“i’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train!”

All they have to do is change “train” to “rolling piece of sh!t”.

See, e.g., http://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/toyota-and-lexus-vehicles-
are-unsafe/

carstuff – The runaway acceleration issue is most likely caused by a glitch in the computer. We all know computers arent perfect and can screw up at anytime. It can be a programming issue. But these throttle valves should be able to fail shut when the power supply to the solenoid fails. Therefore cutting off the engine instead of opening the throttle all the way. Yes these systems are more fuel efficient because the ECU has full control of engine management but it also results in more problems arising and safety concerns like this. If you read an article on wikipedia about drive-by-wire systems, which are also in planes, they state that there are concerns with cars just randomly accelerating out of nowhere. And this isn’t just drive-by-wire systems. Its alot of computer controlled devices nowadays.

Or it really could be some mechanical problem between the pedal and the wire, but given the problems I’ve seen on other cars with electronic TBs, I’m betting the problem is in the TB itself.

The thing is, idle control on many fuel injected cars have been controlled by stepper motors that regulate the precise amount of air to bypass the throttle for proper idle, and those things go bad all the time. Leaving throttle control up to an ECU-controlled stepper motor… just a bad idea in my opinion. Electronics are bound to go bad sooner or later.

Speaking of bad electronics, Mitsubishi had a problem a while back with leaky capacitors in their ECUs. The caps would leak and make a mess and ruin the ECU. I was thinking Toyota’s problem could be similar, depending on the quality of parts that they’re putting in their ECUs.

Now as far as runaway acceleration. I am assuming this is caused by BOTH the air intake butterfly going wide open and increased amounts of fuel thru the injectors. Cannot have WOT w/o both.

And Toyota has admitted the recent recall is a separate issue and not related to the unintended acceleration. The pedal just gets a little sticky but not stuck to the floor.

Cable throttles are cable throttles. The cable attaches to the throttle body butterfly. The Throttle Position Sensor simply tells the ECU how far the throttle is open. It’s attached to the throttle body, not the the cable. As far as fuel is concerned, of course fuel doesn’t flow in through the throttle because EFI is not designed that way. In a MAF setup, fuel delivery is calculated based off airflow (load), TPS position, and RPM.

I’ve heard the about the potential pedal problem. I doubt that’s what it is. Seems to me like it’s far more likely either the electronic throttle body itself is malfunctioning or the ECU (my money’s on the TB). But I doubt Toyota would spend the money on all these recalls if they didn’t think it could possibly fix the problem. Sure, it might be cheaper than replacing TBs, but even little recalls like that are expensive. That they’re recalling at all shows they’re at least ATTEMPTING to address the problem… it’s more than Mitsubishi would do. Hell, Mitsu denied me a transfer case recall (a CHECK of the transfer case) based on my VIN number. I told them “it doesn’t matter what the VIN is, it applies to ALL AWD DSMs.” They stare at me like they don’t know what a TSB is.

Anyway, seems like Toyota is getting a little comfortable and maybe not testing its new tech enough. I’d hate to see their business suffer because of that, seeing as how they’re one of the few manufacturers that actually builds a lot of their cars in this country.

Caught early? Are you kidding me? This has been an ongoing problem for a few years. Toyota just keeps trying to mask the real issue with each recall.

But if someone is better educated let us know what the systems really are with the cylinder FI.

….

Anyway, due to the audi pedal issue GM and others revised the brake/accelerator pedal placement and everytime C&D or some other road test tries to do heel/toe braking they complain the pedals are placed wrong.

To assure that someone does not hit both the brake and acc. pedal at the same time (well, assure as possible) the brake pedal is a couple inches higher than the acc. pedal. They used to be side by side. Take a look at your car and see what you have.

Whoops I guess I said that on some other article! But they did not figure it our til well into the invetigation

Yeah I think Toyota dramatically increased their advertising budget to try to keep people from knowing. I live in San Diego and I’ve heard more BS Toyota commercials now than ever. There was a Camry commercial on the other day where the woman talked about how great her car is and how it never gave her any problems. Not once did she mention the exterior/interior styling, features, steering feel or engine. Just the reliability. What is the world coming to? Do the other things not matter anymore?

That’s what Toyota gets. A good car has all of these features. Not just one. They put all their eggs in one basket, and when the basket broke, they got screwed.

Yeah, I know some people didn’t have respect for Toyota to begin with, but I did. Right now, for me, they are about as respectful as that Chrysler dealer that doesn’t want to eat their own mistake.

“Toyota’s previously largest U.S. recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue. “

Punks!

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-sns-ap-us-toyota-recall,0,1777684.story