Toyota and Lexus Lead Sudden-Acceleration Complaints: Consumer Reports

jokur13 says:

01:14 AM, 12/19/2009

toyotas r now relying on a computer control throttle systems unlike a cable system for a car real problems is that the computer has glitches in them and toyota knows all about it but refuse to believe that its that n just blame the floormats and the gas pedal r u serious toyota come on u know what the problem is and its time for you to fess up to ur misteak k who knows whats up with toyota now but i always knew n told my friends when toyota gets to #1 they will fall from that spot real fast just wait n see

bertha06 says:

12:44 AM, 12/14/2009

I can tell that this hasn't actually happened to any of you.  It did happen to me in a 2006 Toyota Sienna, and I wonder why the Siennas aren't on the recall list. I can tell you from experience, it is not the floor mats, and it is not from hitting the brake and gas pedals at the same time. Something else is wrong with those cars, and I believe Toyota is covering up the real problem.  In the meantime, people are getting injured and killed because of it.  I reported what happened to me right after the accident, to both Toyota and the NHTSA.  My vehicle accelerated out of control and I wound up hitting a concrete wall.  I feel lucky to be alive.  The vehicle was a total loss.  Toyota sent an inspector to inspect the vehicle, of course they said nothing wrong with it.  It was equipped with an event data recorder, like a black box on an airplane, but of course they didn't access that information.  I had never heard of this acceleration problem before it happened to me,  I wish I had, Maybe I would have reacted differently, but when you are in a panic and there is a car in front of you that you don't want to hit, you just can't think of everything in the few seconds that you have to react.Anyway, it's much easier to be a Monday morning quarterback on something like this.  You are all lucky you have a heads-up if it ever happens to you.  

phoenixc says:

11:38 AM, 12/09/2009

Hey there, just so you know sudden acceleration happens to all brands, - I researched this for a law class, and reviewed case history for Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) - the largest single payout was to a widow who lost her husband when their Buick suddenly accelerated, causing the car to go out of control, and where braking was not enough to slow the car down, causing her husband to be killed.

What people don't realize is that sudden acceleration is hard to reproduce in a lab, which is why the 'shift lock' was introduced on automatic transmission car. The shift lock requires you to depress the brake pedal before the car can be engaged in drive. Much like the replacement of floor mats (rolls-eyes) and a shorter pedal (really!?) the cause of sudden acceleration is rooted in the throttle system; (i.e. it could be a poorly designed TPS or Throttle Position Sensor.) Even though this is rooted in an engineering challenge, no manufacturer is going to come out and say, "Hey! Our cars may suddenly accelerate and kill you!" This is a risky position for Toyota, or any manufacturer to be in, as the long-term effects (and mounting complaints) will diminish the brand over time.

I own a 2006 Ford F-150 and have never felt the pedals to be too large, perhaps the person is simply wearing big shoes! What I do know is the number of cases of just the Toyota Prius suddenly accelerating is alarming. My thought is that with so many techno-bits on-board, be a hybrid or otherwise, there is bound to be electrical engineering errors.

As Toyota has grown in volume, so has the visibility of these 'ghosts in the machine' than leave every engineer scratching their head. These big challenges are why any manufacturer will gladly do a song and dance about floor mats to avoid making any big, costly, changes to technical mistakes -for now, this is all about PR and damage control.

fbo says:

05:39 AM, 12/09/2009

Funny, because since General Motors became GOVERNMENT MOTORS, All of the sudden there are all these claims against Toyo, and Ford. I wonder if thats because, Government has 60% stake in GM, Hmmmm.

dg0472 says:

12:07 PM, 12/08/2009

For what you're saying to be correct lazy people only drive F-150's. Is that what you're claiming?

chicagotex says:

11:56 AM, 12/08/2009

I'm actually with moron101 on this one.

This sort of thing seems to primarily be a problem with people who are too lazy to actually fully move their feet from one pedal to the next, instead keeping their heel in place and tilting the rest of the foot one way or another.

I did that when I was a brand new driver at 16 until I realized what piss-poor form it was and how it minimized my ability to precisely control either pedal.

But hey, I guess when you've got to have a three burritos in your lap, your cell phone in one hand, and a cheeseburger in the other, you can't risk upsetting the balance by moving your foot that scant couple inches right or left to positively hit either pedal...

Surely the automakers should've known...! *rolleyes*

colorado1974 says:

11:40 AM, 12/08/2009

Let's see if Toyota can claim another 4 million unit recall.  Talk about a long and continued fall from grace.  

dg0472 says:

09:57 AM, 12/08/2009

Please, it's Ford's job to get the pedal placement right. There are MILLIONS of cars out there and the complaints NHTSA is getting about the problem of pedal spacing are heavily on the F-150. Not even other Fords. The automakes should know how to properly space pedals by now to minimize the chance of hitting both pedals. That Ford somehow missed this is not the driver's fault, assuming they weren't the ones who bought the vehicle without a thorough test drive.