Drivers of Toyota/Lexus cars with stuck throttles need better training.

 

• February 24, 2010 at 8:38 PM

  This is a comment on the Toyota accelerator pedal issue.
  
  Part of the problem we're having with this issue is that we don't train drivers to deal with emergencies. Our driver training, to the extent that we have any, is entirely aimed at making sure drivers know how to read and interpret road signs, and know the laws dealing with driving. It does not, however, really teach anyone anything about driving.
  
  Specifically, we do not train drivers on how to deal with emergency situations. We do not teach them how to deal with blown tires. We do not teach them skid recognition, avoidance, and recovery. Most notably for the current situation, we do not teach them what to do when their throttle gets stuck open.
  
  Fortunately, I took the time to get training on these things, and I think it should be mandatory.
  
  I have three times had to deal with stuck throttles in vehicles. One of those incidents ended with me fixing a throttle cable with a pair of pliers and a can of oil on the side of the road, and the other two ended with me replacing turbochargers in diesel trucks. None of them involved a six mile thrill ride at 100 mph, and none of them involved a crash.
  
  For an automatic transmission, put the transmission in neutral, turn the ignition off, and bring the vehicle to a stop on the side of the road. In a diesel with a runaway, put the transmission in its highest gear and brake hard until the vehicle comes to a stop, stalling the engine in the process. Know these procedures, and hope you never have to use them.
  
  Sure Toyota should face the music for selling unsafe equipment, but the drivers themselves involved in the incidents bear at least an equal amount of the blame for not handling the emergency correctly. Further, the government should also face the music for failing to require emergency procedures training for drivers.
  
  
  
  
  AP
  
  

  Comments

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    Robert Luis Rabello As you know, Alan, we own one of the Toyota vehicles under recall. We received a letter from Toyota describing the problem as relating to non-stock floor mats. I crawled under the dash to have a look, and I cannot conceive of how a floor mat could cause this problem.
    
    According to the reports, and I can't vouch for their accuracy, the vehicles don't respond to hitting the power button, and transmissions of said vehicles won't shift, either. This is why the issue has been reported as an electronics malfunction.
    
    Ours has been rock-solid reliable, though. Whenever Toyota calls us in to repair the supposed problem, we'll take the car in, but I'm scratching my head over this.
    
    Now, having written the above, I DO think you have a point about training for emergency situations. We do that with pilots. Why not with drivers?
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  Alan Petrillo This is one of the problems I have with drive by wire systems. They MUST fail safe!
  
  Are you required to use the power button, or is it possible to shut the thing down with the key?
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  Robert Luis Rabello We don't have an ignition key. One of the solutions we've heard discussed is a "kill button," similar to what the Class 8 trucks have to prevent a run-away engine. Trouble is, if you stop the engine, you stop the power brakes, too!
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  Dennis Girouard In the case of a local incident....the woman who owned the vehicle in question used card board as a floor matt which then caused the accelerator pedal to get stuck. Wonder how many other such incedents were caused by similar modifications?
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  Jay Ashworth In fact, vacuum assisted power brakes will generally give you one, and sometimes two depressions before you run out of vaccum in the booster.
  
  I was quite certain, without even looking at one, that the floormat thing was a handwave.
  
  As for "there's no ignition key", I wouldn't buy the car. Period. End of report.
  
  I'm amazed that that control set actually *passes* the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, honestly.

 

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  Alan Petrillo I'm with Jay on this one. If I can kill it then I don't want it. A kill switch is definitely in order! As for losing power assist on the brakes, that's dealable. It just means you have to stand on the pedal to stop the vehicle.
  
  One of my questions also is why when the one woman put the transmission into neutral did the damned thing not go into neutral? Of course, as I recall from owning one myself, a Toyota transmission doing what it wants rather than what the driver wants is nothing new.
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  Jay Ashworth This was a cc of a newspaper piece, wasn't it? :-)
  
  PS: your folo on the merge made the paper; copy in my truck.