Can You Trust Yota's Fix?

[loomixguy]

Yota seems to imagine that they now have the "fix" for their line of rice burners that accelerate uncontrollably. I was reading today that the incident that finally brought Yota to the drawing board was a crash that killed 4, the driver of the Yota being an off-duty California Highway patrol officer (CHiPpy). They even had his 911 call on tape, up until the crash.

If an experienced Chippy couldn't stop or regain control of the vehicle, what happened? I have been reading that braking did NOTHING to slow these Yota's down.....and that is what worries me. If the brakes failed to effectively slow the car down, as brakes SHOULD do, unless you are towing 30,000 pounds, Yota has bigger problems, IMO. Hell, my buddy's old 64 Ford would powerbrake to beat the band. Short of popping the car in neutral or shutting the ignition off (and losing steering AND braking ability), what are folks to do?

I don't think we have even begun to hear the end of this story. And if I were unfortunate enough to own one of these Japanese Joys, it would find a new home, ASAP.

[Aaron]

Sure am glad I got a Fix or Repair Daily truck then a little homicidal killing machine car.

How you can screw up an accelerator pedal, after all this time, I don't know. But the fact that you can't even blow the brakes out trying to stop it makes me thing something is up in the programming of the computer control module.

Maybe the Japs were trying to design 'Kit' from Knight Rider. Only, their vehicles have decided they don't like their Knight Riders.

[leanin' H]

Supposedly they went from a linkage and relay system to a full on computer controlled throttle system. I cant see how changing the gas peddle will fix a rougue computer.

[oldblood]

What cars and what year, I have one.

[Liveoak]

Apparently, the "fix" is rectangular shaped block that appears to be 1/2-1" thick and is simply attached to the back of the gas pedal. Toyota says it's a 1/2 hour repair job.

They also stated that if your Toyota gas pedal should behave uncontrollably, place the transmission in neutral and tunr the ignition off.

[loomixguy]

[loomixguy]

[Liveoak]

[loomixguy]

[Kerry.Moncur]

What Toyota seems to have run into is a problem with the company in Elkhart, IN that made their drive-by-wire system. Basically the gas pedal is a rheostat instead of an actual cable. The rheostat sends the position of the gas pedal to the computer. Most modern vehicles use this system. The company in Indiana also makes the same type of part for several other brands of vehicles made in the US. I guess they haven't had a problem with the vehicles they make overseas, since those gas pedal assemblies are sourced elsewhere.

Funny thing is, Toyota used to be a Japanese company with cars made in Japan. Now most of their vehicles are made here in the US and my Dodge truck is made in Mexico, with parts from Canada

[Liveoak]

The rheostat explanation helps explain then the use of that small metal piece being inserted into the back of the gas pedal as a fix.

I noticed that my Dodge was made in Mexico too = cheaper labor? Whereas Toyota wanted to build here (create a presence) to gain immediate market share.