Stuck My Foot In It - REALLY Hard

Had a car pull out in front of me. I mashed the brake so hard that I bent or deformed something in the mechanism.

So a guy pulls out in front of me after he misreads the intersection and thinks I'm going to turn right. I don't slow from my 50mph and have to slam on the brakes as hard and fast as I can. He takes up the front and left ways out, and the right side has the light pole. All I can do is push and pray.

I BARELY miss him. If there had been one more foot of front end on the C it would have merged with the target vehicle. But somehow I don't hit him.

The brake pedal goes back into battery and the only difference I feel is maybe a bit of sponge. But I'm worked up and try to remain calm. I get home, park, and go about my business.

The wife gets home after dark and tells me my brake lights are on. I go out to turn them off and I can't. I try everything I can think of. They don't go off. I figure the quickest way is to reset by taking off the 12v battery cable. That didn't work. I take off both and let them set. That didn't work. I get on the interweb and search. Nothing definite, but I'm reminded to check the brake light contact on the brake pedal. Bingo!

When I mashed the brake with all I had, I bent or smooshed something enough to where the little tab that's affixed to the brake pedal didn't come back to the brake switch any more...by about fat 1/4". As an expediant fix I rolled up a length of painter's tape until it was thick enough and taped it to the tab. Lights out, and on to bed. BTW, this can all be done after having been drinking scotch for about an hour and a half.

I get it to the shop today and it takes them about an hour to figure out they can't fix it. Then they get a Toyota expert later in the day who says he can't figure it out. They have to call a higher-up expert to take a look. They only have gross measuring tools and no blueprints, so they'll have to get somebody that has better tools and books.

Will keep updating as time rolls along. They gave me a loaner car...a BRAND new Jetta. Black. Leather. Nice. I don't see this coming to a conclusion any time soon. I figure they'll have to find what's bent/smooshed/out of whack, figure out a parts list, get them to our shop, and get them installed. On the other hand, this could be a RBD (really big deal.) Toyota/brakes. Not a good combo.

I'm 6'2", 240-ish, and exericise. But even Ah-nold in his hay day should not be able to bend braking components in any car you could choose. This appears to me to be a serious mis-figure on the parts of the designers. No telling how this will turn out. It just won't turn out quickly.

BTW, when I unhooked my battery I lost the TripB mpg average. It was at 54, then changed to 50. Dang, that was 6000 miles worth of average. Also, the mileage sucked compared to a normal drive to work. Down to about 34. Should have been 50+. Remembering something from the past about off/on cycles, I quickly did a cycle while stopped at a light. It seemed to help. The rest of the trip got me 60.4. No other issues though.

 

The clutch pedal doesn't have much force placed on it. I can see where they might use a strong plastic.

The brake arm is stamped out of 1/4" plate. It looks plenty strong to me. I think it's the support structure, myself.

 

It was truly a death-mash. I've been in some close calls, but this was =/> any for closeness.

 

I think maybe I just bent the car. Maybe they'll give me a new one. One can hope.

 

As usual, you put your keen intellect to the problem and come up wrong.

"...bent or smooshed something enough to where the little tab that's affixed to the brake pedal didn't come back to the brake switch..." I put in a spacer to make up the difference and the lights go out.

Your basic tools for any application appear to be sarcasm and condescention. Most people would think this simply rude. For you, I think it a character flaw. Go meditate on that for a couple of years and then don't come back to tell us how it went.

 

D.A., the entire pedal arm didn't return. "The brake pedal didn't return to the brake switch." The brake switch wasn't being reached. Was not being pushed on. Was taking a break. Feeling no pressure. Inactive. Not in use.

It worked when the spacer was placed between it and the tab. The...lights...went....offfffff. It wasn't the switch. Unless, that is, I pushed down on the the pedal arm and the switch support, which is attached to other structures, bent upward. Sure, that must be it...

If, somehow, you can see from where you are, since you obviously seem to feel you can, you would see it. If you broke into my car, turned yourself upside down and looked up into the brake pedal and arm area you would see it as I described and you misinterpreted.

Please, go be useless somewhere else.

 

Received a call from the dealership. They agree that something has been bent.

They took off a pedal assembly from another C and placed it next to the one out of my car. They found the support structure that affixes the pedal pivot pin (and the brake arm attached to it) to the firewall was tweaked.

They said Mother Toyota was working closely with them on the issue, but that spare parts are difficult to get right now. It may take a few days to get the part or assembly they are replacing.

I asked it they were going to send me one of the immediately-redesigned and reenforced assemblies. "Ah, no. There there won't be one of those."

I asked it they were going to use the part from the donor vehicle on mine and put the replacement part onto the donor vehicle when it arrives. "Ah, no. I would if I could, though."

So, I drive a brand new Jetta for free for a few more days.