Toyota to recall 3.8 million vehicles

The list of actions provided in post 96 are intended to be followed in sequence. First try moving the mat, then press hard and continuously on the brake pedal, then shift into N. If these actions don't help, turn off the engine.

 

Re: Prius Recall ('04 - '09)

There are two problems. One is the people who do not RTFM and put mats on top of mats. The other is any damage to the plastic clips. I think they should be stamped stainless steel, myself, as they are their to restrain the movement of peoples' feet pushing against the mat. Which depending on what people do in cars - like reaching over between the two seats while bracing oneself with a foot on the mat, can be allot of load for a 1/8 inch thick by 3/8 inch wide polystyrene (i think?) cross-section of plastic. The only thing that has kept this less of a problem is the friction between the mat and the carpet.

 

This is something you don't want to practise. Your Owners Manual explains what damage can occur if you take these steps. In a real emergency, who cares if damage to the vehicle occurs? You are trying to save the lifes of your passengers, your own life, and the lifes of others in nearby vehicles.

Jim

 

To heck with following a sequence when the car is racing out of control - HOLD THE DAMN BUTTON DOWN!

Don't screw around - take IMMEDIATE action!

 

Exactly, and that's the attitude that "Sully" had when he was forced to land his aircraft in the Hudson River - saving everyone.

Jim

 

I finally went and checked the mat in my '04 Prius, which was dealer installed. The rear of the mat has two holes, as does the carpet underneath. No retention clips though. I cannot say if I lost the clips, or they were never present.

I'm not worried, to be honest. I've always known that mats can slip, and in other cars have simply repositioned them as needed. The Prius mat has moved very little by itself over my five years owning the car, no doubt due to to the foot rest which retards forward movement. If Toyota wants to give me clips I'll install them, or I'll buy them if the cost is modest. I view the entire story as a heads-up for smart drivers, but hardly worthy of a recall, at least for my car.

 

There are many comments here about the mats possibly getting stuck "under" the gas pedal. But I can't see how this would cause a car to "accelerate".

The pedal would have to get stuck under the mat (or the mat over the pedal) for unintended acceleration to occur.

 

I'll take a potentially marginal floormat design any day over wire harness or engine build issues like *other* cars are typically recalled for. :rofl:

 

Yeah, it always better to be clear when people might misunderstand and forget to hold the POWER button.
You forget to Mention Step #2 was to put the Vehicle in "Neutral". That's why there's at "#3" next to what I revised. The first thing I would do is to put it in "Neutral" since my hand is closer to the Gear Lever. If a person is able to get into "Neutral" they will be able to steer out of obstacles. "If possible" is what I said. The Key issue is not to panic and cause a major pile-up. Your life is as valuable as anybody elses using the road.

As for going 90 Mph, even though unsafe, it not dangerous enough for you to cut off your engine power in the middle of the freeway.

 

First, the Lexus dealership put in the wrong All-Weather floor mat for the ES350 in the accident.
Second, it's likely that the misplaced floor mat is larger and thicker than the OEM Carpet floor mat.

 

Re: Prius Recall ('04 - '09)

No doubt about that, but when you have small children, the unexpected becomes a regular occurrence. Things can even roll under the seats and end up under the pedals as I've learned. Dad is not real happy when *anything* enters the driver air space unless requested by Dad. (And he really hates a kick in the kidneys or someone grabbing his shoulder harness.) My kids are trained now.

The small footwells of some vehicles don't seem to have been fully thought out. I've literally snagged the edge of the sole of my work boots when trying to lift off the throttle because the center tunnel/console is too close. It doesn't produce "unintended acceleration" more a "lack of deceleration" until I slide my foot laterally away from the console. I'm accustomed to two foot driving so it doesn't cause anything more than slight anxiety.

This is akin to learning the blind spots of a vehicle in the first two weeks. The most dangerous time with any new vehicle or new route is the first two weeks.

 

While trying to park, I shift to "R" but sometimes I get "N" because I do it too quickly. So going to "N" is really fast.
Anyways I use "N" to aid in parking my car sometimes when I don't want to turn it POWER "ON" ICE. Just give it a push and it rolls easily on flat surface like any car.

 

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TOYOTA RELEASES STATEMENT THAT THEY HAVE NOT RECALLED THE FLOOR MATS, DESPITE THE MEDIA FRENZY...

Hundreds of published reports yesterday claimed Toyota had already issued a recall to address the possibility of accelerator pedals getting jammed under factory floor mats, but the company fired back in an e-mail this morning stating yesterday's notice was nothing more than a safety advisory.
"Despite widespread reporting to the contrary, this is not yet a recall," wrote Toyota northeast PR manager Wade Hoyt. Hoyt said to the Globe this morning that "it wouldn't be a recall until we've worked out a fix that NHTSA approves."



Toyota to media: No floor mat recall yet - Boston Overdrive - Boston.com

 

The Silver Lining.
Well, the Prius is not a fast car and probably max out at 110 MPH. Acceleration from 0-60 MPH is over 10 seconds. 60 to 90 MPH is around 9 seconds on an ideal race track. [Just an estimate. I need to find the exact figures for 60-90 time.]

If the accelerator gets stuck on my Prius while I'm going 60 MPH. I will have at most 7 secs to change gear to "N" before the car reaches 90 MPH. [I took off 2 secs for cushion since I'm guessing a car with a stuck accelerator speed would beat track time.]

Worse Case Scenerio with Time Breakdown:
-Car abruptly accelerate to 65 MPH (-1 sec)
-Realization Moment (-1 sec) Now at 70 MPH
-Reaction Time and put in "N" (-1 sec) Now at 75 MPH
If "N" gear doesn't help.
-Finding the POWER button (-1 sec) Now at 80 MPH. [I need practice finding the "POWER" w/o looking]
-Action of Holding POWER button (-3 sec) Now almost at 90 MPH before Car shuts off.
Total duration time: 7 secs needed for me if I need to shut down the vehicle.

The Lexus ES350's 0-60 time is around 6.5 secs(CR Mag) and 60-90 is at least 7 secs.
So a Lexus driver will have a maximum of 5 secs to Shut Off the Car before getting to 90 MPH from 60 MPH.

Probably a good idea to practice turning off your car without looking at the "POWER" button if you are like me.

 

Calm down. There's really no big deal about shifting to neutral or holding the power button while moving. I don't see any reason any damage at all should occur, let alone anything major - most of those warnings in the manual are just being over-cautious, and probably cut-and-pasted from the manuals from other non-hybrid cars, rather than being anything really specific to HSD designs.

For the power button in particular - if you press and hold the button, while moving, the car goes into ACC mode and Neutral. (This is an unusual mode you can't enter any other way). The transmission doesn't lock, or anything stupid like that - you've still got brakes and steering, but you do lose some power assist. I tried it some time ago (albeit at a fairly low speed), and it's nothing alarming.

And shifting to Neutral while moving is no big deal either. It just electrically isolates the electric motor-generators. The engine idles if it was running, or remains off if it was off, but doesn't contribute any power/drag either way. At high speeds MG1 may end up freewheeling at an rpm beyond its normal operation range, but it's not going to explode or anything.

 

I'm pretty sure someone might have already mentioned this, but just in case:

1) Holding the power button down when traveling at a low - high speed will cause the car to basically shift into neutral. It won't engage the parking paw. It only engages the paw when your traveling at below 5mph or so.

2) Shifting the car into neutral in motion doesn't damage the car at all, unless you shift into neutral when the engine is off, then manage to accelerate to over 65mph (~10k limit of MG1 electric motor). And even then, its not clear if it does any damage.

 

Re: Prius Recall ('04 - '09)

Ok so what if Toyota installed the mats with the correct clips etc.. and I take them out to clean them and fit them back in the wrong way...

The only safe drivers mat is one that is clipped in position... simple as that!

 

i think education is all that is needed. shifting, shutting down, etc... all extreme and having been thru this i would not recommend either of those as first choice.

it had already been reported here on PC several times by the time it happened to me. it took a split second, but i knew what was going on. simply stuck my foot under the gas pedal and pulled it up .

now, i am not saying it was all smooth and sincere. it definitely got my blood pressure way up there since it happened about half a block from a traffic circle, so after i freed the pedal, i had to do some pretty extreme braking to keep from hitting a 15 mph traffic circle at 45.

 

I'm not taking my mats out. I never had a problem with them and the accelerator pedal

 

Absolutely correct, I too have tried both N and Power Off while moving. I'm one of those people who likes to see how things work before the emergency happens so I will know what to expect. N is the better first choice in an emergency because it's quicker and it's really easy to grab the shifter and pull it over for a second.

I would suggest that people at least try N while moving at a low speed (25 or 30 MPH) because it will:

1. assure you that it really does work, and

2. it may help you to remember what to do in the unlikely event an emergency such as we are discussing occurs.