The Toyota gas pedal -- There's your problem.

First off, a confession.  I've been a Toyota fan for over for two decades. They have served me very well, and I trust the company to the extent one can trust a car company. So it's interesting to see the reaction to the recent recall. Plaintiffs' lawyers are probably making upgrade plans for their yachts as the news reporters wring their hands and customers wonder what it's all about. And the government, desperate for an easy win, will try to smother Toyota with investigations.

It appears as though Toyota is doing the right thing. They've publicized the problem. They issued a major recall notice. And they issued a sincere apology. We can't ask them to commit hara-kiri.

It looks like they've made a determined effort to fix the problem. According to this Toyota FAQ, they've identified the problem to be a friction device designed to make the gas pedal feel the way gas pedals felt in the old day before the advent of the fly-by-wire computer controlled throttle. Some of them got stuck. You can see a diagram of the sticky part here.

So the recall involves replacing a friction shoe, although there are sure to be logistical problems before all the recalled cars can get the replacement part. But hopefully it will end well for the affected drivers.

However, we can't leave this without a little good natured humor. This photo, borrowed from Autoblog.com but with an arrow and caption, is just a joke. "There's your problem. There's an ugly appendage resembling a hairy human arm just above your pedal assembly. Better have that thing removed right away."

Comments

[Les]

This whole thing is just getting curiouser and curiouser. First the floor mats, then the linkages, and now I'm seeing stories that seem to indicate there may be a software problem causing sticky Toyota throttles. But, I did go out and check my 4Runner - nope, no hairy appendage under the gas pedal. I'm good now, right?

[Geo]

I suppose there could be a software problem, but so far that seems like speculation.

Pedal to the metal, Les.

[David Wineberg]

There is a way, and only one way, to overcome rapid uncontrolled acceleration in a car. I determined this many years ago when the problem was with VW Rabbits, called Runaway Rabbits then. Just like today, no one could find evidence of pedals jamming. No one could find evidence of floor mats catching. But for lack of any other evidence, that's what the carmakers always claim. It reminds me of the Wenatchee child molesting trials, where the very lack of any physical evidence was accepted as evidence of sexual crimes.

In the VW case, I, as the head of the APA's office in Ottawa, Canada, worked with a forensic engineer,Bob Jerabek, who also happened to own not one but two VW Diesel Rabbits. He loved the engineering, and was able to tune them to achieve 70 mpg. He determined something really interesting. He found the design of the engine caused some of its oil to pool in a cavity, and at a certain point, it could ignite and the engine would consume it as fuel. This manifested itself in sudden uncontrollable acceleration. It took control completely out of the hands and feet of the driver, and gave it to the engine. VW of course, denied it, and claimed it was all due to driver "pedal error", essentially claiming its customers were the stupidest drivers on Earth. Eventually they switched blame to floor mats and jammed pedals, much as Toyota has.

It transpired that Jerabek's car ran away from him one day. Fortunately, it was on the 401 in Toronto, a straight, flat, wide highway, so no one was killed. He tried to brake, with no result. He even turned off the engine and pulled out the key, with no change in acceleration. This was way beyond pedal error or floor mats. After a couple of eternal minutes, the engine seized up and the brakes could take over. VW itself took the car away, never to be seen again.

In talking about it, I chided him for not simply pulling it into neutral. That embarrassed him, which was not an easy thing to do. But I had hit on the simple, elegant solution. By disengaging the engine from the wheels, it no would no longer matter that the car was accelerating. The brakes would then work. Brakes can overcome speed, but they simply cannot overcome powerful acceleration. They're not designed for that. The only thing that will work is disengagement. In his case, simply pushing the clutch in would have done it, but he, like everyone in that situation, panicked for lack of solution.

It doesn't matter what the cause of Toyota's problem is. Doesn't matter if it's floor mats, pedals, electronics, on board computers or whatever. The blame game does not interest me. But as long as we sell internal combustion cars, every driver must be given this warning, every time a car is purchased or rented:

In case of sudden uncontrolled acceleration, pull it into neutral. Nothing else can stop it. Nothing else will work. Your life depends on it.

This is a 30 year old problem, with a 30 year old solution. There is no need to go through this agony with every carmaker, with lives lost in between. The workaround is simple. Neutral. That's all you need to remember.

[Geo]

Very interesting, David. Thanks for that.

[Les]

I was a bit surprised to find the exact same comment (by dwineberg) on the cnet article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10445564-64.html

And I read in one article that some cars won't allow the transmission into neutral when the engine revs above a certain rpm. And one vehicle allows a shift only to a "hidden" neutral in that situation. But now I can't find that particular article. In any case, it's probably going to take cool, quick action to avoid a bad day if one experiences the runaway acceleration.

[Geo]

If it can't be shifted into neutral then that really would present a situation, Les.

[unite tyre changing machine]

The media is full of panic inducing stories on the Toyota safety recall notice which is being sent out to customers to deal with the rare, potential safety issue affecting the gas pedal.

[tyre changing machines]

Nice hint! Your tips will probably not remain unnoticed. It will be followed for sure by your dear customers. Thank you for sharing it.