i don't understand how the guy crashed his car to begin with. i mean did he floor the pedal to accelerate fast? then the pedal got stuck?

Quote from pinoykid13 :

i don't understand how the guy crashed his car to begin with. i mean did he floor the pedal to accelerate fast? then the pedal got stuck?

as I said before, the pedals wear over time, and can get jammed in their position.

Quote from SidiousX :

as I said before, the pedals wear over time, and can get jammed in their position.

Hist point was, how did the pedal get so far "back" in the first place? Valid question actually.

Folks at work are loving this. They are going home left and right. I don't know how you can get a job, then constantly take advantage of every time they offer you to go home. I can barely afford to take a paid vacation day because it cuts my overtime pay down to regular pay and these guys are pleading "Pick me, I'll go home..." every time there is a slowdown with the auto market.

Toyota has shut down 8 assembly lines. GM states that they lose $50,000 per hour of line shutdown. Don't know what Toyota claims, but times that GM number by 8 lines and a 24/7 operation. That's some serious loss of cash.

Quote from morpha :

Hist point was, how did the pedal get so far "back" in the first place? Valid question actually.

It doesn't matter how far back you push it, if it wears over time like these pedals are, then they will get stuck, simple as that.

*looks out at his 22 year old toyota*

What the **** is wrong with engineers today?

there was a similar story in australia a few weeks ago with a ford 4X4. apparently the key wouldn't turn to the off position whilst the car was in motion, the auto box wouldn't allow a shift to neutral and with a nice torquee V8 the brakes had no chance of holding it so he had a 30 min ride down the hard shoulder with the police clearing traffic till he crashed.

scarey really that these so called features were introduced because of idiots engaging the steering lock at speed ( don't laugh we had one locally that crashed after he took the key out whilst he was on the dual carriage way so his wife could unlock the glovebox !! ) or accidently shifting into neutral / reverse / park and blowing the engine / transmission / crashing and then sueing the manufacturer for not preventing their stupidity. all it does is take more control out of the driver's hands when you really need it. (and whilst we're at it have you seen how small the handbrake disc / drum is on a lot of cars today? sure it'll hold a stationary car and it'll hit that 16% efficiency the MOT demands but they sure as hell haven't got the heat capacity to slow a car down from speed, and of course these mini drums / pads are usually found on the more luxury cars which of course are the usually the more heavier / faster cars)

Quote from SidiousX :

It doesn't matter how far back you push it, if it wears over time like these pedals are, then they will get stuck, simple as that.

Ofcourse it does, push the throttle down only a little amount and you will never go that fast. Now the speed achievable is dependant on a few things.

However I agree with other people that I would of expected him not to panic so much and be able to do something more than phone the police. No one knows how you would truely act under similar circumstances, I would hope most people, include me, on here would do one of the possible things to stop the car.

I keep reading the thread title and thinking of this:

lol

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I keep reading the thread title and thinking of this:

there was a certsain urge to name the thread toyotal recall but i managed to resists such sillyness

Sorry if this sounds harsh, and as sad as this outcome was, it was totally avoidable.

I mean seriously come on for gawds sake, if you have time to make a phone call and ask for advice then surely common sense and well, any kind of intelligence would indicate to just knock it into neutral and brake as normal, or if the pedal was stuck down which i gather it was, then surely the first sensible and logical explaination is that something in the footwell is obviously holding the pedal down, so the 1st thought would be maybe the floor mat has moved, it aint rocket science.

To recall a car over this is just silly IMO, if this is a genuine reason for a recall then i guess i had better get on the phone to vauxhall ford nissan volvo and mazda, as all of those cars i have owned have had floor mats ride up and under the pedals at some point.


Sorry, but driver of that car = retard, use common sense, you might not die.

The saddest part of this is that he took his family with him.

Quote from danthebangerboy :

Sorry if this sounds harsh, and as sad as this outcome was, it was totally avoidable.

I mean seriously come on for gawds sake, if you have time to make a phone call and ask for advice then surely common sense and well, any kind of intelligence would indicate to just knock it into neutral and brake as normal, or if the pedal was stuck down which i gather it was, then surely the first sensible and logical explaination is that something in the footwell is obviously holding the pedal down, so the 1st thought would be maybe the floor mat has moved, it aint rocket science.

To recall a car over this is just silly IMO, if this is a genuine reason for a recall then i guess i had better get on the phone to vauxhall ford nissan volvo and mazda, as all of those cars i have owned have had floor mats ride up and under the pedals at some point.


Sorry, but driver of that car = retard, use common sense, you might not die.

The saddest part of this is that he took his family with him.

This.

As has been mentioned before, yet another argument for a proper gearbox. If you drive an automatic, you WILL be killed an a crash.

have what toyota had 30 years ago - A BUTTON SO YOU CAN'T ENGAGE THE STEERING LOCK WITHOUT DEPRESSING IT. My car has this. Simple solution to a simple problem. Furtherest back position you can have in the car without pressing the button is ACC (accessories)

must be something with toyota at the moment, just a recall notice the other day for my 1991 surf (4runner) apparently the steering relay rod breaks without warning leaving you with no steering can't wait for that to happen...

Quote from morpha :

Why don't Toyota just tell people to take out their driver-side floormats? Way cheaper than a recall

they did a few weeks ago before the recall.

(edit: the reason i know that, is because it made big news here after some guy accidentally reversed at high-speed into his garage, killing his wife, and they thought it was related to the accident in the states a week before which did indeed have the stuck pedal problem)

i don't have a link handy, but i was seeing on the news that they broadened the recall to worldwide... and apparently it doesn't affect just toyotas, some asian cars also use the same parts from a plant in mississauga.

Quote from danthebangerboy :

Sorry if this sounds harsh, and as sad as this outcome was, it was totally avoidable.

I mean seriously come on for gawds sake, if you have time to make a phone call and ask for advice then surely common sense and well, any kind of intelligence would indicate to just knock it into neutral and brake as normal, or if the pedal was stuck down which i gather it was, then surely the first sensible and logical explaination is that something in the footwell is obviously holding the pedal down, so the 1st thought would be maybe the floor mat has moved, it aint rocket science.

To recall a car over this is just silly IMO, if this is a genuine reason for a recall then i guess i had better get on the phone to vauxhall ford nissan volvo and mazda, as all of those cars i have owned have had floor mats ride up and under the pedals at some point.


Sorry, but driver of that car = retard, use common sense, you might not die.

The saddest part of this is that he took his family with him.

Rumour has it it isn't the floormat, but some part with the throttle that's the reason... I could have reached down and ripped the floor mat out with my hands and still would've got enough time to come to a stop in the timeframe the cop had (which would've been my first instinct if I feel the pedal stuck, way before calling anyone)... Also, the stress on the gearbox could have prevented from shifting to neutral (shouldn't be with intact synchros, but whatever)...

Yes, the whole reason the recall happened was because someone who had pulled their mat out drove over a cliff or something. It should be noted that this is far more than one or two crashes that happened. There have been quite a few crashes with the same characteristics. There were just a few highly publicized ones.

They tested it on the news a few days ago. It's something in the electrics that keeps the engine at high revs no matter what you do to the pedal. The test driver on the news tried using the brakes, but they couldn't hold it. He just popped it in neutral no problem, and turned the key. A little presence of mind would have saved many lives honestly.

Tits, I have an Aygo which is on the list. Surely the fault would affect C1s and 107s too?

Ah well, I have a manual. Clutch down, engage neutral, engine off.

Just test it. Go on a 70mph road and floor it. If you die in a horrific crash be sure to tell us

I've not had any problems with that so far Touch wood!

now you have jinxed it

He hasn't jinxed it, he touched his wood...