Toyota Sticking Pedal

[Richard]

All the news organizations are making it sound like a mechanical problem. They figure the public would be scared to know their driving by wire????

[ash00]

It still baffles me that people dont realize that there is no shift lock between any gear and neutral. If it sticks, shove it in neutral. Geez.

If you don't know how to operate a car, you shouldn't drive. But our society is really good at pointing the finger.

[Marty]

Toyota's engine management system will not shift into or out of gear above 2k RPM, this is to prevent engine damage before your run away car hits a wall at 110 MPH. Also notice that the Preis (SP) is not on the list even though acount for almost half of the runaway Toyotas

[SteveJ]

Something in my memory says that a similar thing happened with Audi years ago. Does anybody remember what effect that had with their sales?

Honda, Nissan, and all might want to jump all over this. With some tact, of course. Maybe just play up their own safety features in their ads.

[2002Monster]

at that time there was probably no affect to their sales...and now look at their product....stunning...

My concern with the whole Toyota plant idling, and sales stoppage is the suppliers who supply other OEMs and other manufacturers....all of a sudden a supplier is out a large percentage of their sales.....if Toyota can't find a solution for months...it may cause that small supplier to close its door and force other car makers/manufacturers to have to find new suppliers in a short time frame.....the impact could be HUGE!!!!

[Jim_75Sahara]

It was the Audi 5000, my mom had one back then. It had a terrible effect on Audi's U.S. car sales. It took them many years to recover. When it was investigated thoroughly, no defect was found in the 5000. Rumors only... With Toyota, it is a genuine electronic glitch of some sort, not a mechanical one.

[skipsfcr]

Jim is right...The unintended acceleration problem with the Audi 5000 effectively KILLED Audi in the US for several years. They never really regained a foothold until the release of the '96 A4. Pedal placement was the culprit finally decided on in the Audi 5000 cases.

[SteveJ]

Hmm...and what were the upscale German cars in the market in the Mid-1980's? BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. Audi was knocked out of the game, BMW probably made several more sales than they would have otherwise.

Yeah, Audi didn't start to have a presence again until 10 years later. The 80, 90, 100 models did just OK, but they finally got their big break with the A4. Most of the American buying public had long forgotten the "sudden acceleration".

Some of the crappy econo-boxes I have driven would have benefited greatly by having sudden acceleration...or ANY acceleration.

[Richard]

I do think Toyota is spinning the mechanical side of it to prevent millions of cars being parked out of fear.There is no mechanical connection between pedal and throttle body. And to think modern airliners are the same way.... Slowly your hearing that its a computer problem. I have a question: Would you drive or allow family members to drive a car that could accelerate at any time??? Poster above is right going to neutral is not an option....