Over 1,000 Toyota owners report sudden acceleration; 19 may have been killed

Monday 09th November, 01:42 PM JST

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10 Comments

societymike at 03:18 PM JST - 9th November

haha... it's the US, the most sue-happy country in the world. What do you expect? OF COURSE there will now be an influx of people with dollar signs in their eyes screaming.. "hey, my Toyota suddenly accelerated too!! Where's my check!?"
nandakandamanda at 03:35 PM JST - 9th November

Hmmm... Toyota 15, compared to 11 such deaths in vehicles made by all other car makers.

Ah, so other carmakers have had similar problems, then...
Yelnats at 03:39 PM JST - 9th November

People should not buy floor mats. Waste of money and waste of time.
nisegaijin at 05:42 PM JST - 9th November

strange... test drove a Mark X during motor show, and that thing wouldn't even accelerate properly no matter how i much i wanted it to...
Junnama at 05:46 PM JST - 9th November

I thought we had already established these accidents were the fault of the drivers: they have no right to expect a car that doesn't accelarate suddenly for no reason.
KallyPygous at 07:37 PM JST - 9th November

Japanese cars are so advanced because they are all made with essence of Herbie the love bug. He was melted down in the late 70s and now every Toyota, Lexus and Daihatsu is made with a drop of his essence. Unfortunately, some of them get a bit wayward sometimes.
jyankenpon at 08:32 PM JST - 9th November

Sounds like a great way of getting out of paying speeding fines.
cow76 at 08:49 PM JST - 9th November

This happened to one of my friends a couple of years back. He ended up in a hotel swimming pool. Luckily nobody was hurt. Can't remember the kind of car but I'd guess Toyota. They're still number two on my list though, behind the mighty Honda.
motytrah at 01:11 AM JST - 13th November

The issue is related to Toyota cars and SUVs with electronic gas peddles. Meaning there isn't a physical cable running from the peddle to the engine. Instead there is a switch at the peddle and a computer determines how fast the car should be going.

One of the deaths was a State Patrol Officer who was test driving a Lexus. A passenger managed to get a 911 call off and you can here the officer screaming that it won't break.

In the hybrid vehicle both the gas and brake are electronic. In addition, these types of cars don't have an ignition switch one can easily turn off. There's just a start button.

So, let's say the issue is the floor mat. That still doesn't explain why the system was accelerating when the brake was being slammed. Which I think is why Toyota is going to change the computer.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. In the 80's GM had a recall on the cruise control unit of certain models. Moisture was getting into the computer unit and the cars were going haywire. That took years to prove it was the case. Back then the exact same things were blamed. Driver Error and Floor Mat. Just saying.
5SpeedRacer5 at 08:48 AM JST - 14th November

Motytrah

I drove one of those GM cars you are referring to. It was a rental car and it was the craziest thing I have ever experienced while driving. I was in northern Nevada on business and it was NOWHERE. The car started, well... bucking! At 60 mph or thereabouts, it was like Big Momma was tapdancing on my accelerator. I would pull over and start up again. Sometimes it was better, sometimes worse, but having to deal with that for hundreds of miles was a real treat.

Actually, in that situation, having no brakes would have been no problem at all. I am not a big fan of fly by wire. If it breaks, there is no workaround.