Why, so recently, have we heard so much about Toyota cars going nuts? These cars have been out there for several years in the case of the Pry-Us, and for many years in the case of the Camry, et cetera. Why are they going bananas now?

Because it's their turn in the barrel !!
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/0...history-of-sudden-a/
It isn't the first nor will it be the last time !!
BTW remember the Ford SUV/Firestone Tire problems ? I threw out the OEM tires on my 2009 F-150 they were crap and to me dangerous .All to save a few bucks !This is an increasing problem for other car makers too.
No ,corporations never learn !

Guy on the freeway, passing in CA got the accelerator jammed -- whatever. 90 mph and burned out the brakes trying to get it under control. Evidently a police "escort" -- I think he called on the cell phone, which is dumb to do at 90 mph.

This reported on BBC news. So this news is going global.

So, my next question would be? Why can't you turn off the ignition, or put the car into neutral? (I understand that there's a steering lock linked to the key, but it doesn't engage in most vehicles unless the key is removed?)

I've stopped eating sushi . . .

Ohhhhhh yeah . . . Prius uses some sort of "magic wand" gizmo and a push button to turn on the electricity.

You'll have to excuse me. I have a 2005 FORD RANGER 4X4 with windows that roll up manually.

Nothing new in cars suddenly accelerating for no obvious reason. The problem is that car manufacturers have always denied liability claiming service issues and now that modern cars have systems that prevent you overiding the "smarts" in the car that just went nuts.

Had a F100 4x4 V8 that did this in the mid 80's. Took off at 100mph down a freeway which luckily was almost deserted. Nothing routine seemed to fix it so I decided to let it run until I got the the edge of town (20 miles) so I didn't have so far to walk.

Was going to drop it into neutral, hit the brakes and turn it off. Expected the engine would blow as this model had a tendency to run on after you turned if off anyway.

Got to the outskirts of town and was about to do all this and it suddenly behaved again.

Ford Australia were their usual obstructive bastard selves (Just google the current fiasco in Australia with Ford Territory ball joints) and a range of mechanics couldn't find the problem.

Got rid of the Ford for a big loss and never bought another Ford badge.

But todays cars won't let you turn off the engine or change gears because the car computer thinks it is smarter than you are which may be true most of the time but obviously not under these circumstances.

Get rid of all the electronic crap, metric bolts and all the rest of the so called modern stuff and get back to the basic's

quote:

Why, so recently, have we heard so much about Toyota cars going nuts?

because the government owns their competitor, and the media delivery system (whose ass they have whipped for years).

quote:

Originally posted by billm:
Get rid of all the electronic crap, metric bolts and all the rest of the so called modern stuff and get back to the basic's

Yeah, no bolts on a horse . . .

The thing that amuses/amazes me is that I didn't think a Prius would run 94 miles an hour??? A real hot rod I guess?

Larry Sellers

Yeah, if your horse bolts, no way you're going to see 94 mph . . .

are they going to recall my 61 FJ25 landcruiser? it does have almost 38m on it

I had a 1985(? I think, been a while) Nissan 300Z that did it twice, both times scared the crap out of me, but I cut the key off, pulled it over, and it started and ran fine in a few seconds. These incidents were months apart, but they sure didn't make me want to keep it forever. I drove it for several years but eventually traded it in on a F150 IIRC. I mentioned it to someone at the local Nissan and they more or less suggested that I was drunk or crazy.....while I may have been drunk at times, the two times this happend I was cold sober. Luckily I was in a relatively small town, could have been nasty on a LA freeway.......

Remember Chevy's back in the 60's, motor would torque over and jam the linkage wide open?
Remember Chysler in the mid 70's, one good backfire and the plastic center section of the carb would melt and lock the throttle plates wide open (fun with a 400 CID motor under the hood)? Remember Fords Cruse Control catching fire (while the car was parked and turned off) and burning your house down? Remember when the CJ-5 and -7 Jeeps decided to steer themselves? Remember the Pinto? Remember the Vega? Remember the Crown Victoria? Remember side saddle gas tanks on Chevy pickups? Rembember Ford pickups with the gas tank inside the cab?

Remember the Bill Gates / GM CEO joke about having MS Windows control system cause you to crash while driving? Well, that day is here.

quote:

Originally posted by Tailgunner:

Remember Chevys back in the '60s, motor would torque over and jam the linkage wide open? Remember Chrysler in the mid '70s, one good backfire and the plastic center section of the carb would melt and lock the throttle plates wide open (fun with a 400 CID motor under the hood)? Remember Ford's Cruise Control catching fire (while the car was parked and turned off) and burning your house down? Remember when the CJ-5 and -7 Jeeps decided to steer themselves? Remember the Pinto? Remember the Vega? Remember the Crown Victoria? Remember side saddle gas tanks on Chevy pickups? Remember Ford pickups with the gas tank inside the cab?

Remember the Bill Gates / GM CEO joke about having MS Windows control system cause you to crash while driving? Well, that day is here.

Time to get back to the way cars were built in the mid-1950s...

I remember a 57 or thereabouts model BSA motorcycle I had in 67 and was riding home from work when it started to excelerate. I rode it by turning the key off when the speed got toooooo high. Turned out the needle in the carb had got a bit of grit somehow that wouldn,t let it return to idle and stayed where it got to when I wound it to the stop coming out of a corner. Man I miss that bike and some of the others I had over the years.

Von Gruff.

quote:

Originally posted by homebrewer:

quote:

Originally posted by Tailgunner:

Remember Chevys back in the '60s, motor would torque over and jam the linkage wide open? Remember Chrysler in the mid '70s, one good backfire and the plastic center section of the carb would melt and lock the throttle plates wide open (fun with a 400 CID motor under the hood)? Remember Ford's Cruise Control catching fire (while the car was parked and turned off) and burning your house down? Remember when the CJ-5 and -7 Jeeps decided to steer themselves? Remember the Pinto? Remember the Vega? Remember the Crown Victoria? Remember side saddle gas tanks on Chevy pickups? Remember Ford pickups with the gas tank inside the cab?

Remember the Bill Gates / GM CEO joke about having MS Windows control system cause you to crash while driving? Well, that day is here.

Time to get back to the way cars were built in the mid-1950s...

You mean with a 6000 mile / 6 month warranty, and scrap it at 50,000 miles?

'gunner says,

quote:

You mean with a 6000 mile / 6 month warranty, and scrap it at 50,000 miles?

Well, I should have said the way we made cars in the mid-1960s and early 1970s. You know, the Boss 302, the Boss 429, the Chevelle 454 SS with the LS-6, the Dodge SuperBee, the Charger R/T. Just put 2010 suspension and braking technology under 'em. Leave the ignition, fuel management and exhaust technology back in the good, old days when you could work on it with the tools you had in your toolbox...

My dad could fix his own car back in the good old days.......

He had to work on it every single weekend.....he could have been hunting.

I haven’t needed turned a wrench in years.....

In the good old days cars were not that good.

My first heart attack, after I left the Army; was in a 1971 454 Chevelle 4-speed. Drag racing one Saturday, and just hit the first mph light and the engine hit fourth gear, and the revs went to 7grand. Panic. Shut the key off. On the ignition column. Oh, poop, just locked the steering wheel. Now I got a car going about 118 and the steering column/wheel is locked. Double Poop!, can't restart the engine unless the car has clutch in and is sitting still. I'd always wondered what all that frigging sand and the cargo net was for at the end of the track. Now, I know. The throttle spring had stuck the throttle wide open.
I must be part feline, I think I've used about seven of them nine lives...

Rich

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ted thorn:
My dad could fix his own car back in the good old days...]

Used to be that you could fix or service your own car.

Been driving Toyota Landcruisers for decades, even when I had that aberrant F100 as well.

My FJ55 came with a really comprehensive tool kit, even included a grease gun, for servicing when you went seriously offroad. Never needed it for anything but routine stuff the Landcruisers were that good.

My current Lexus/Landcruiser is a whole different ballpark. There is nothing under the bonnet (except the oil filter) that is serviceable without computer gear. I don't even open the bonnet between scheduled services now.

Comes with no tools other than those necessary to change a tire.

quote:

In the good old days cars were not that good.

I had a 1977 Mustang II that I built into a hell of a hotrod. It had a really built 302 in it and would simply evaporate away from a stoplight. A friend of mine was out cruising in it one night (I let my friends drive it) and tells me he raced a 1969 Camaro with a 350 in it across a 1/8-mile bridge and blew his ass away. The Camaro owner was not pleased. I had that little Mustang so well tuned, I never had to touch it. I'd drive it for months, only tweaking it when I felt a difference in how it performed. With a four-barrel, stout cam, free-flowing exhaust and my lead foot, it sure used a lot of gas...

I'm all for fix it yourself. You pop a hood today and everything's just packed in there. You can't get to anything to maintain! And it's all electrical, O2 sensors, etc.

I love Toyota's new sad commercials.
They still keep the old saying:

Toyota "Moving Forward."

I think to myself, yeah "Moving Forward...
Without Ever Stopping."

PS:
The Prius has gotta be the ugliest car ever devised.

The guy mentioned in the OP is a fiscal mess. It's being speculated he 'copycatted' his Toyota Prius Event to get himself some Toyota PR money.

quote:

I love Toyota's new sad commercials.
They still keep the old saying:

Toyota "Moving Forward."

Listen to the music! It's all unicorns and rainbows!

On one of Tom Sullivan's shows last week he suggested driver error. All incidents involve drivers 55 and older with a heavy skewing towards people in the late 60's to 80's.No one's had an incident of a car taking off as their driving at a steady rate, they all involve pulling into or out of a a parking place or stop and go traffic where your switching back and forth from brake to accelerator.A couple of possible explanations are that if someone switched from a standard size car to a compact,the controls are closer together and it's possible to to depress the brake and accelerator simultaneously or ya just screwed up and had your foot on the accelerator.

It is always convenient to blame it on driver error, but that doesn't explain why Toyota felt compelled to first blame floor mats. Nor does it explain situations like the State Police officer who was killed in his runaway Toyota.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
It is always convenient to blame it on driver error, but that doesn't explain why Toyota felt compelled to first blame floor mats. Nor does it explain situations like the State Police officer who was killed in his runaway Toyota.

So you don't believe driver error is to blame in any of the incidents????

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews...prius-investigation/


Driver Error in Toyota Prius Investigation
March 22, 2010 - 2:47 PM | by: Becky Diamond

According to Police Captain Anthony Marraccini, driver error caused the crash of a Prius on March 9th 2010 in Harrison N.Y. and not faulty brakes.

In an investigation of the incident, Harrison Police Captain Marraccini said the brakes had not been applied, a finding that contradicted claims from a 56 year old woman who told police that the car had accelerated as she drove down her employer’s driveway and hit a stone wall. The woman told police that she had hit the brakes but the car did not respond.

Below is a transcript of what Captain Marraccini told Fox News on Monday:

"The vehicle accelerator was compressed and there was no brake application. We looked at data extracted from the car’s computer system. We looked at the vehicle diagnostic trouble code and we have video taped every key stroke that Toyota made while they extracted the data so we know the data is reliable and trustworthy.

"The event data recorder showed two collisions in this case. The first was a minor collision when the car impacted the curb. There as a speed indication of 35 miles per hour and an indication of deceleration. The second event recorded the main collision. We have indications that the car was traveling 27 miles an hour at the point of impact. The diagnostic data shows that the accelerator pedal was depressed at the time of impact and was in the idle position after impact. The pedal was returned to its normal position after impact.

"Censors on the gas pedal showed that the throttle position was depressed fully by the driver. The data indicates the accelerator was depressed. There was no pressure applied to the brakes at the time. The shift sensor was in drive and the accelerator sensor indicated that accelerator was fully depressed. There is no indication that the brake lamps were on.

"The data provided to us through this process is conclusive to us and I think that its factual data. Toyota provided us with the data and there is no possibility of distortion of the data.

"The driver is very passionate about her statements. When a driver believes they are on a break pedal they believe it. The operator stated that halfway down the driveway the car had accelerated but she insisted her foot was stepping on the break pedal.

"I believe that based on the factual information that we have it was driver error. With all of the hype about Toyota people are trying to point fingers. The operator believes she depressed the brake but that isn’t the case here."

Police did not file charges because the woman did not intentionally deceive authorities.

I'm not saying there is no possibility of a software problem,but this is the way it's trending

There's now a personal injury lawyer ad on TV for Toyota claims.

www.USAToytalaw.com

www.ToyotaAttorney.net

Google, some other links.

quote:

Remember Chevy's back in the 60's, motor would torque over and jam the linkage wide open?

Yeah! If you busted a motor mount and floored it it could get REAL exciting! That was the solid accelerator linkage.



.

quote:

Originally posted by Malloy805:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
It is always convenient to blame it on driver error, but that doesn't explain why Toyota felt compelled to first blame floor mats. Nor does it explain situations like the State Police officer who was killed in his runaway Toyota.

So you don't believe driver error is to blame in any of the incidents????

I didn't say that, but there "appears" to be a disproportionate number of Toyotas that it happens to. And it is made even more difficult to track down with the current drive by wire systems where there is no mechanical connection between driver and engine, so no matter what the engine was doing it will most likely reset when it is turned off. On top of that Toyota is not that forthcoming with the recorded data from quite a few of the vehicles so that casts another question.

A person can always second guess someone else and wonder why doesn't a person just turn the car off, but if you have only ever driven new vehicles you may not be in the "what if" mindset and just keep pushing on the brake and yelling or praying...

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Remember Chevy's back in the 60's, motor would torque over and jam the linkage wide open?

Yeah! If you busted a motor mount and floored it it could get REAL exciting! That was the solid accelerator linkage.



.

I had to drive home like that once too. It was pretty funny, because what would happen is the torque of the engine would apply the full throttle, so all you had to do was just *touch* the accelerator and the pedal would stomp to the floor until the torque caught up with everything else, then *poof* back to idle like nothing happened. Then you'd coast back down to 35 and tap the gas pedal and the process would repeat itself.

Interesting article on Reuters regarding the Toyota recall:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62O3HL20100325