This actually happened to one of my staff, however, he was driving
a model not mentioned in any of the recalls, a 4Runner. He said
that he completely freaked out at first, then just turned the
ignition off and braked. When he turned it back on, everything was
‘normal’ again. His incident was not floor mat related, something
went wonky in the throttle.
As a person who is dedicated to safety, and who also has two Toyota Matrix’s in the yard. I am fascinated by this story.
The recall began when a family of four were killed in the US as their Lexus crashed at a speed of 190km/h.
They called 911 and still couldn’t figure out how to push the brake pedal, shift to neutral and turn the key to accel.
I shouldn’t pass judgement, as I wasn’t there, nor do I know all of the facts. However it was found that the after market floor mat was too large for the car.
I have had that problem before, usually though it bunched up under the clutch and I couldn’t start the car. I blame the mat not the car. A little trimming and it hasn’t happened since.
Toyota recommends taking the drivers mats out of your car until they find the solution. That is fair, as I guess the evidence does lead to faulty floor mats thus far. Hopefully that will be the final finding.
Unlike many business analists and media boneheads I think Toyota is taking the best approach here in the name of safety. They are proving that at Toyota safety comes before profit and have ceased production until they find the root cause. For those who don’t know, that is how the Toyota Production System (TPS) works.
It’s too bad the media monster can’t see the real story here.
What the hell was that family doing driving 190 km/hour anyway?
Darwin award material, if you ask me!
What the hell was that family doing driving 190 km/hour anyway?
Darwin award material, if you ask me!
The pedal stuck down to the floor. I don’t think they were 'just driving along 'at that speed.
OK, then, I take it back.http://resource.pedaltrout.com/old_site_images/d59171236e6b0b96091eeda1f7b57ce3.gif
i have not done to much / any research into the root cause of this story but to my mind if it was just suspected that the floor mats were the problem i don’t think they would stop production and halt all sales. they are going to take such a massive hit from this that it is going to be hard to put a figure on it or to see just how long lasting the effects will be. just glad i am not working for toyota right now.
I just heard a bit more today that indicates the throtle linkage may be at fault. Bottom line is, they really don’t know so they are doing the right thing and stopping until they find the problem.
I was going to mention that I heard it was more than just a mat issue, and the cause was unknown.
Doing the right thing or not it’s pretty serious. I suspect fear of litigation is a big reason for the stoppage. This will be a black eye on Toyota for a little while to come regardless of the fact they’re being so open about it.
I’m not loyal to any particular manufacturer. They all have issues somewheres down the line.
I always wonder how people with stuck accelerators forget how to shift into neutral and come to a stop. Maybe it should be mandatory in driver training. They like making a lot of stupid things mandatory, so they might as well pick a good one once in a while.
The Safety Council guy they had on the radio this morning said that simply braking would acctually be effective as well. http://resource.pedaltrout.com/old_site_images/eff5a6fbfb80ca2d3ae929b0a1c15638.gif I can only guess that panic overtakes reason in such a situation.
They say the problem is a defective gas pedal ( no throttle linkage, drive by wire). They also said you can feal the pedal starting to push harder and it may start sticking slightly before it causes big problems