Comments on: Hybrid Owners Question Toyota Acceleration Explanation

By: tapra1

tapra1 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:47:12 +0000

That recall involves 2004 to 2009 Priuses—and recent year models of the Camry, Avalon, Tacoma and Tundra, as well as Lexus models ES 350, IS 250, and IS 350. The correction is intended to reduce the risk that the pedal may be jammed in the floor mat. In addition, the company will replace original equipment floor mats with redesigned mats.Premium Freebies

By: tibia guide

tibia guide — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:17:09 +0000

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:48:15 +0000

why didn’t your husband just put the car in neutral so you could safely slow down under braking? sounds like more toyota owners experiencing driver error.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:12:14 +0000

I had this very problem 2 days ago and it scared the heck out of me. I braked while going over a bump as I was approaching a red light and the car just took off. Fortunately there was no one in front of me, but just that split-second feeling of having completely lost control was very frightening. Clearly there are situations where this could have dire consequences.

By: EJD

EJD — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:05:40 +0000

John Jenetten,
The feature you describe is call Dynamic Cruise control. It is described in your manual.

By: Brian Rose

Brian Rose — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:30:16 +0000

Toyoto Acceleration Problem Caused by Clock Oscillator Failure?

I have sent this to as many congresspeople and agencies as I could think of, no responses. I am a retired electronics engineer, and more recently a consultant in the field of crystal oscillator products and clock oscillators.
I had occasion to consult for a very large equipment company whose equipment problems presented in a way that strongly resembles those of Toyota’s acceleration problems.

The problems occurred when the equipment microprocessor clock oscillator would “freeze”, causing a malfunction of the equipment run by that microprocessor.
The problem only occurred at a specific, very narrow, temperature range of the clock oscillator crystal, and so was hard to reproduce in the laboratory and would appear as a random event in the field, just as the Toyota acceleration problems do.

I would be happy to elaborate on my theory to the Toyota engineering department, but I have no way to get their attention.
If you can help me communicate with the proper persons at Toyota, we might be able to provide some help in this matter.

By: thebarnett

thebarnett — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:59:12 +0000

As many have said, Toyota is a great company, what is happening with their cars is unintentional. All I have to say is no one is perfect not even the best car company can say they are.

As far as the floor mats, There was a problem, they didn't know what the problem was, and needed a solution quickly to please all the people asking about it.

Many people need to relax and let Toyota do their job instead of trying to tell them how to do their job.

I didn't read all the responses but concerning the first one, coming from a mechanics point of view, never come off that you know more than your mechanic, if your going to a good mechanic, chances are you don't know the answer, and he does. How would you feel if you were a chef and a mechanic came in and said well the problem with your food is that you don't know how to cook it?

The point is, yes this is a serious problem, but I can guarantee that Toyota is doing everything possible to keep their reputation and continue to provide the best automobile for their customer.

By: John Jennetten

John Jennetten — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:49:49 +0000

I have a Toyota Avalon and experienced rapid unexpected acceleration using cruise control. I expect my problem may be similar to Prius owners. The problem is that the Avalon owners manual does not describe the fact that when using cruise control level to reset your cruise speed, it does so in 5 mph increments. Furthermore, if you hold the cruise control level up for a few seconds it continues to increment in 5 mph increments, so in just a few seconds you will have reset your cruise speed by 20 or 25 mph or more. This is extremely dangerous for car owners who have been accustomed to resetting cruise speeds by holding up the cruise control lever a few seconds to get to a new desired cuise speed setting.
It took me a long time to figure out why this happened.

By: ummm yeah.

ummm yeah. — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:42:20 +0000

I just want to say that the credibility that you believe you are building by stating that you are a GM employee is contradicted by everything else you just said. I dont think GM would be very happy to know that you are making public statements on their behalf.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:14:15 +0000

Brandon, the difference is that Audi was truly blameless, and they got royally skewered by the press, especially when 60 Minutes had a demonstration of an Audi supposedly accelerating w/o the throttle pedal being depressed. What they didn't say was that they had altered the transmission for the demo. Dateline NBC did the same again our pickup trucks (I work for GM).

Here, there is an issue, or maybe several. There is also sensationalism, and we (as a society) often are not questioning of the press. You have to pick out the stuff that makes sense on your own, or discuss it with someone who can sort it out.