Unintended Acceleration -- While Parking

I'm always open to the idea that there could be something wrong with a car. However, the bulk of these complaints came about after the popular press made such a huge deal of the braking "issue" on the 2010. Prior to that there didn't seem to be any real complaints about unintended acceleration. Seems like people just decided it was a good way to try to get out of a lease/car payment or push blame for their problem on someone else. I could be wrong but this is how it has played out from what I have observed. Seems like complaints have gone down after reports concluding that nearly every case was due to driver error.

 

My event was in an Accord.

Are there any more Prius incidents now than in other Toyotas? During the media hysteria that brought out a massive surge of reports almost a year ago, Prius was not more susceptible than other Toyota models. During the spring flood of reports, the biggest chunk of death claims was in the Camry. And the many death claims were not limited to Toyota's throttle-by-wire systems, they reached well back into the mechanical cable days too.

Outside of hysteria events -- all Toyotas recently, Audi 5000 a generation ago -- the events appear to be far more correlated to transmission type and driver age than to car model.

 

Darn it!

With that said, you as well as everyone else(that drives the car) should know and practice what do to in an emergency with your car or any car for that matter. If for whatever reason it is accelerating probably the fastest way to stop it is to press the Park button. That will disengage the drive immediately. Pressing and holding the power button for about 3 seconds will to it too but takes longer.

 

Just remember that nearly all the drivers out there are human. Humans are inherently prone to error, and are generally the weakest element of most quality control systems.

Though even that is insufficient to explain the level of crappy driving out there.

 

Well, I just sunk an hour and a half searching through the ODI / NHTSA website, looking at 2004 - 2010 Prius vehicle speed control complaints. Tell you what .... there are an unusual number of complaints for every model year ... 212 complaints for year 2010! That's the max. The complaints range from 50 in 2009 and upwards for other years. See for yourself.

And the complaints aren't just late 2009, 2010 dates, some of them are from 2005, 06, 07, 08.

Also, other models complaints # are higher - Camry, Corolla, Rav4

I looked at other brands - Honda Civic, Acccord, CR-V, Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Malibu, Equinox, VW Jetta .... in all cases there are low numbers of vehicle speed control complaints, like 4 or 5.

Now, I don't think average people are weird enough to spend their precious time filing complaints with the NHTSA just because they have a bone to pick with Toyota.

I will be looking at this more tomorrow and I'm taking this seriously.

btw, this is not internet BS, go search the site linked by the OP for yourself.

 

Again, all these claims have been studied by Toyota and several government agencies! All came to the conclusion that it was driver error! Also most incidents tended to involve either much older drivers or very young drivers (some children!). If it's a flaw in the vehicle, how can it target drivers based on age?

 

Welcome back!

For quite a while there the T-word was creeping into my thoughts.

A note of caution: If you've been driving for 30+ years, you yourself
are entering the age range that, for whatever reason, has the most
cases of reported unintended acceleration. Be aware... you don't want
to become another statistic.

And for the record, silver ranks second as a color most likely to be in
an accident... Sorry. My price point would have dropped to $10K.

Be careful out there.

 

No, they were not~!
I think your friend PANICKED, then Modulated the GAS pedal instead of the brake, thus parking in a awkward spot, he then had to CYA!!!

 

I just read through this thread. It seems that the vast majority of Prius UA complants are located in the US. Statistically shouldn't Japan and Europe have a similar level of complaints? I couldn't find any data. Anyone know?

 

2 reasons for this.

Lawyer Density in the US is somewhat higher.

And...in order to drive in Europe and Japan, you have to be able to....(wait for it!)....drive! They (mostly) don't give drivers licenses to teenagers, and you have to pass a for-real driving test.

I mean, C'mon!
UNINTENDED ACCELERATION?? In a PRIUS??!!

This validates both of my most popular theories on religeon.
1. There IS a GOD.
2. GOD has one helluva sense of humor!


Yes. It's cockpit error.

 

The number of Toyota UA reports for all model years skyrocketed during the media circus a year ago. I seem to remember a two-digit total as the publicity started, then quickly climbing into three digits and not abating until passing four digits.

 

Do you drive with both feet - left for brake pedal and right for accelerator? It's amazing how many people do this! Accelerating from a stop light with their brake lights on, then repeatedly off and on again, even at 55 mph with no one in front of them. You can't rely on their brake lights to tell if their slowing down or not. My SIL does this too - claims she can stop faster. I think she goes thru brake pads faster too! Even the slightest pressure on the brake pedal while driving can register in the black box.

 

IIRC, when I did it, the brakes held the car and the ICE idled about 1200rpm. No fighting. I didn't check the SGII but suspect the battery was being charged.

 

Sure, a bunch of times. If at a standstill the engine will rev up a little bit but there is no surging or anything. The end result is a force charge of the battery.

I've also done this at 100mph and various speeds between 100 and 15mph and the car simply goes into idle mode and the car slows down. There is no sensation of fighting the accelerator. It simply bows down to the almighty brake.

 

Here's something else to consider -- was your friend perhaps wearing new shoes (or shoes he doesn't usually wear) while driving the Prius?

I had something like that happen to me when I was wearing shoes with wider soles; fortunately I realized what was happening and was able to stop in time...