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Stupid Questions about my Gas Pedal


CocoBolo

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I have had so many people ask me if my *thumb rest [generic]* is sticking. Yeah, when I hang my big toe into the throttle body. 2007 Camary 85,000 miles plus its a stick shift, I probably wore right thru the problem part. When are you taking it in? When something breaks. Are you going to trade it in? Sure when it gets 200,000 miles on it. Aren't you scared to drive it? No its other peoples driving that scares me.

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I have driven nothing but Toyotas for over 20 years. I drive a Tacoma and my wife drives a Sienna. Probably will drive Toyotas until I die.

But I work in a town with a Ford plant in it. Every day its the same crap. Did your *thumb rest [generic]* stick on the way to work?

So I know where you are coming from.

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Car and Driver did a test recently (in light of the news) where they (under controlled conditions) pinned the throttle wide open on a variety of cars and then measured stopping distances. All cars stopped, some had mildly increased stopping distances, some (high performance wheels if I remember) tripled the stopping distance....

Their advice in the event of a problem? Stand on the brake, and make sure you're standing on the brake, not the *thumb rest [generic]*....

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Car and Driver did a test recently (in light of the news) where they (under controlled conditions) pinned the throttle wide open on a variety of cars and then measured stopping distances. All cars stopped, some had mildly increased stopping distances, some (high performance wheels if I remember) tripled the stopping distance....

Their advice in the event of a problem? Stand on the brake, and make sure you're standing on the brake, not the *thumb rest [generic]*....

Shift into neutral or turn off the engine too. Think. Don't just call 911 about a runaway car.

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Car and Driver did a test recently (in light of the news) where they (under controlled conditions) pinned the throttle wide open on a variety of cars and then measured stopping distances. All cars stopped, some had mildly increased stopping distances, some (high performance wheels if I remember) tripled the stopping distance....

Their advice in the event of a problem? Stand on the brake, and make sure you're standing on the brake, not the *thumb rest [generic]*....

Shift into neutral or turn off the engine too. Think. Don't just call 911 about a runaway car.

Turning the engine off may not work on fuel injected vehicles, since you'll either lock the column, or restart the engine when you flip the key back to run to unlock the column. Turning the engine off may also monkey with power assisted braking and steering....

Shifting into neutral may not work either -- some transmissions simply won't follow through until the various bits are spinning at compatible speeds....

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Just step on the brake. Just to prove this go out and drive down down a deserted road then stomp on the gas and the brake at the same time. You will stop. Its how I used to brake torque an 454 Chevelle to get the rear wheels spinning while the car remained motionless in the White Castle parking lot back in my youth. I will guarantee you that Chevelle had more horsepower and worse brakes than pretty much any Toyota someone is going to be driving.

I do just hate how people are completely illogical about this.

Edited by Neomet
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When asked what will I do if it sticks? Just punch resume on the cruise contol!

Its a stick shift, just push the clutch in and let the rev limiter do its job, while you put your foot next to it and raise it up. Pull over spray a little WD40 on it and go straight to the Toyota dealer. I hope the new one is one of those chrome bare foot things.

Alamo that Jeep had a common problem with the kick down on the auto trans, if you punched it hard it just sucked the *thumb rest [generic]* to the floor and held it there. Kind of fun actually, I knocked over a few trees down on the Nueces river bed one night, then it dug itself into the river and all my stuff was floating and it was about 40, just waded across hooked the winch to a tree a pulled it out. Next day two hunbers came by and went to town got oil and gear oil drained everything and refilled it. Yes, motor, trans,transfercase, differentials, and even steering box had water in them. Took the kick down assembly threw it in the river.

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One click on the switch...it stops running

Don't do that! :surprise: Hit neutral, steer to the side, stop, then click it off. The rev limiter should keep it from blowing itself up in between... ;) You don't want to lose power steering and power brakes....

People must panic...and get into trouble, most of us would stay cool and un stick the thing

Had the floor mat thing happen in my Subaru.. didn't even have to slow down to get it fixed....roflol.gif People are generally idiotic sheep, so..... ph34r.gif

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approximately 3.8 millon cars in the recall and a couple of hundred reports of problems. Wow that's terrible odds WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!! wait I forgot the decimal point. Hmmmm let's see...... oh wait never mind, I'm gonna watch out for stray lightning bolts instead.

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What gets me here is that the recall of other manufacturers dangerous problems doesn't warrant as much media hype as this. I wonder why? A friend and I tried to stop his Camry the other night while he had the thing floored. He shifted into neutral, and stood on the brake. Stopped the car fine. (THis was on a deserted road at 80 mph) This was a 2008 Camry. So even with the high rev, he was able to shift into neutral. I don't know about other cars, but his was able to be stopped. Am I missing something here? :huh:

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What gets me here is that the recall of other manufacturers dangerous problems doesn't warrant as much media hype as this. I wonder why? A friend and I tried to stop his Camry the other night while he had the thing floored. He shifted into neutral, and stood on the brake. Stopped the car fine. (THis was on a deserted road at 80 mph) This was a 2008 Camry. So even with the high rev, he was able to shift into neutral. I don't know about other cars, but his was able to be stopped. Am I missing something here? :huh:

Parents teaching their kids how to drive for generations --- so the quality of driver's ed runs the gamut from "best there is" to "guaranteed to kill someone in short order..."

If I wanted to reform the system, I'd have DOT come up with a curriculum that would be handed to the parents of kids getting their permit. Then you could incorporate a pop quiz during the actual driving test....

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The really interesting thing about this is that it seems the accelerator pedal is not actually "sticking" but seems like the insiders are talking about a software glitch in the embedded drive by wire Throttle Control Unit that tells engine to rev max no matter what. If that's really the case, there are a huge number of potential deadly flaws in all (not just Toyota) auto drive by wire systems. I think this is only tip of the Iceberg.

It not a case like the old mechanical sticking throttle caused by a problem in mechanical linkage or broken return spring on old fashioned carburator.

There have been fatal flaws in Aircraft Fly by Wire Systems but engineers have addressed this with much more complex and expensive redundancy not found in autos. Also there is a VERY strict aircraft software certification system, which I dont think is comparable to standards if any in autos.

Its one reason I love my 1911, no electronic parts.

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What I hate most about this is that it was apparently discovered as a result of a guy on the West coast who had his throttle "stick" ('hard-stick' or 'fly-by-wire' foul-up....doesn't really matter) and someone in the car called 911. The tape records screams and panic as he loses it and drives off a curve killing himself and most or all of his passengers. He was a California Highway Patrol officer.

With his training and experience at high-speed driving, was he mistakenly thinking, "I can handle this", or what? We'll never know. I would have thought someone like that would have had the good sense to kick it into neutral and stop the car without further incident.

If anything good comes out of this, it's that now is a great time to buy a really good vehicle at some tremendous discounts.

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