why dont they just put it in Nuetral?

dex3361 · Mar 9, 2010

I am the owner of one of the recalled Toyota Camry's (non hybrid, 2.4L, 4 cylinder, automatic) and I trained all in the house that may drive the car on how to deal with a stuck to the floor throttle. I tested the car full throttle to the floor at 70 MPH and the brakes easily over came the engine to bring it to a full stop with the throttle on the floor. I then showed all how to put the car into neutral. I then showed them how to shut the engine down without locking the steering. I had each of them go through the paces a few times (except bringing the car to a full stop from 70 MPH I thought this may warp the rotors from overheating). I could see a person trying to stop a full throttle auto fanning the brakes to try to control the speed and overheating the brakes and then you would have a problem because they would not work well. With the brakes overheated the brakes may not stop the car with the throttle stuck. Just my thoughts.

Tig · Mar 9, 2010

I had an accelerator stick to the floor merging onto a snow clogged highway in Montreal at 10PM many years back. I just cycled the ignition off and on to control my speed. There was no place to pull over even if the snow had been cleared, so I rode it out. I don't see why this would not work in a hybrid. It would also reset the computer and cruise control on the first cycle.
That is assuming there is an ignition key to turn off in these cars.

Duffster · Mar 9, 2010

This is being discussed on a another forum and here is the reply of an actual Pious owner.

I own a Prius, and it's a great little car. The transmission and the gas are "Fly By Wire"... it's not a pure mechanical connection like most cars. Simply turning off the ignition or shifting to neutral doesn't work the same as other cars...

Runaway speed can be overcome

by flipping the shift lever into neutral and HOLDING it there.

You can also turn off the car by pressing the Power button and HOLDING it in...

Most people have been just pressing and releasing the Power button, or flicking the transmission lever into Neutral and wondering why it does not work. Somehow they forget that "Hold" part of the process.

In the California Runaway, yesterday, the driver wouldn't press the Power button to turn off the power. It's not clear what he was afraid of, and why he wouldn't press the button.

So far neither my Prius nor my guns have killed anybody....

aczlan · Mar 9, 2010

BobRip said:
There have been reports that at least some people have put the cars in neutral and it did not help. Maybe the computer is controlling (actually not controlling) the gear shift as well. If it is ignoring the gas pedal, it may ignore the gear shift. Not a complete explanation, but something if going on that nobody understands.

I wonder about that, did they actually shift into N or did they go past it into R or Park and have the transmission computer ignore the shift to P or R?

Aaron Z

DavesTractor · Mar 9, 2010

Travelover said:
.... For example on my Escape hybrid, I can put it into reverse at any speed and it will simply stay in drive until I come to a stop, then it will go into reverse.

I must ask, what caused you to try that in the first place? I'd be afraid of that experiment.

aczlan · Mar 9, 2010

DavesTractor said:
I must ask, what caused you to try that in the first place? I'd be afraid of that experiment.

I agree, a new transmission (or a transmission rebuild) is not cheap.

Aaron Z

Travelover · Mar 9, 2010

DavesTractor said:
I must ask, what caused you to try that in the first place? I'd be afraid of that experiment.

When the Escape hybrid came out there was a lot of publicity about how the whole hybrid system worked. One of the new features was reverse lock out at speed. So, no, I didn't just find this by randomly shifting in into reverse at speed to see what would happen. :confused2: I'm pretty sure that other electronically controlled transmissions have similar over rides - thus leading to the possibility that a computer malfunction might exclude neutral in a runaway situation.

dodge man · Mar 9, 2010

I don't get it, why do you have to hold it in nuetral to keep it there? Must be some kind of electronic thing. Seems like a stupid design to me, no wonder people are having problems.

deerefan · Mar 9, 2010

dodge man said:
I don't get it, why do you have to hold it in nuetral to keep it there? Must be some kind of electronic thing. Seems like a stupid design to me, no wonder people are having problems.

I agree, whatever happened to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)??? I've read, I think it is BMW, is working on a car that drives itself!!! Have we gotten that lazy?