ads againt Toyota.Talk about kicking someone when they are down!The local Nissan dealer offers to buy Toyatas and put you in a car that won't kill your family. They even said "don't drive it to us,we will send a tow truck". The local Chevy dealer ad says "Is your car safe? No worries here".I think that's pretty low class,trying to profit on someone's misfortune.

[Edward R. Cozzi]

Karen has a Sequoia,no issues,but we will take it in when the fix is available.The interesting thing is how brutal my local dealers are in their current ads againt Toyota.Talk about kicking someone when they are down!The local Nissan dealer offers to buy Toyatas and put you in a car that won't kill your family. They even said "don't drive it to us,we will send a tow truck". The local Chevy dealer ad says "Is your car safe? No worries here".I think that's pretty low class,trying to profit on someone's misfortune.

I'm not a big fan of negative advertising like this to capitalize on someone's misfortune. Scare tactics have been selling life insurance for decades.

[phragle]

With my quasi degree in backyard engineering, an electronic throttle in a car is just a bad idea. Electronics, your tv ever act up? your toaster ever die? Your home computer ever crash? Those are all in a nice clean, temperature stable, countertop environment. A car lives in an environment with widely fluctuating temperatures, is subject to vibration, water, salt and dust. The power locks died on my explorer, the power windows failed on my cadillac and you want to give me an electronic throttle??
What rocket scientist came up with this idea?? Imagine if this happened to GM with their incredible financial stabilty, shutting down multiple assembly lines, stopping sales, and public relations nightmares. Good bye GM. Toyota has to be hemoraghing dollars at this point just from being shut down, not even considering what the cost is to design, test and implement the repair. There are now a lot of Toyota workers on an unplanned vacation that would in all likelyhood, envision someone in front of a firing squad.

[Edward R. Cozzi]

An electric throttle scares me too.

[MacGyver]

An electric throttle scares me too.

Aircraft manufactures have been doing it for years. Fly-by-wire is the norm.

[phragle]

Aircraft manufactures have been doing it for years. Fly-by-wire is the norm.

with much more intense pm schedules etc.

[2112]

( Toyota will come out of this better than ever.)

With much help from an adoring mainstream media.

.