Throttle Sticks - What would you do?

JohnK

JohnK

Active Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
150
Location
Miramar, Florida
We have all heard about the recall of front floor mats from Toyota because under certain circumstances they can make your gas pedal stick.
Here is the 911 call that started the recall.
http://www.sandiego6.com/mostpopula...Lexus-accelerator/AzYjOhtvFE2mIuxTtxrK4Q.cspx - WARNING: Graphic Content (441.0KB)

My question is, You are traveling down the highway and your gas pedal sticks, What do you do?
a. step on the brake
b. Turn ignition off
c. Throw car in neutral
d. Call 911
e. a,b,c

I really don't understand why this accident had to happened.
 
A, followed by C, followed by B. I've had a throttle stick before, I just stabbed at it a few times and it came loose.
 
A, then C, and maybe B if for whatever reason A and C isn't working but I'd rather listen to the engine rev its nuts off and keep my power brakes and steering.
 
as normal people, I'd go A, then C, then B. But whoever had that accident, does not classify as "normal"...

Also, epic fail by Toyota, that picture clearly shows that the space between the throttle and the floormat is too small

Mat_Photo1.JPG
 
(Apologies if this comes up twice, computer farted)

Just for the sake of being anal, Toyota isn't alone in this kind of recall. My old car (1996 Civic) was recalled for exactly this reason. The fix was a small grommet and peg installed at the dealer that attached the floor mat to the car's floor back near the drivers' seat. I was pleased to see these as standard equipment on my 02 Passat though.

I'd probably brake and then try and side the mat backwards with my other foot. I can guarantee you digging out the phone would never occur to me.
 
My vehicle has this spiffy third pedal that engages a "clutch" that disconnects the engine from the wheels. I think I would push that, pull over and shut the motor off.
 
I would never get to that situation in the first place, because I'm not dumb enough to depress the gas pedal to the carpet on public roads. ><"
 
Shutting the motor off is probably one of the worse things u can do since in modern cars that will shutt off the power-brake and the power-steering, making the car that much more difficult to manuver and slow down. I've also heard of ppl say they would "shift into lower gear" (all of them drive automatics) which is probably not good depending on speed and rpm front/rear tires may lock up not to mention the stress on the transmission.

Braking and shifting into neutral and then steer off to the side of the road seems to be the best plan of action.

Final Daihatsu said:
I would never get to that situation in the first place, because I'm not dumb enough to depress the gas pedal to the carpet on public roads. ><"
Click to expand...

No. This doesn't only happen when the gas pedal is floored. The floor mat sometimes have bad design or slides forward and can cause the gas pedal to be stuck
 
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Put on hazards. Move onto the hard shoulder if present. Floor the brakes, press clutch pedal or try to get slushbox into neutral. Turn off engine when I've come to a stop or at least slowed down considerably if there's no neutral or clutch, then both waning brake power and potential steering lock won't hurt too much.
 
Blind_Io said:
My vehicle has this spiffy third pedal that engages a "clutch" that disconnects the engine from the wheels. I think I would push that, pull over and shut the motor off.
Click to expand...

I'm disappointed with you, FG... it took 5 replies for this to come up.

The best & only viable solution.
 
Why wouldn't neutral be viable? I've shifted into neutral while moving before with no negative consequences.
 
Not sure why shutting the engine off would be a bad idea, really. Maybe it's just me but I'm used to driving a car with no power brakes and no power steering, it really isn't a big deal. You won't even notice the lack of steering when you're going at highway speeds. It's really not even all that bad just cruising around. And the brakes? Unless I'm missing something where not having the vacuum booster on makes it near impossible to brake, brakes are even easier to handle than the steering. And correct me if I'm wrong but when you shut the engine off at highway speed, in gear, the engine is still turning over thus pumping power steering fluid and providing vaccum for the brakes.

What about attempting to free the throttle? Like sticking your foot underneath the pedal.
 
depends on what car I am in, in the Fairlane, I would just shift to neutral and kill the engine. Since it has no power steering or power brakes anyways, I don't see the harm.

In my truck, this has actually happened, I just hit the brakes as hard as i could without locking them up, (i was only doing 40 when it actually happened), and once i stopped, turned it off and fixed it.

In the truck, its not like the little 305 has enough power to override the brakes anyways :lol:
 
I'd just go over to the shoulder modulating the power with the clutch. I don't have power steering anyway so that isn't much of a concern.

Then pick up the car and carry it home. :p
 
I've had my Mustang suddenly shut off on the highway once. Just pressed the emergency flasher button and steered to the shoulder. Fixed the issue and went on my way. If the throttle somehow stuck in that I'd just shut it off and do the same thing.

If it happened in the grand prix, I'd switch to neutral, the rev limiter would kick in to keep the engine in check and I'd steer off to the shoulder the same way. I might even use my long arms and just reach down to pull the damned floormat out.

No need to panic, either car makes enough noise when floored that I'd notice a stuck throttle very early.
 
Luckily, my floor mat is held in place by plastic tabs and there's no way for my gas pedal to get stuck under the floor mat even if it was sliding around:

2204381269_4d224bf034.jpg


If something crazy happened where I was stuck at full throttle I'd just shift into neutral and let the engine bounce off the rev limiter until I slowed to a stop and shut it off. No big deal. I certainly would have taken care of the situation before hitting 120 (which was probably the speed limiter for that car) rather than call 911 and "pray" that it fixes itself.

(edit: no gas pedal matryoshka here...)
 
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NooDle said:
Also, epic fail by Toyota, that picture clearly shows that the space between the throttle and the floormat is too small

Mat_Photo1.JPG
Click to expand...

edit: Well more research shows it was a Lexus All-weather floormat. But whoever installed it put it on top of the regular carpet floormat thus causing the clearance issue. http://www2.wsav.com/sav/news/consu...icles_due_to_concerns_about_floor_mats/52621/

Toyota says a problem developed when someon put the thick, rubber all-weather mat (on the right) on top of the carpet map (on the left.) It says owners should never double up and that the carpet mat should be removed before the all weather mat is installed.
Click to expand...

And so Darwin strikes again.

The standard 2009 ES350 floor mats seems to have more than enough clearance. And a properly installed all-weather floormat shouldn't have any problems either.

112_0906_04z+2009_lexus_ES_350+interior_view.jpg
 
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