What to Do If Your Toyota Accelerates Unintentionally

We know there’s a lot of news circulating about the Toyota recall, so we just wanted to make sure you know what to do if you experience unintended acceleration. In that situation, Toyota recommends the following:

• If you need to stop immediately, the vehicle can be controlled by stepping on the brake pedal with both feet using firm and steady pressure.  Do not pump the brake pedal, as it will deplete the vacuum utilized for the power brake assist.  
• Shift the transmission gear selector to the Neutral (N) position and use the brakes to make a controlled stop at the side of the road and turn off the engine.
• If unable to put the vehicle in Neutral, turn the engine OFF. This will not cause loss of steering or braking control, but the power assist to these systems will be lost.
• If the vehicle is equipped with an Engine Start/Stop button, firmly and steadily push the button for at least three seconds to turn off the engine.  Do NOT tap the Engine Start/Stop button.
• If the vehicle is equipped with a conventional key ignition, turn the ignition key to the ACC position to turn off the engine.  Do NOT remove the key from the ignition, as this will lock the steering wheel.

Comments

I was teaching my wife to do just that. may be need to practice just to make sure.
But my 2009 Highlander is not on the recall.

When you turn off the Prius, the transmission automatically goes into Park, so be ready for the car to do a 360 spinout if you drive one of those and follow these instructions. There's no way for a prius to be in neutral with the engine off, so for that model you have to hold the brake down and shift into neutral, slow to a stop and then shut off the engine.

Zack,

Doesn't matter either way, the Prius isn't recalled for this.

Best way to prevent this:

1. Put the car from park into drive

2. accelerate gently

3. coast into competitor car dealership

4. remove key and hand to dealer in exchange for a properly built car (GM naturally excluded)

Mark,GM is now offering extra cash if Toyota owners trade in for a new GM.Expect to see a ton of new recalls from GM shortly after all the former Toy owners switch to their models.Thats called going from bad to worse.

I was referring to the earlier recall which sometime in the future will result in new gas pedals and floor mats. I might be wrong but thought prius was on that list.

you should not turn the vehicle's engine off until the vehicle is completely stopped. losing power steering and brakes can cause a load of problems. By turning off the engine, you also turn off ABS, ESC, and traction control, all of which are absolutely essential in a situation like this.

If you are going slowly (like in stop and go traffic, or in the city setting), you'll be OK if you just jam the brakes. If you are on the highway though, you'll need to shift into neutral first.

If you can't put it in neutral, you should pull the shift lever all of the way down to "1" or "L" and engine brake. still better than turning the engine off in all situations. Cars that have an automanual gate will have a neutral gate.

I am also pretty sure that all Toyota vehicles have a neutral, "1" or "L" selection, so turning off the engine is absolutely unnecessary.

I know the info came from Toyota, but it applies to all vehicles, so why put Toyota in the headline? Everyone should know this.

alternately, after putting the transmission into neutral and finding a place on the side of the road, floor it until the engine esplodes and call it an insurance write-off.

>.>

well that was a good information, really it would help a lot, that's a very dangerous problem of toyota motors they really need to recall their cars.

What to Do If Your Toyota Accelerates Unintentionally?
Duh?
a. Forgive Toyota for risking your life for the sake of corporate identity.

b. It's a new feature in Toyota. Be thankful they did not charge extra for the privilage

c. Dude where's your car?

d. Duh? Call your lawyer!

GM's offer, besides attempting to induce a Toyota owner into buying a vehicle of dubious quality as a replacement, is essentially meaningless in terms of the money involved. Most folks who own the models involved in the recall(s) are, at this point, still significantly upside down on their Toyota financing. $1,000 probably does not begin to buy the prospective GM car owner's Toyota back to zero. Keep in mind that if you cannot afford to keep the note on the Toyota while paying for a new GM product, GM is probably going to value a Toyota trade-in down (and I mean down) to recover the $1,000 and then some. Just how valuable do you believe that 2009 Corolla is, at this point, at the far-less-than-wholesale trade-in value GM is going to assign, especially given that we are short of a fix from Toyota?

Brake Assist: just nail the brakes-your car WILL stop.

JM-not true, if you switch the ignition off, you will still have ABS (it is electrically operated), [and EBD] which is what operates the stability control system.
Traction control is for accelerating.

Joe Bruzek, you can not remove the key unless the transmission selector is in Park.
Park will not engage unless you are going under 5 mph.

JURY RIG --WORKAROUND--
BREAK OFF THE GAS PEDAL, AND
USE A PAIR OF VICE GRIPS IN PLACE THEREOF...I'VE USED
THIS OVER THE YEArs on numerous Japanese cars.

Just a bit of amasement, I ask myself are there that many people that have no clue. I have always checked my floormats on every car I ever owned from my first one, a 1966 chrysler to my current cars, I have found that all floormats can shift their position, I assume (ass u me) is better I guess that people can't or are just too lazy these days? proove it to yourself just use your automatic door locks the next time you have people in the car and see how many people think they are locked into the car because someone didn't unlock the doors.

Why not just put it into neutral, or turn the engine off. One person wrote that turning the ignition switch off locks the steering wheel. This is true,but only if you turn it completely off. moving the switch to the "accessory" position will kill the engine, but not lock the steering. You could even switch it completely off for a second and back to the on position without re-starting the engine. True enough, no power steering or power brakes, but it is not that hard to maneuver steering or stop a car without power steering and power brakes. If you say otherwise, I'll bet you've never tried it.

I think that some of the information that you people are missing is that people are saying that when this acceleration happens the brakes won't slow it down and they can't get it to shift into neutral. So what would you recommend they do then?

Jodi,
That's probably a part of the confusion. It will likely be difficult to put it into neutral and a lot of brake pressure would be needed. But both should work as should shutting the engine off.

Clearly if it doesn't there is little left to do.

people become so complacent they forget they are controlling a electronic device just like your tv, or microwave. It's not some device of magic, figure it out, understand what the hell you are doing, instead of turn key, shift to D, push gas, push brake, like a monkey most people don't even know what the hell they are doing in car, some of us should'nt drive

Power button, Park button, transmission shifter, and accelerator in my Prius are all electronic. (I'm not sure about the brake pedal.) No mechanical linkages, so if the computer is already malfunctioning all of these may stop operating as designed, right? Do we know if shifting into neutral still works in the midst of this problem? If not, the tiny brakes on my Prius will likely fade long before the screaming engine runs out of gas.

I told my wife if hers starts to accelerate on its own to drive it into the nearest wall or tree before the speed gets her into a situation she might die in. The air bags and seat belts should protect her from the impact

Neal,

I feel sorry for your wife.

Zach was obviously before his time, with his Prius concerns. I almost feel sad for all the Prius driving California Hippies who all a sudden arent feeling as smug as they used to.They can always wait for the next Michael Moore fiction claiming its another Bush/Cheney plot.

Zack: If you have a Prius (pry-us out of this mangled piece of crap some call a automobile) or witness this "Spin-out" effect when placing the car in "P" I will give you my info....if the gears could withstand that much force I want to know what they are manufactured from. Did you see this happen in a movie?

The drivers were unable to to stop the car using brake pressure. The key would not come out. And they couldn't shift into neutral - so then what?

I don't own a Toyota, but asked my mechanic about this problem. He said that the suspect vehicles use a 'fly by wire' or remote control system similar to that found in jet planes. He says there are no physical links from the shift lever to the transmission...that it all happens via 'radio signals' through a router like when you operate a lap top through a 'wireless' network.
The cars computer sends a signal wirelessly to the transmission when you move the shift lever.

PLUS (and here's the proble) he says the computers have built-in 'safety switches' that won't let the transmission go into park or neutral or lower gears unless the vehicle is going at a slow speed so it doesn't damage the engine or transmission.

So putting the shift lever in neutral, L, 1,2 or even PARK does nothing, because the car is going too fast.

He also tells me you cannot shut off the ignition switch on these cars while they are moving.

AS I said I don't own one, so can't speak to the truth of what my mechanic says about it - if you know someone who does or you own one, please take it up on an interstate somewhere, go fast and try to put the transmission in neutral and see if it does or if the transmission remains in gear..and report back here.

As to switching off the igniton - be careful as others have mentioned THAT can cause the the steering wheel to lock if not done properly. Practice that while sitting still before you try it moving...and don't move very fast if you do.

Okay the answer can be found at this website:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/11/what-should-you-do-if-your-car-accelerates-out-of-control.html

I called my mechanic and he said it is Pirus models that use the 'fly by wire' technology - so what you see in the video may not work.

Well, that's quite an interesting issue. Toyota should considering recalling these kind of vehicles in order to avoid accidents to people.