So My Toyota Decided To Drive Itself

[Trypp Powell]

Just purchased a 2010 Corolla back in November to save on gas (long commute) and insurance. Today, traveling down the interstate, the engine redlined and I was soon moving at 115mph. Fortunately traffic was light and I put the car into neutral and coasted to the side of the road. I shut the car down, waited a few minutes, started it back up, and there was no longer a problem.

The funny thing is that my foot wasn't even on the pedal. I had the cruise control turned on and at first thought the engine was revving up because I was moving up a hill.

Toyota really has a mess on their hands. Like many other drivers, I'm convinced there is an electrical/software problem tied to this acceleration mess.

[RacerX]

Gee, how long did it take to get to 115 MPH? Had you read any articles before today on how to deal with this?

Here's Car & Driver's, it is titled "Shift Into Neutral, Dummy!" http://www.caranddriver.com/features...fiasco-feature

[Rsmacker]

Gosh, a Toyota that has gone wrong, now there's a rare thing.

[StukaJU87]

I hate that the car companies are making the accelerators fly by wire these days. My Mustang GT has this too although I haven't heard of any mishaps with them.

What was so bad about having a cable from the pedal to the throttle body? I just sold my 94 Toyota pickup with 176,000 miles on it to a guy at work. Never had a problem with the accelerator cable and I don't anticipate he will either.

[RobRR]

Im tellin ya, were getting too reliant on technology! Give me a cable for my throttle, a hydraulic clutch and hydraullic brakes... No electronic links, no sensors to rely on. Seriously, isnt it cheaper to just put a cable from the pedal to the throttle body anyway, slap on a TPS sensor and call it good?

[shreddermon]

Toyota really has a mess on their hands. Like many other drivers, I'm convinced there is an electrical/software problem tied to this acceleration mess.

+1. Not to bash on Toyota, but I really hope this will lead to the media re-evaluating their 20-plus year love-fest with import car manufacturers. This ain't the 1980s anymore, folks, and most domestic manufacturers (though maybe not all of their models) have caught up on the quality game.

Hope you get your car fixed ASAP.

[DonP]

I'm convinced there is an electrical/software problem tied to this acceleration mess.

+1000 The "fly by wire" stuff is not working. The shim fixes / floor matt fixes they are making are BS, because they know the real fix (replacing computers and sensors and programming) would almost bankrupt Toyota.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Gee, how long did it take to get to 115 MPH?

I've driven a Corolla. It would take a LONG time.

[Jason1212]

A few months back there were 4 people killed when the Avalon they were in went into a pond for no apparent reason(link). The driver did not make an evasive move to avoid an accident. It just appeared that the car went in on purpose. They could find nothing wrong with the gas pedal at all. To me given most person's accounts of this happening there is not a mechanical failure. If you are driving a vehicle at a certain rate of speed the gas pedal sticking should only cause the car to continue at that speed. Even if you moderately increase throttle for a hill climb or lane change the vehicle should not rev out of control and hit the speeds that drivers are relating. The problem has to be in the electronic throttle control.

[BenoA]

+1. Not to bash on Toyota, but I really hope this will lead to the media re-evaluating their 20-plus year love-fest with import car manufacturers.

+2

[Axewielder]

As a software engineer, I know that a lot of times the real Epic Clusterphucks are a combination of more than one underlying problem that have similar symptoms. That's why when you try to isolate it with the mindset of it being "One Problem", you chase your tail.

[Shawn Lutz]

I'm glad your are ok...a lot of people aren't.

I dont see it as a technological thing at all, its a cost thing. To be profitable costs have to be low and Toyota is no different in wanting to make as much profit as they can. Because of that you're see cheaper and cheaper components going into vehicles from all manufactures really.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

A few months back there were 4 people killed when the Avalon they were in went into a pond for no apparent reason(link). The driver did not make an evasive move to avoid an accident. It just appeared that the car went in on purpose. They could find nothing wrong with the gas pedal at all. To me given most person's accounts of this happening there is not a mechanical failure. If you are driving a vehicle at a certain rate of speed the gas pedal sticking should only cause the car to continue at that speed. Even if you moderately increase throttle for a hill climb or lane change the vehicle should not rev out of control and hit the speeds that drivers are relating. The problem has to be in the electronic throttle control.

You know, what makes me wonder is, situations like "picking up my child from school" and "pulling into a parking space" were given as incidents.

In the first case the woman's car damn near went through a wall, and in the second case, the guy's car ended up going over the parking block, and into a ravine, landing on the roof.

Are either of these situations where we, as the average driver, would be givingn the car enough gas that if the gas pedal were to stay where we pressed it, the resulting accidents make sense?

What I mean is, you don't jam the throttle halfway down when pulling into a parking space or when creeping forward in an elementary school parking lot.

I tend to agree there is a glitch in the throttle-by-wire somewhere. :dunno:

[atomic charvel guy]

Hey Trypp,
I'm glad traffic wasn't heavy, that could of been a more fucked up situation than it already was.
I think we're relying on technology mixed in with cost efficiency too much as well.
If you want someone to speed out of control just pull and Elwood Blues move and spray industrial strength glue on the gas pedal like in the Blues Brothers. They'd save a bundle on cost if that's their goal.

[Trussrod]

I hate that the car companies are making the accelerators fly by wire these days.

+1 I have no interest in any car that has had a mechanical linkage deleted in favor of a microchip and a computer program.