Sticking Gas Pedals

One idea for an emergency throttle override system would be large ignition kill button on the dashboard and that in addition to the traditional ignition switch. Simply killing the ignition is a safe, simple, and dependable system. The ignition kill button on the dashboard could be 1 1/2 " to 2" in diameter.

Ya think maybe a 2 inch red button with the letters "PANIC" embossed on the face would do it?

The idiots would simply add "I slapped the panic button over and over and the car wouldn't stop" to their story.

You are right about this. Nobody has been able to reliably replicate this rare occurrence which makes diagnosing and correcting this problem unlikely. My advice to Toyota is to interview technical-minded people who have a basic understanding of how automobiles work to get the most reliable picture of the conditions under which this occurs. I agree with the folks that think this is a software glitch of some sort which may be triggered by faulty inputs to the ECM.

Of course, this will do nothing to solve unintended accelerations that occur the old-fashioned, low-tech way: the driver mistaking the accelerator pedal for the brake. In most cases in the past, this seems to be the most reasonable of explanations however, in Toyota's case, it seems likely that something else in going on as well.

Killing the engine is the option of last resort as you'll probably lose your power steering and the source of brake assist in systems that use a vacuum servo. The Toyota engine can be shut down using the big button on the dashboard. For obvious reasons, you have to hold the button down for several seconds. My guess is that nobody's going to put a big red button on the dash that kills off the engine with a simple press. Maybe they could put the button under a piece of glass marked "In case of emergency, break glass." :-)

PolicySpy wrote in news:ec10f1a0-f18e-46e8-8a17- snipped-for-privacy@x22g2000yqx.googlegroups.com:

I have an even better idea.

What you'd do is revise the starting and stopping procedure so that you'd have this small cylinder that rotates. To enable and activate the rotation feature, you'd have this little piece of metal that's been cleverly sized and cut to fit a slot that's in the rotating cylinder. There would be an enlarged section on the end of the metal piece that would be sized just right for human fingers to grasp and turn.

So...

To turn the car ON, you'd turn the little metal piece in one direction. To turn the car OFF, you'd reverse the motion you used to turn the car ON.

I swear, this idea will revolutionize the industry. Maybe I should patent my idea before somebody figures out how to make money with it.

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about my great new idea that will replace that ancient, fossilized joke that's known as the "wheel".

Blues Brothers movie.Jake Blues put some super duper stickem stuff under the gas pedal of that motorhome. cuhulin

Rig a ''kill switch'' A wire to yank and cut the ignition.I think dragster motorbikes have something like that. cuhulin

Another idea for a throttle override system would be a 2" diameter button that shifts the automatic transmission into neutral. And a manual transmission car would not need anything since it has a clutch.

But the idea of a system that overrides a stuck throttle when the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal are pushed to the floor at the same time, is a poor idea. The last thing I want to do with a stuck throttle is push it to the floor.

Toyota's fix not working, some owners say.

Bid 4 no trump