And it's official. Toyota is recalling two MILLION vehicles over the accelerator issue, the stuck pedal problem. This is different from the floor mat problem.

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The recall affects the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.
The latest move comes just months after the automaker recalled 4.2 million vehicles over concerns that accelerator pedals could become lodged under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was blamed for several crashes, including an accident involving a Lexus that accelerated to more than 120 mph before crashing in San Diego, killing four people.
But Toyota said Thursday's recall is due to potential problems with the actual gas pedal mechanism, causing the accelerator to become stuck regardless of whether the vehicle contains a floor mat. Toyota said in certain rare cases, the gas pedal mechanism wears down, causing the accelerator to become harder to press, slower to return or, in some cases, stuck.


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Read more at:
KCBS - Toyota Recalls Over Two Million Vehicles

 

its been an ongoing issue...
sad part is, people arent smart enough to effing put the car in neutral (duh) ..instead, they held on for dear life...
just more evidence people aren't in tune with the vehicle they are driving.
as a professional driver, it makes me sickkk.

 

Still waiting for the title on my Fit to come in, and I'm stuck driving the loaner Corolla from the dealer... at least now I'm aware of the problem!

 

sorry to read this, but how stupid can people be? just put the car in neutral using the gear lever and use the middle pedal called the brake pedal to slow down the car... the engine might rev off the limiter like mad, but who cares.

this reminds me of the audi 5000 or watever it was called way back when.

 

Just turn the key to the off position, no need for anything else.

 

I am so glad i wasn't the only one who thought that when i heard heard the 911 tape from that crash. You have the presence of mind to retrieve your phone, open it, dial 911, talk to the operator and report your suroundings, and yet the simple act of slapping the shifter into N escapes you?! Darwin in action people, plain and simple....

 

Neutral is another story but that accident involved a car with a push-button ignition, he couldn't have taken out the key. There is a procedure to turn the car off with the button in an emergency but he apparently did not know it.

 

I posted this in the original discussion too, the link to the MANY reasons why the Saylor crash occurred:

Toyota's runaway-car worries may not stop at floor mats - latimes.com

The vehicle was equipped with a push-button start. Pushing the button to turn it off won't turn it off. Pushing the button repeatedly won't do a dang thing, the button has to be held down three seconds.

Secondly, it has a gated-faux-manual automatic, and the way it's set up, it's not all that clear where neutral is located.

Third, a vehicle operating at full-throttle loses it's power brakes, and no amount of pushing on the brake pedal is going to stop a runaway car.

The original post was about the first recall, where Toyota was blaming the floor mats alone. Now this is fully addressing the problem with the accelerator itself.

Sometimes newfangled technology and nifty styling cues are NOT a good idea. The car was a loaner, so NO ONE in the car was familiar with how the car operates.

If you ever have a loaner or rental, be sure before you take off that you can do at least ONE of the things that were not done in the Saylor crash. Know exactly where neutral is, know how the car starts and stops.

If the accelerator hadn't stuck, they probably still wouldn't have known how to turn off the car when they got home.

 

Apparently the defective accelerator assemblies were manufactured by an American firm, CTS Automotive Products. Worse, it appears that CTS designed the electronic accelerator pedal module: CTS Receives Electronic Accelerator Pedal Module Development Contract From Major Japanese Automotive Manufacturer.

"To date, CTS' Pedal Modules have been selected by seven automotive OEMs for use in 47 different automotive platforms...."

Edit: Fortunately, the accelerator assembly in the Fit looks somewhat different from the CTS design:

 

Crap: CTS Awarded Production Program for New Electronic Accelerator Pedal Module by Honda Motor Corporation

"This accelerator pedal module will be manufactured in one of our facilities in China and will be used on a small-car platform. Production is scheduled to begin in late 2007 and is expected to generate sales of over $7 million per year by 2008. The total program is projected to be worth $40 million."

 

Back when someone cracked one of our pedals open to try to add an extra spring, I noticed the pedal already has a spring inside of another spring (in the housing). If the plastic piece meant to keep them apart becomes worn the thing that would happen is the springs would potentially interlock and cause the pedal to not be able to move. I bet we're in almost as bad shape as Toyota. Fortunately it's easier to stop the Fit if that happens.

 

I was not aware that the driver was a CHP officer, nor that he was not the person on the phone. I also didn't know that the car was a loaner (his vehicle was also a Lexus so he probably did know how to shut off the engine) I think I still would have tried slamming it into Park or Reverse, its hard to do 120+ MPH with a ruined transmission.

 

not a good idea cause you'll loose steering... the steering column will lock.

 

in all fairness, take a look at CTS's statement today...

CTS News Release

 

I've read that some non-Toyota drive-by-wire designs include a failsafe, such that if you hit the brakes, the throttle closes, regardless of what signal the accelerator pedal is sending. Since it's all microprocessor controlled, this should be a fairly easy enhancement to make.

 

Toyota and Honda do not have a throttle-brake interconnect safety. Nissan Infinity do, the latest issue of Car and Driver has a test in it where they test how long it takes to stop a car with a stuck throttle. The G37 wins because when you get on the brakes it closes the throttle automatically. Incidentaly they also tested a stage III Roush Mustang which took 903 feet to stop from 100 MPH with the throttle pinned!

 

I sometimes need to touch things to understand how they work, and since I don't have access to a Toyota, I can't look at one of the throttles up close. I'm having trouble visualizing how the parts move from the diagrams that have been published.



It looks like the the symbol that resembles a BMW emblem is a pivot point for the blue gray piece, moving the top of the piece slightly away from the throttle assembly pivot, which appears to rotate through a comb-like friction damper. If this is the way it works, then just a tiny bit of wear of that little finger on the bottom left corner of the blue gray piece would cause friction to increase over time.

Does anyone have an alternative explanation?

In hindsight, this looks like a dumb design that would inevitably fail.