LaHood is a Daley guy.

 

Gotcha.

Toyota preparing a recall on the Prius breaks for this week.

i spent 8 hours in toyota waiting rooms on friday getting 4 toyotas fixed.....that was fun.

Edited February 7, 201016 yr by SnB

LaHood is a Daley guy.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of Chicago machine politics can explain, but after some quick research I'm not sure how a Republican from Peoria who liked to bring home the pork is a Chicago machine politician. I saw some articles saying that his appointment would be beneficial to the Daley admin. since he supports expanding O'Hare, but does that really make him part of the Chicago machine?

And this all stems from that man and his family who were killed because the car's accelerator was stuck to the ground. If they never dialed 911, and had their last moments of anguish recorded for everyone to hear, it probably wouldn't have led to this.

 

I never understood that. Why can't they put it in neutral, turn off the engine or slam on the brakes (just about any car that isn't a complete POS should be able to out-brake its own engine)?

I never understood that. Why can't they put it in neutral, turn off the engine or slam on the brakes (just about any car that isn't a complete POS should be able to out-brake its own engine)?

 

thank you. I was wondering, for sure there is some way to manually f*** off the car. This seems plausible. No parachute needed.

It comes down to what the driver can think of in a moment of panic. I agree there are probably several responses to a jammed accelerator. and hopefully if I'm ever in that position with the lives of my family at stake I have my wits about me and respond correctly. Unfortunately, not everyone does.

Plus in just a matter of a seconds you are gonna be panicking a bit. I figured you'd put it in neutral but who knows, but the time you do that you might have already plowed into something.

 

The problem is, if you go in neutral, your engine will explode pretty quickly and at that point you will lose power steering which would make things a bit more difficult I'd assume.

 

Still, your best bet if it happens, throw your car in neutral and get the f over and parked.

If you're moving at speed, you won't notice much of a difference if anything at all from power steering. I have a car with manual steering and its only a PITA in parking lots. Any modern car is going to have a rev limiter, too, so while it won't sound very nice, your engine isn't going to blow itself up and you'll still have power steering + brakes.

The official instructions once people started realizing this was a problem are to put the car in neutral and to break hard - do not pump the breaks, break constantly.

 

That assumes, of course, it is actually a problem with the accelerator pedal and not a computer problem.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The driver of a Toyota Prius says he was taken on a wild ride Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph on a winding, hilly portion of a southern California interstate.

 

It took the California Highway Patrol to bring the car safely to a stop.

 

The driver, Jim Sikes, said he was traveling east on Interstate 8 outside of the San Diego area when he attempted to pass a slower vehicle.

 

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car, and it just did something kind of funny ... and it just stuck there," he said at a news conference outside a Highway Patrol office. "As I was going, I was trying the brakes ... and it just kept speeding up."

 

...

Toyota recently issued widespread recalls due to problems related to the accelerator pedal in several of its auto models. One theory behind the sticky accelerators is the vehicles' floor mats.

 

But Sikes said "my mat was perfect. There was nothing wrong with my mat."

 

Sikes said he took his 2008 Prius into a local Toyota dealership about two weeks ago for service and gave workers there his recall notice. He said he was told his car wasn't on the recall list.

 

"I'll be back there tomorrow," he said Monday, visibly shaken up.

 

CHP spokesman Brian Pennings said the ordeal lasted just over 20 minutes.

 

"We are extremely thankful that there was a safe end to this," Pennings said.

 

A Toyota spokesman issued a statement Monday night saying the automaker had been notified of the incident.

 

"Toyota has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance," the statement said.

The good news about these continuing post-recall is...I can continue using Toyota as a punch line.

Having your accelerator stuck in California is a relief, as you are still getting passed on the highways.

My sister was driving her Toyota to work yesterday. Her steering wheel all of a sudden started shaking, all her dash board lights light up like a Christmas tree, her tachometer dropped to 0 and her car just stopped dead.

There weren't these kind of problems until Americans started building them.