why dont they just put it in Nuetral?

[aczlan]

But still have a hand free to use the phone to dial 911...Hmmm?

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Toyota seems to be skirting around their problem, that seems to be more and more caused by their electronics (and maybe the "fly" by wire without mechanical connections).

Time will tell, fly by wire works well in planes.

Should be able to turn off the ignition...one move.

I agree. I wonder how a "proximity key" car would handle the key being thrown out the window (or into the back seat)?

Should be able to shift to Neutral....one move, no hold

Looking at the picture posted, I think that going to N and over (to the right) would be a better way to go to N than having to hold the shifter over.
But having N be just "in the middle" on the shifter above would be a lawsuit waiting to happen from someone who accidentally knocked it into N on a downgrade and didn't notice until they were too fast to control the car.

Should be able to put on the brakes .... and over-ride the engine.

IIRC, you can in any of these affected cars, IF you apply steady pressure and do not pump the brakes. Pumping the brakes wastes vacuum which is in short supply on a gas vehicle at WOT

Too many simple options taken away from the drivers.

This is due to a large quantity of people who choose not to think, it makes it bad for the rest of us.

(I still fume over not being able to turn off the ignition and remove the key while the car is not in Park. That is an option that should be available to a passenger in a car, driven by someone who should be stopped from driving ... be it a drunk, or reckless driver, or kidnapper,... whatever).

IIRC, that came along about the time it was mandated that the car could not shift out of park without the key in place, ~1990 perhaps? I had an '89 Volvo where I could shift into gear with the key out, but my '93 (same model) would not let you do that.

Aaron Z

 

[JB4310]

The guy was on the NBC nightly news this evening, quite the celebrity now.
Don't know whether to believe him or not, don't want to call him a liar but my gut reaction is he's putting on an act.

There are some litigating issues though, the cop that intervened said he did smell the brakes burning, also those push button ignitions could be suspect as they are not a conventional switch but are just sending a signal to the pcm to ask it to shut down (maybe even key type switches are the same?)

It is such a well known problem now, the first thing the dispatcher told him to do was put it in neutral, he later told newsman that he was afraid the car would "flip" if he did.

He had just recently had a run in with Toyota, he wanted them to take back or recall his car but it wasn't on the list. Now he's saying they have to take it back cause he'll never drive it again.

They said there are some super deals right now on certain models, I myself wouldn't hesitate to drive one if I were ready for a Japanese car. But even though I think this is blown way out of proportion, wouldn't want my wife or kids in one.

Buy American, couldn't come at a better time. Unfortunately I do believe that is a major factor in all this. Not any planned conspiracy but just snowballing out of control news coverage.

JB.

 

[Duffster]

Why are these cars still allowed on the road?

 

[aczlan]

After all the publicity, if the drivers still can't figure out what to do when this happens, driving off a bridge at WOT is natural selection, mothers natures way of killing off the stupid so they cannot further pollute the gene pool with they're ignorance.

If after all this mess you have not taken a few minutes to familiarize yourself with how your car can be stopped and at least think through how you would stop your car if it was stuck at WOT, you should not be driving on the road.

Aaron Z

 

[zzvyb6]

Transmission, brake and 'off' switche operations are set by manufacturers and Federal Regulations for emissions, stopping distance and fuel economy requirements as well as component durability reasons.

If you think that's necessary for drivers who are morons, consider all the tractor 'drivers' who roll them over, break castings, bend loader frames, put the wrong fuel in them, run them out of oil, run them out of fuel, run them into trees, cars, garage doors, and fling them off trailers. Some run over over their kids, dogs and grandchildren as a result of not thinking at 12 mph.

Now expand this population to all humans who can pass a drivers test and could care less about mechanical or electronic control idiosyncracies. Now lets move to computers. Why would anyone believe that they are the 1 Millionth clicker to a popup. Who would wire $10,000 to Nigeria? The answer is sitting right there in the mirror.

Now, what do you call these pride of all mankind individuals?

Some things are a little too complicated...

You see I have this chainsaw and no bottle opener....

 

[txdon]

I agree it should be a no-brainer to shift the trans into neutral. The only thing I can figure is maybe the car's are set up so that neutral is "locked out" while the car is traveling?

You can shift the Toyota Prius into neutral while you are driving. I did it accidentally once. the shift lever is on the dash by the steering wheel. (see photo)

 

[Reg]

It is as natural as a diver losing buoyancy and failing to drop their weight belt.
Nobody REALLY knows why, they don't come back to tell us, but the general belief seems to be that there is nothing about the weight belt that has "failed", so they don't think about it "in the moment".

Panic is UGLY at the best of times, pretty much by definition rational thinking has left the building.

But yeah, neutral and switch the key to "off", but don't pull it out or you will lock the steering.
How about reverse ?
I think even the '94 Dodge Intrepid wouldn't allow reverse at anything much above walking speed forwards.

 

[timswi]

Most all vehicles made in the last 10 years, or more, won't allow a shift to reverse at speed. My mother just learned that in her Trailblazer. Nothing happens in reverse, kinda like neutral.

The key won't lock the steering unless it's in park. So, killing the engine makes braking and steering more difficult, but not impossible. Much better than uncontrolled acceleration.

Even if you put it in neutral with the pedal floored, the motor won't blow due to rev limiters. Besides, I'd rather blow a motor than meet 4ft dia oak tree at 100mph.

As far as these 4 wheeled cordless drills, I'll never own one.

We really need to teach our families about these common sense precautions.

Also, I agree that something stinks with this whole Prius story.

 

[carpenter383]

Transmissions have been calibrated for many years not to allow "abuse" There are "abuse" valves in valvbodies.
Even an OLD hydraulic controlled th350, 727, c4, etc. won't allow the driver to shift to first at highway speed. They will also shift to second at WOT even when held in manual first. The newer trannies are much more sophisticated and won't allow reverse, but I hope they never get to the point of not allowing neutral, let alone cars that drive themselves

 

[Regal]

After all the publicity, if the drivers still can't figure out what to do when this happens, driving off a bridge at WOT is natural selection, mothers natures way of killing off the stupid so they cannot further pollute the gene pool with they're ignorance.

That might be little harsh.

With the amount of computerization in autos today, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that when these throttles malfunction, many if not all other computer functions are also affected.
I find it extremely hard to believe that there have been no attempts to shift to neutral and/or turn off ignition before crashing. Could it be possible that even holding the switch to off may not apply in these emergencies. No doubt there has been pure panic and no thought of what to do in some cases, but surely not all these people are stupid.
I for one am sorry for any ones losses and extremely grateful none of them have been mine.