Dangerous Tacoma Defect!?

[rocket]

I was just browsing Phoenix, AZ news looking for a story about an old acquaintance that was murdered and happened to come across this...
http://www.kpho.com/video/14310861/index.html

Be careful out there.

[Seanz0rz]

thanks for posting this rocket.

sounds very familar to the prius incidents recently.

those with 07's need to watch this. best thing to do would be shift into neutral, use the parking brakes with the regular brake pedal, and then once stopped, turn the vehicle off.

[MTL_4runner]

Anyone know if there are any issues (such as the mentioned drive by wire acceleration problem) with other vehicles like the 4runner which are also running the 4.0L motor? Also is this just 2007's or earlier years as well? I would think the system were pretty much interchangeable from both vehicles so I'd be curious if only the Tacoma actually showed the issue. It sounds like this might put a damper on me getting a Tacoma in the next 1-2 years. :(

[slosurfer]

Wow! I wish they had more info with that story. Like build dates, factories, etc... about the 20. I guess it's time to go over what to do with my wife if this happens to her. I'm thinking braking and throwing it in Neutral.

Also, I wonder how much of it was driver error or stupidity. I mean, the guy said it happened before and he even talked to his insurance agent about it, but it didn't say anything about him trying to get it fixed. He just kept driving it till an accident happened. With somebody stupid like that, I wouldn't rule out driver error. Really to me, the story is just too vague at this point and seemed more to just try to scare everyone and didn't include any of the important facts other than 2007 Tacoma.

[BruceTS]

that is one bad thing about throttle by wire, you have no control over engine acceleration

[Seanz0rz]

oh how i LOVE mechanical linkages.

[Seanz0rz]

i should add, if this does happen to you, DO NOT turn off the engine, just put the vehicle in neutral, this way you still have power steering and ABS brakes, otherwise you are relying on your sheer strength to turn the wheel and stop the vehicle.

[MTL_4runner]

I was looking for more info on the problem and found this:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=213870

[neliconcept]

wow, i wonder what may happen to toyota and the tacoma drivers based on this situation.

[BruceTS]

i should add, if this does happen to you, DO NOT turn off the engine, just put the vehicle in neutral, this way you still have power steering and ABS brakes, otherwise you are relying on your sheer strength to turn the wheel and stop the vehicle.


Actually the best thing you can do is turn off the engine, this may reset the system, then turn the key bak on again. It's not that difficult to brake and steer with no power.

[Robinhood4x4]

i should add, if this does happen to you, DO NOT turn off the engine, just put the vehicle in neutral, this way you still have power steering and ABS brakes, otherwise you are relying on your sheer strength to turn the wheel and stop the vehicle.
Well, once you put it in neutral and blow the engine, you'll loose power steering and power brakes anyway.

Just make sure when you turn the engine off that you don't go all the way to lock.

[04 Rocko Taco]

a power steering and braking car that has no power is MUCH harder to turn and stop than a car without power steering and brakes.
That being said, just turn the key off, and use your brakes, with all your might, and try to hold the wheel tight...and as mentioned by Steve, just dont go all the way to lock, or you'll be stuck turning that way...

[YotaFun]

Another option, is turn the key just to the acc and then 2 second later turn it back to the on position, the engine will not kick back over but all your gauges will read and everything will work.

Every time I get into a new vehicle I learn how to get my self out of such situations (don't as why just a paranoid thing) and when I got into the Runner I noticed that even in ACC position the steering wheel didn't move as freely as it did when I turned the key back to ON.

Just my .02, but this is an issue, you don't think if you switch into neutral the engines ECU will realise that it not going anywhere now an quit?
Sort of how the cruise control works, when you switch into neutral it revs up a little then goes back down to idle?

Just throwing out a few more options

[Robinhood4x4]

Just my .02, but this is an issue, you don't think if you switch into neutral the engines ECU will realise that it not going anywhere now an quit?
Sort of how the cruise control works, when you switch into neutral it revs up a little then goes back down to idle?
Nobody can answer that because nobody knows what is wrong.

[traxman25]

a power steering and braking car that has no power is MUCH harder to turn and stop than a car without power steering and brakes.
That being said, just turn the key off, and use your brakes, with all your might, and try to hold the wheel tight...and as mentioned by Steve, just dont go all the way to lock, or you'll be stuck turning that way...


I drove my 4 Runner on 36" Iroks with no power steering (broken idler pully) as a DD for 6 months, I never had any trouble steering, and I'm not exactly a big guy. Braking on the other hand, is a pain with no vac. assist, but it can be done, and would be way better than blowing the motor, much less continuing to accel out of control.

I always knew there would come a day when cars really really were too darn smart for their own good. Today is that day, and sad to say it was in a Toyota. :(

[slosurfer]

I still say that we need to know more facts. Heck, some of them that they said were just, "and that guy in Sacramento" they didn't give any info on any of the others. That being said, I did warn my wife about it, since the '07 Tacoma is her daily driver. If it happened to me, the first thing I would do is tap the accelerator or even stomp it if I wasn't about to run into someone. From there it would probably just be turning it off and wrestling it over to the side.

[MTL_4runner]

It sounds like a problem with the cruise control to me (esp when the truck tries to accelerate like a bat out of hell). I'd be curious to know if they all had the cruise control button on when this happened and I also find it very curious that we're seeing this only in Tacomas and not in the 4runners.

[MTL_4runner]

Actually the best thing you can do is turn off the engine, this may reset the system, then turn the key back on again. It's not that difficult to brake and steer with no power.

Bruce, you gotta think that if a petite female is driving it may be more that she could handle without power assist (not to mention the ensuing panic that type of situation envokes). Hopefully Toyota will get to the bottom of this and get it resolved quickly since it is clearly a dangerous situation for any driver to be facing (kinda reminds me of the old problem with the Audi 5000s). I was not a big fan of this new drive by wire stuff even before this incident....this is just the icing on the cake IMHO.

[BruceTS]

Bruce, you gotta think that if a petite female is driving it may be more that she could handle without power assist (not to mention the ensuing panic that type of situation envokes).

You kidding???? it's actually really easy to steer, try it.... Heck look at our Death Valley trip where Lance was towed out, one of the downhill legs, he was on his own coasting for quite some distance.

On another note, when I taught my son to drive, I pulled a few stunts on him without warnning, one being turning off the key to see his response. Then I taught him what to do in that incident, you never know when your engines gonna die. Who has ran out of fuel because you forgot to fill up or a timming belt breaks?

The big problem is that too many drivers out there don't know how to handle panic situations, if every driver was taught the simple trick of just turning your key those accidents would have never happened.

In the video the guy who rolled his truck, leads me to wonder if it was done intentionally, since he notifies his insurance agent, but not the dealership?

[ecchamberlin]

THis just does not sound right. 20 cases out of 178,000 vehicles built at the same place with the same parts and none of them took it into a dealership even though it would have been free since it would have been covered under warantee? I don't know.

I had a situation in the mountains of Colorado in my old Ranger pickup. I thought the truck was accelerating on its own to. Turned out to be the big thick floor mat had pushed up onto the gas peddle. Driver error. This could be the same thing but many Americans will see dollars signs when they start playing the "I thought I was going to die" Mental disress lawsuit card.

Wouldn't the abs system be able to at least slow the truck down considering that the front brakes do most of the work and the drive wheel are in the rear? I guess I have never been at highway speeds and pushed both the gas and break pedals at the same time. I should try it right before I go get new breaks put on.

Another thought... had the cruise control set at 75mph, then slowed down for traffic, then either on purpose or on accident hit resume. Those trucks are powerful and it would probably go like a bat out of hell in a situation like that.

Interesting anyway.