Toyota Runaway Cause: Electronic Throttle/Cruise Control?

Supposedly the car was a Lexus with the Start/Stop button. With the car in gear just pushing this button does nothing - you have to press and hold it for three seconds for it to kill the engine if the car is in gear. Since it was reportedly a rental, I can understand the driver not knowing this fact. However, I still cannot imagine him not putting the car into neutral.

And why call 911? Did they figure Scotty was going to beam them out of the car?

Ed

Under the circumstances, panic was very likely a factor. Putting one's car in neutral under such unusual circumstances is not a conditioned response. The 911 call from the back seat was a futile attempt to clear traffic.

Last time something like this happened to me, I was 19. I also am not a CHiP. I knew enough to put the car in neutral and kill the motor.

I don't know if the Lexus is like the Prius but there is nothing intuitive about shifting from a Prius from Drive to Neutral. The shift lever is always resting in the neutral position. After playing with this for a while it seems the fastest way to get from drive to neutral is to pull it into the drive slot and then move back to the neutral slot. Is this what you did when you were 19?

The shift level does NOT rest in the Neutral position. If yours does, you should get it repaired. To shift to neutral, just move the lever to the left and let go. This action is just like going into drive or reverse without the down or up part of the motion.

I just returned from my car where I tried what you describe. My spring-loaded shift lever *always* returns to a dot just to the right of the "N." I started the car and shifted to "D". The lever returned to the dot just to the right of "N" but the display indicator correctly showed it was in "D." I followed your suggestion, moving the stick from the at-rest dot to "N" several times. Nothing happens. The car remains in "D." To get it to "N" I had to first move it to "D" (or P or R) and then back to "N."

I have a 2010 IV. Will someone else with a 2010 please verify what I found?

I'm not absolutely positive I'm following correctly, but... think I am, & tried it today since I'd not yet had the need to shift to neutral.

Had the car on (but stationary) and in D - & of course the shifter was in its "home" spot (the dot), then shifted to N & let go. Of course the shifter immediately reverted to its "home" spot again, but the dash display did confirm that it was then in neutral. (IOW, I didn't need to shift it to the D or B or R location before going to N, it just went into neutral when I shifted it to N.)

As a tangent to this (use of gears): The salesman said he didn't know why they bothered with the "B" gear and that I'd prob. never use it, but I've used it twice so far, when coming down steep hills. Used it as I would've before, when I would've down-shifted to help w. the braking. OTOH, the "EV" mode - unless I run out of gas someday, within half a mile of a gas station.... at this point I don't really see myself using that little gizmo mode.

Cathy

Thanks for trying this Cathy. I learned in another group that to get it in neutral it has to be held in the N position for two seconds. I tried that and it does work. I was just moving it to N and releasing. By moving into the other positions I was, apparently, dwelling on the N position long enough.

It was nice to learn this alone in my parked car and not careening wildly down the road with my passengers screaming in terror. The lesson: Pull the knob to the left and hold it there with the brake fully and continuously engaged.

Lucky you didn't burn to death in the fuel fire Pintos were famous for.

While Pinto's may have been famous for this, it was not a justifiable accusation. The facts are much different that the perception. Pintos were no more likely to catch on fire that other small cars from the same era. Pintos were the victim of a viscous smear campaign sort of like what is building over this Toyota floor mat / cruise control / unintended acceleration issue.

Ed

It was a justifiable accusation. My son's car was rear ended and it shortened his Pinto by 4 inches. We wrapped a chain around the bumper to a tree, floored it and got 3 inches back. We looked at his gas tank and it had the drain plug indentation in the gas tank metal. He was one of the lucky ones. It didn't pierce it and explode. The drain plug should have been placed elsewhere out of dangers way. Then if it exploded it would be a normal accident.

Mr Ed

And that was the essence of it. It was a very small car (by 1970's standards) and because of the placement & design of the gas tank, if they were rear-ended, they could & did blow up. To call it a "fuel fire" really doesn't connote the actual problem.

Paranoia at the time smeared across all Fords and for a while, all you could find in the used car lots were used Fords as people dumped them for anything else. I got a really nice '70 Torino wagon for $150 at the height of the craziness. Drove it for 6 months until things settled down & sold it for $500.

A friend of mine was crushed to death while unloading the trunk of her Ford when it jumped from park into reverse. Then, of course, there were the exploding gas tanks on those Chevrolet and GMC pickups. Tort reform. That's the answer.

What kind of idiot would unload the trunk with the engine running and the Parking Brake not engaged?