Since no one was in the car other than this guy we will probably never know for sure but I find the whole thing a little questionable. This guy has been driving for many years and yet never thought to put the car in neutral? He was able to call for help and make a huge production of the whole event with news crews and choppers yet never once thought to take it out of gear or even put it in a lower gear to slow down? It sure brought a lot of bad press to Toyota didn’t it? Seems designed to get out of car he bought in my opinion. Just not buying his story either.
Toyota has a history of lying to consumers. 6 years ago Toyota was sued by the Japanese government for safety recalls. So their statements here in the US that they are sorry and didn’t expect this to happen are pure lies. They hide problems from the consumers and don’t do the right thing to keep their vehicles safe. Their history of quality was true 30 years ago, but not today.
None of us know for sure about this one guy and his case. There is no way for us to judge him, at all. Doing so only shows poor judgement. Judging Toyota is very easy and very proper. They lied, folks have died.
Hey Joe – I see that you didn’t let the facts get in the way of your rant. Many incidents (including this one) are investigated by engineers – so, yes, we have a pretty good idea of what did or didn’t happen. The vast majority of incidents are caused by “driver error” (people push the wrong pedal). That’s a fact. Ford (and other US manufacturers) have had far more recalls than Toyota (including some potentially serious issues). That’s a fact. Interesting that the media coverage favors the now-government-owned US manufacturers over Toyota.
Car companies do NOT recall vehicles if the averages show that it will cost more to recall than to defend and pay out on a law suit for injury or death.
Why would Toyota be any different? Oh yeah, they are not.
I am curious when we will hear about the results of what was able to be pulled from the EDR (Event Data Recorder).
It should tell use what the percentage of throttle (gas-pedal) depression was. This is likely how Toyota was able to determine that he pressed on brakes only “lightly.”
Is it possible that he was pressing on brakes in order to activate brake lights and cause burning rubber smell, but was simultaneously pressing on the gas?
Two observations, The first is Toyota is saying that moderate to heavy pressure will kill the engine??? Living in Michigan, I’d be heavily irritated if my car engine died every time a deer ran out in front of me.
Observation #2, someone recommended putting the vehicle in neutral while traveling in excess of 90mph… I don’t know about these new high fangled hybrds but doing this action in any car I’ve ever driven would blow up the engine almost instantly.
Obervation #3… In the heat of the moment, I can see where he wasn’t thinking clearly.
Question… I haven’t seen the interview but given events in the Toyota lineup…. why whould we question the guy.
It really isn’t that surprising that they couldn’t duplicate it… Toyota has said multiple times that this is a freak unlikely occurance… why would they expect it to happen multiple times unless the issue is bigger than they are letting on.
Your observation #2 makes no sense. It may have blown up the engine, but he would have been able to coast slowley to the side of the road and not risk injury to himself or others.
Observation #3. You say he wasn’t thinking clearly, but he had plenty of time to put on a performance for the 911 operator, dialing and holding onto the phone.
Brake override means if you slam on the brakes and the gas at the same time, the brakes always win
The RPMs in neutral should be zero, how would this blow up the engine? I drive a stick and it isn’t a problem at all to shift to neutral at high speeds… you just lose active control of the vehicle since there’s no power to the wheels
This guy drove for 20 minutes without shifting to neutral or turning the engine off. There’s the “heat of the moment” but this sounds like a lot more than a momentary lapse in judgment.
The guy, who apparently wasn’t injured, immediately lawyers up. Why?
In Neutral RPM would be zero if the accelerator wasn’t stuck. when your shifting into neutral in a manual transmission, your taking your foot off the gas.
Assuming that the gas was stuck and traveling 90mph the RPM would instantly redline.
Regardless of whether it was or wasn’t the car, I’m not quite sure what the guys going to get out of it. Since there was no bodily injury, the best he can hope for is a recalled prius.
Isn’t this exactly what has been happening all along? I did not see
any footage of this incident, but heard
about it. The article said that Toyotas
have “sticky acceleraters”. And will
“tapping the brake and holding the
accelerater” cause a burning smell?
I would think that would only be caused
by holding the brakes down fairly
strongly.
I always thought something was wrong that the guy was able to call 911 on the cell phone but was to afraid to turn off the car.
This doesn’t pass the smell test. The blogosphere says the guy filed for bankrupcy, owes $700,000 and wasn’t even making the lease payments on the car.
Also alleges that he had a few insurance claims for missing property.
So is Toyota Admitting they can’t locate and fix the problem? Well since Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem we only have one solution is to Ban Toyota in the US. Toyota is a dangerous weapon which Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem. Toyota has admitted they can’t fix and locate the problem so they give the vehicle back. What kind of government allow such a dangerous automobile back on the streets. If Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem they should be banned in the US.
How many Toyota owners out there feel safe knowing that Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem so they send the vehicle back out on the streets to kill another person.
That’s a bit extreme. Barack is just trying to create a new America-
An America where the oppressive white people and evil corporations pay for others to collect welfare and health insurance checks- as is their right, considering past injustices!
In any current hybrid vehicle, serious application of the brakes cuts off fuel to the engine in order to save gasoline. Even if that feature failed, the Prius’s brakes could easily overcome the little toy engine that powers the Prius. Even the most powerful cars ever sold to the public even with old style drum brakes could bring the car to a halt. This was demonstrated in the 80’s when Audi 5000s were falsely accused of unintended acceleration. (It was shown that a Plymouth Hemi Roadrunner with 425 advertised horsepower could not overpower it’s very small brakes.)The Audi was completely cleared of any such fault in spite of a media frenzy that almost drove Audi out of the US market.
The xenophobic conspiracy theorists who think Toyota is an evil customer hating entity should go back into the woods, find a cousin to marry, and leave us all alone.
Since no one was in the car other than this guy we will probably never know for sure but I find the whole thing a little questionable. This guy has been driving for many years and yet never thought to put the car in neutral? He was able to call for help and make a huge production of the whole event with news crews and choppers yet never once thought to take it out of gear or even put it in a lower gear to slow down? It sure brought a lot of bad press to Toyota didn’t it? Seems designed to get out of car he bought in my opinion. Just not buying his story either.
I knew this guy was lying the first time I saw him being interviewed , could look in the camera at all.
Toyota has a history of lying to consumers. 6 years ago Toyota was sued by the Japanese government for safety recalls. So their statements here in the US that they are sorry and didn’t expect this to happen are pure lies. They hide problems from the consumers and don’t do the right thing to keep their vehicles safe. Their history of quality was true 30 years ago, but not today.
None of us know for sure about this one guy and his case. There is no way for us to judge him, at all. Doing so only shows poor judgement. Judging Toyota is very easy and very proper. They lied, folks have died.
Hey Joe – I see that you didn’t let the facts get in the way of your rant. Many incidents (including this one) are investigated by engineers – so, yes, we have a pretty good idea of what did or didn’t happen. The vast majority of incidents are caused by “driver error” (people push the wrong pedal). That’s a fact. Ford (and other US manufacturers) have had far more recalls than Toyota (including some potentially serious issues). That’s a fact. Interesting that the media coverage favors the now-government-owned US manufacturers over Toyota.
Remember the Ford Pinto?
Car companies do NOT recall vehicles if the averages show that it will cost more to recall than to defend and pay out on a law suit for injury or death.
Why would Toyota be any different? Oh yeah, they are not.
I am curious when we will hear about the results of what was able to be pulled from the EDR (Event Data Recorder).
It should tell use what the percentage of throttle (gas-pedal) depression was. This is likely how Toyota was able to determine that he pressed on brakes only “lightly.”
Is it possible that he was pressing on brakes in order to activate brake lights and cause burning rubber smell, but was simultaneously pressing on the gas?
I won’t draw conclusions until more is known.
Claims Ben, you hit the nail right on the head.
Two observations, The first is Toyota is saying that moderate to heavy pressure will kill the engine??? Living in Michigan, I’d be heavily irritated if my car engine died every time a deer ran out in front of me.
Observation #2, someone recommended putting the vehicle in neutral while traveling in excess of 90mph… I don’t know about these new high fangled hybrds but doing this action in any car I’ve ever driven would blow up the engine almost instantly.
Obervation #3… In the heat of the moment, I can see where he wasn’t thinking clearly.
Question… I haven’t seen the interview but given events in the Toyota lineup…. why whould we question the guy.
It really isn’t that surprising that they couldn’t duplicate it… Toyota has said multiple times that this is a freak unlikely occurance… why would they expect it to happen multiple times unless the issue is bigger than they are letting on.
PUZZLED.
Your observation #2 makes no sense. It may have blown up the engine, but he would have been able to coast slowley to the side of the road and not risk injury to himself or others.
Observation #3. You say he wasn’t thinking clearly, but he had plenty of time to put on a performance for the 911 operator, dialing and holding onto the phone.
This just doesn’t pass the SMELL TEST.
Brake override means if you slam on the brakes and the gas at the same time, the brakes always win
The RPMs in neutral should be zero, how would this blow up the engine? I drive a stick and it isn’t a problem at all to shift to neutral at high speeds… you just lose active control of the vehicle since there’s no power to the wheels
This guy drove for 20 minutes without shifting to neutral or turning the engine off. There’s the “heat of the moment” but this sounds like a lot more than a momentary lapse in judgment.
The guy, who apparently wasn’t injured, immediately lawyers up. Why?
In Neutral RPM would be zero if the accelerator wasn’t stuck. when your shifting into neutral in a manual transmission, your taking your foot off the gas.
Assuming that the gas was stuck and traveling 90mph the RPM would instantly redline.
Regardless of whether it was or wasn’t the car, I’m not quite sure what the guys going to get out of it. Since there was no bodily injury, the best he can hope for is a recalled prius.
Isn’t this exactly what has been happening all along? I did not see
any footage of this incident, but heard
about it. The article said that Toyotas
have “sticky acceleraters”. And will
“tapping the brake and holding the
accelerater” cause a burning smell?
I would think that would only be caused
by holding the brakes down fairly
strongly.
I always thought something was wrong that the guy was able to call 911 on the cell phone but was to afraid to turn off the car.
This doesn’t pass the smell test. The blogosphere says the guy filed for bankrupcy, owes $700,000 and wasn’t even making the lease payments on the car.
Also alleges that he had a few insurance claims for missing property.
I don’t think this is the end of the story.
So is Toyota Admitting they can’t locate and fix the problem? Well since Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem we only have one solution is to Ban Toyota in the US. Toyota is a dangerous weapon which Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem. Toyota has admitted they can’t fix and locate the problem so they give the vehicle back. What kind of government allow such a dangerous automobile back on the streets. If Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem they should be banned in the US.
How many Toyota owners out there feel safe knowing that Toyota has admitted they can’t locate and fix the problem so they send the vehicle back out on the streets to kill another person.
Toyota knows where the problem is, they just can’t fix it or publicly say anything for fear of alienating customers.
Why?
The problem is driver error and so they would have to say that their customers are the problem- no company can do that.
The real problem is Barry O. and his liberal policies! Isn’t that what it always comes down to on this board?
That’s a bit extreme. Barack is just trying to create a new America-
An America where the oppressive white people and evil corporations pay for others to collect welfare and health insurance checks- as is their right, considering past injustices!
Your opinion betrays your Kulak roots, comrade.
In any current hybrid vehicle, serious application of the brakes cuts off fuel to the engine in order to save gasoline. Even if that feature failed, the Prius’s brakes could easily overcome the little toy engine that powers the Prius. Even the most powerful cars ever sold to the public even with old style drum brakes could bring the car to a halt. This was demonstrated in the 80’s when Audi 5000s were falsely accused of unintended acceleration. (It was shown that a Plymouth Hemi Roadrunner with 425 advertised horsepower could not overpower it’s very small brakes.)The Audi was completely cleared of any such fault in spite of a media frenzy that almost drove Audi out of the US market.
The xenophobic conspiracy theorists who think Toyota is an evil customer hating entity should go back into the woods, find a cousin to marry, and leave us all alone.
In my city we’ve had six recent cases of elderly drivers driving into buildings. All drivers were 70 or older. Must be the car, right?
What if my cousin isn’t cute, could I marry my sister instead?