Help Diagnosing Unintended/Uncommanded Acceleration Issue

Interesting!!!

My shoe size is 10.5, EEE. You've introduced a new hypothesis that I don't think anyone has considered before ... the potential width of North American shoes and the space between the accelerator and brake. The hypothesis is that the shoe could somehow activate the brake and accelerator at the same time or worse, there may not be sufficient difference in the feel so someone might not realize what was happening.

Bob Wilson

 

There is a strong correlation between reported incidents and the age of the driver.

 

That is interesting. There's another post around here (http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...loser-than-gas-pedal-too-much-difference.html) where the OP was complaining about the height difference between the accelerator and the brake. He didn't like the fact that the accelerator was maybe 2" lower than the brake pedal, and wanted to put some block or other on top of the accelerator to bring it up closer to the same level as the brake pedal.

I've never had a problem adjusting to this. But maybe that's why Toyota put the accelerator lower than the brake, to help minimize such an occurance?

 

The repair manual is *very* vague on that

 

Have you run a test? How 'bout you put the ball of your foot on the inboard edge of the brake and depress it.

I had exactly that happen to me a couple of weeks ago. I was backing an automatic pick-up that I had never driven before. I when I tried to stop while looking behind me I started depressing the brake and my foot also started depressing the accelerator pedal. It does happen.

 

I agree that the brake will win every time if both peddles are forcefully held down.

My suggested test was to allow your foot to overlap the gas peddle while depressing the brake to see if the brake peddle travel allowed the foot to also contact the gas peddle before the braking force was sufficient to significantly overcome the drive force. Sorry I wasn't more clear. As I noted in my previous post this happened to me in the pick-up truck incident.

 

To rule it out completely did you try to pivot your foot toward the gas pedal to give it an unfair advantage?

 

Very good that settles it. Thank you for sharing and good luck diagnosing and fixing the problem.

 

The nice thing about all of this being documented, is that if you should happen to rear end somebody while in that unintended acceleration mode, you should have a fairly easy legal out

 

I just noticed in the Japanese 7 minute commercial for the 2010 that the accelerator is back to a metal rod instead of the plastic beam. Not drawing any conclusions, just a "well isn't that special."

Bob Wilson

 

My RHD 2008 Prius has a metal rod with a kink in it, to offset the actual pedal pad off to the right compared to the sensor assembly. This was likely only possible in the RHD car because the pedal is right next to the driver's side door.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of the footwell and upload it.

 

Wow, this isn't good.I saw this problem on a different forum, but assumed it was driver error-like the Audi problems from 20 years ago. This seems awfully credible; happening more than once to an aware driver-not too good.

Big aside- Corporate phone "answerers" ALWAYS ALWAYS have heard about these problems by the time they give the "I'll make a note of it" answer. The first time they hear of it, they are usually much more curious.
In 1980 or so we had a problem with a strange allergic reaction when we would turn on saline at a plasma collection center. Initially the "phone" person gave me the usual response"never heard of this, but will note it,and please let us know when it happens again"-no kidding that was the first response. Then the response changed to "this is new, but it seems to happen in spring and fall" It finally quit happening, the best bet was Fenwal changed something in their manufacturing.The FDA sent out "info" on it, but we never knew what caused it, or how it was cured. Corps NEVER, NEVER just admit that there is a problem-even when there is. You always get a polite denial, and slowly, very slowly they loosen up a bit, if it continues-or if their lawyers tell them to loosen up.

Another time-much less serious-my 1995 Accord radiator sprung a leak at 37,000 miles-yeah out of warranty. When I called an online seller to buy another one-about $250- the parts guy said,"gee I sell a lot of these, it is a common problem." When it arrived it was obviously different than the original.Honda had reworked it. Well about 25-30 calls later( no kidding at least that many calls) Honda agreed to pay $250 for the part, but obviously nothing for the 5 hours it took me to install it.

My point is what you already know-big corps NEVER, NEVER, NEVER initially admit that they have lots of reports of a problem, even when they do. If you are persistent, eventually they-Toyota-will "fix" your car, but they'll never say " it was broken." It will be something like, " a SB to make it even safer in certain situations."

Yes, this is too obvious, but it surprised me that it took so long to fix a safety issue, and they-Fenwal- continued to sell the product all thru the year or so it lasted.
Good luck,
Charlie

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but all global corps are the same. Well, some may be more sinister than others, but they all have one goal in mind

As phoebesis stated, once the lawyers get involved, it turns murky. Actually it can turn evil, downright nasty. A good example of that was Ford with the Pinto exploding gas tank