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Toyota halts sales of vehicles due to safety defect

^^^ could be - I'm not nearly as knowledgeable of the auto industry as you are. I've just never heard of an auto company actually telling dealers to stop selling cars. That's pretty amazing to me.
 
My grandmother just bought an ’09 Toyota Camry last month and she has been complaining about the gearshift being “sticky.”

I’ll have to tell her to get it checked for recalls while she’s at the dealer.
 
dmr727 said:
^^^ could be - I'm not nearly as knowledgeable of the auto industry as you are. I've just never heard of an auto company actually telling dealers to stop selling cars. That's pretty amazing to me.
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It appears they were forced to take this action.

U.S. auto safety regulators said today that Toyota was legally required to stop production on eight models under recall for faulty accelerator pedals.
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http://www.freep.com/article/201001...8/U.S.-Toyota-had-to-stop-troubled-production
 
jaw04005 said:
My grandmother just bought an ’09 Toyota Camry last month and she has been complaining about the gearshift being “sticky.”

I’ll have to tell her to get it checked for recalls while she’s at the dealer.
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Gearshift is not the accelerator pedal. So it isn't effected by this recall. The problem is the gas pedal assembly. Over time the part wears out and will not return back to the idle position when your foot releases the pedal. Hence it being stuck being open( now if you panic and stomp on the gas pedal thinking it might work, then you'll get to WOT).
 
quagmire said:
Gearshift is not the accelerator pedal. So it isn't effected by this recall. The problem is the gas pedal assembly. Over time the part wears out and will not return back to the idle position when your foot releases the pedal. Hence it being stuck being open( now if you panic and stomp on the gas pedal thinking it might work, then you'll get to WOT).
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Heh. I know the gear shift is not the accelerator pedal. :D She is going to the dealer to get her new car’s gear shift fixed, so I told her to get her car checked for recalls while she is at the dealer (since only some ’09 and ’10 Camry’s are covered under the recall) instead of waiting around for them to contact her.
 
I'll still buy them :) Proud owner of 4 in my lifetime (only 4 cars I've ever owned):

1972 LandCruiser FJ40
1996 Camry LE
1985 LandCruiser FJ60
2002 Camry XLE V6 (Current)

The biggest issue I've had is the AC Compressor is crap from the '01/'02/'03ish years, need replacing after <100K Miles. Although, I haven't replaced it yet, but it growls like a bear. Everything else is working like a champion, like a Toyota should.
 
wheezy said:
I didn't think GM had the money to do this. But here's the easy solution.

IF YOUR PEDAL STICKS, PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL AND PULL OVER. If people don't know/weren't aware of what Neutral is, then the Drivers "Education" program in this country has taken a complete nose-dive.

There is honestly no excuse to die over this problem should it happen to you. I hear of people suddenly avoiding driving their cars. It's honestly more dangerous to get a tire blow at at 70MPH on the freeway than to have this happen to you. And it's probably more likely to have that blowout than your pedal stick.

Cars are machines like anything else - Prone to failure. If our education system didn't suck and taught people how things work along with how to work them, we wouldn't have nearly as many accidents in this country.
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quagmire said:
GM is sitting on ~$38 billion. So it has the money to do it. ;)

It isn't hard to shift into neutral. I guess panic hit these people and they didn't think? And if you hold the brake pedal it will stop the car even at WOT( IE: Hold the brake pedal down. Don't pump it. That will just wear out the pads without doing much in stopping you.....). C&D did a test on this. The brakes were able to bring a 550 HP Mustang to a stop at WOT.

And I agree with the education part...... Some idiot today in a 45 MPH going 50 MPH just randomly slowed down to 25 MPH when going through a green light.... I also love how people stop on the on ramp on a highway..... Yeah, going 40 MPH will make it easier for you to merge then going 0 MPH.......
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Toyota automobiles will not allow you to shift into neutral once you go above (I believe) 5,000 RPMs.
 
GSMiller said:
Toyota automobiles will not allow you to shift into neutral once you go above (I believe) 5,000 RPMs.
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Brakes should still be enough to bring you to a stop at WOT. C&D did a test on it. If that fails, shut down the car. You may lose power steering and brakes, but they will still work without the power assist. Just don't do any abrupt movements with the steering wheel to prevent the ignition lock from engaging.
 
GSMiller said:
Toyota automobiles will not allow you to shift into neutral once you go above (I believe) 5,000 RPMs.
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I'll have to give that a check in my Camry tomorrow, it doesn't really make any sense to me.

If that's the case, then here's the solution:

Turn off (one click, not all the way to lock steering)
Put in Neutral
Turn back on to regain power steering/power brakes (if needed)

A few more steps, but still, if people understood how a car operated and were taught what to do in emergencies there would be far less fatalities.

I'm SCUBA certified and we spend so little time learning about how to actually dive compared to what we learned about in regards to emergencies and how to handle them.

Any idiot can drive a car, so education should really focus on emergencies and what to do.
 
fotografica said:
GM didn't waste any time:

http://freep.com/article/20100127/B...GM-jump-starts-campaign-to-lure-Toyota-owners
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hmmm any toyota owner eh?

im driving a 1990 celica....and may be looking for a new car haha

wheezy said:
I didn't think GM had the money to do this. But here's the easy solution.

IF YOUR PEDAL STICKS, PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL AND PULL OVER. If people don't know/weren't aware of what Neutral is, then the Drivers "Education" program in this country has taken a complete nose-dive.

There is honestly no excuse to die over this problem should it happen to you. I hear of people suddenly avoiding driving their cars. It's honestly more dangerous to get a tire blow at at 70MPH on the freeway than to have this happen to you. And it's probably more likely to have that blowout than your pedal stick.

Cars are machines like anything else - Prone to failure. If our education system didn't suck and taught people how things work along with how to work them, we wouldn't have nearly as many accidents in this country.
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If no load on engine, wouldnt it simply redline and effectivly blow the engine?

I suppose you could always just turn the key off after coast to a stop in neutral
 
wheezy said:
If that's the case, then here's the solution:

Turn off (one click, not all the way to lock steering)
Put in Neutral
Turn back on to regain power steering/power brakes (if needed)
Click to expand...

Even in gear at WOT, the brakes will stop you (it might cook them a little bit), or at least get you down under 5,000 RPMs to get it into neutral, those above steps aren't even really necessary.
 
dukebound85 said:
If no load on engine, wouldnt it simply redline and effectivly blow the engine?
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Magic of software. It will prevent the engine from going over redline and blowing it.

And good thing about GM vehicles is that when in neutral, the engine won't rev past 4,000 RPM's.
 
Toyota has a lot of things to deal with these days...The Tacoma frame debacle looks like it's going beyond 95-00 Tacomas..Not to mention that it migrated over to first gen Tundras...
 
SteveG4Cube said:
IThe real issue is that they're using drive-by-wire throttle, so some computer is glitching and locking the throttle open.
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No, it's the actual pedal itself, rather than an ECU glitch. If the parts were available to the dealers, it would be incredibly simple to fix. I've taken the gas pedal out of my car before. Two bolts and a wire harness.
Artofilm said:
and that is why I don't buy Japanese cars. Better quality my @ss, hey everybody, lets all go buy cars that the throttle get stuck in WOT!
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Yeah, because Toyota is the only car company from Japan, and no other manufacturer in the rest of the world has ever had a huge recall...

If you insist on talking about your ass, I must insist that you remove your head from it first.
dukebound85 said:
If no load on engine, wouldnt it simply redline and effectivly blow the engine?
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I'm willing to bet that the vast majority non-exotics/supercars have some overhead beyond the redline. I know several people with the same model car as me who have raised the redline from 6400RPM to 7000, with no ill effects.
I suppose you could always just turn the key off after coast to a stop in neutral
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Some of the recalled cars have the push-button, which has to be held for 3 seconds to shut the car off. :confused: What exactly is the appeal of this button, to make it seem like your Camry or Accord is something like a full-blown race car that has a 15-minute (or more) startup procedure (and only takes one quick switch flip to shut off)?
 
Counterfit said:
I'm willing to bet that the vast majority non-exotics/supercars have some overhead beyond the redline. I know several people with the same model car as me who have raised the redline from 6400RPM to 7000, with no ill effects.


Some of the recalled cars have the push-button, which has to be held for 3 seconds to shut the car off. :confused: What exactly is the appeal of this button, to make it seem like your Camry or Accord is something like a full-blown race car that has a 15-minute (or more) startup procedure (and only takes one quick switch flip to shut off)?
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Yeah, in most cars, the redline is a caution. Most manufacturers purposely set it low. So, no, the engine isn't going to grenade if you go over it.

I hate those freakin' pushbutton starters, and the things are showing up everywhere! As you said, there is no simple turning the key to kill the engine in an emergency. Not to mention the special key fobs are usually terribly expensive should you lose or break one. I hate the things. What exactly is wrong with keys? I'm also glad I have a manual transmission. Try stopping me from shift that one into neutral!

I don't mean to get off on a rant here, but...I hate a lot of this useless stuff going into modern cars. It's one thing I love about my car. There's no remote key fob or push button starter. No adaptive cruise control or lane departure system. No huge, distracting screen in the middle of the dash. (Playing movies, no less.) How about people learn to drive? Stop yapping on the phone, putting on makeup, shaving, stuffing your face, or reading the newspaper and DRIVE! Pay attention to your surroundings. It's not that hard.
 
I was under the impression that the car would suddenly start accelerating on its own and continue to increase in speed. Guess I'm wrong.

I was eyeballin' that Camry...now it has a bad connotation for me.
 
Okay, a few things.

If your car is stuck in WOT and you cannot shift to neutral, then hit the brakes. Most modern cars have "launch control" even if they don't announce it or promote it, basically if your brakes are applied heavily the acceleration should be limited regardless of what speed you're at.

If your car is stuck in WOT and you can shift to neutral, then shift to neutral (NOT PARK). Your engine will bounce off the limiter at the upper RPMs but should stay under the redline unless you're manual, but seriously, a blown engine beats a crash any day. Also, most cars should allow you to dump it into neutral regardless of what RPM you're at. I know I've accidentally shifted to neutral instead of the next gear even at 7000rpm on an automatic.

Under most circumstances you should NOT SHUT OFF THE ENGINE. You lose literally everything power, which in modern cars include brakes and steering. The only times I'd say its safe is if you're in a straight road. There you can shut off the engine and slowly apply the brakes to slow to a stop/pull over. I've done a mid run @ 60 mph and shut off the engine before, it's safe only if road conditions allows it.
 
I know that Toyota says that the accelerator problem applies to certain (most) Toyota models, but what about Lexus and Scion models? Do any of these models use the same part supplier as the recalled cars? I notice that Toyota has been mum about this (at least I have not heard anything). I did hear on the news mention of Lexus also being affected, but no specifics.
 
danny_w said:
I know that Toyota says that the accelerator problem applies to certain (most) Toyota models, but what about Lexus and Scion models? Do any of these models use the same part supplier as the recalled cars? I notice that Toyota has been mum about this (at least I have not heard anything). I did hear on the news mention of Lexus also being affected, but no specifics.
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I believe most Lexus and Scion models are NOT affected because these models are directly imported from Toyota's assembly lines in Japan, and as such do not use CTS as the accelerator pedal supplier.
 
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