Witnessed Toyota throttle stickage today

Dylan W.

Dylan W.

lone resident of Bro-Lite Island
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Location
Mocksville NC
I was standing on the sidewalk at the motel I am working on,preparing to head home, when an elderly couple pulled into the spot right beside me..I glanced over, just when the throttle stuck on the Toyota Camary they were driving. I saw the back tires slide and the front tires pulling. The guy looked very panicked as he drove up onto the curb and stopped just inches from the room door and into my tool box. Lower spoiler actually moved my tool box and it hit the room door.
The guy then shut the car off and opened his door. He was staring down into the floorboard with a very confused look on his face. I asked him if he was ok, He said he was fine, and that he did not have his foot on the gas pedal at all. He said he thought the carpet got in the way or something, but that was not the case at all. I told him about all of the problems with the throttle by wire mess and that his car may have been one of the models affected.
He said this was the second time today this had happened as he pointed to a scrape and a little tree rub mark, that had happened at the furniture store an hour earlier.

He called the tow truck and had his car towed away to Toyota.

Pretty close call for me and them. Just thought I'd share.
 
man thats crazy!!! glad you were out of the way, that is a bad habit for a car to get into.

scared to death!!!!!
 
Hope you gave him your contact info in case there is some sort of "investigation" or whatever. I foresee Toyota claiming they find nothing wrong with his car, and it must have been the floormat or "unintended acceleration" due to an apparent foot on pedal.
 
13bullets said:
Hope you gave him your contact info in case there is some sort of "investigation" or whatever. I foresee Toyota claiming they find nothing wrong with his car, and it must have been the floormat or "unintended acceleration" due to an apparent foot on pedal.
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To be honest, sharing my contact info never even crossed my mind. I cannot speak for what I didnt see (foot on gas pedal or not) but I did see rear tires grab while the car was revving and when he opened the door(which was right away) I was standing in position to easily see that the floor mat would not/could not be the culprit. The mat was form fitted and no way it was touching pedal.
If they are still at the motel, and I see them, I'll ask what the Toyota place said and mention this.
By all means, it is entirely possible that his foot could have been on both pedals at the same time and the harder he mashed the brake..the more throttle he gave it. But he swore it wasnt him and even pointed out the earlier incident damage.
 
Well, Toyota's motto used to be "Moving forward". If you'll notice, since all that crap with the throttles sticking went on, they changed it :D
 
So he had an issue with his car driving out of control bad enough to cause damage and waited for it to happen again before calling the dealer. Brilliant!
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Well, Toyota's motto used to be "Moving forward". If you'll notice, since all that crap with the throttles sticking went on, they changed it :D
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Moving forward........whether you want to or not!
 
Why does it almost always seem to happen with elderly people? This has been happening for years. I used to joke that the AARP lawyers told their patrons to use the "throttle stuck" excuse any time they drove into a building. I know a lot of older people get into the habit of driving with both feet because they can't quickly move from one pedal to the other. I see them all the time, brakes on, going uphill.
 
JoeB said:
So he had an issue with his car driving out of control bad enough to cause damage and waited for it to happen again before calling the dealer. Brilliant!
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yes, this. He claimed that the first time, he thought it was just a fluke, or that he might have caused it himself...after this 2nd time, he was sure it was the cars fault and had it towed right then and there.

These folks seemed to be in their mid to upper 60's. Seemed to me like they were still plenty capable of getting around just fine. Didnt seem like they were to old to be driving yet.
 
Years ago a friend of mine was almost runover by an elderly driver, while inside a convenience store in Raleigh. She had put the car in drive, not reverse, and the front wheels were against the curb. When the car did'nt move she gave it more gas. The front door of the store was propped open and he heard a motor reving higher and looked outside just as the car launched over the curb and crashed into the storefront as he dove out of the way. The car smashed through 2 isles and the poor woman was very upset but nobody was hurt.
 
Glad you and they are ok, Dylan!

My late Great Aunt drove up on the guy wire to a telephone pole once. I think she was in her 60s then, but she also drank. Rest her soul, she gave my cousins (her grandsons) lots of good story material!
 
One of the first horrific crashes, of Toyota, was several adults in the car, on a highway [I think], calling 911 & passing 90MPH, approaching an intersection! Wasn't a retired State Tropper, driving? Had both feet on the brake? I keep wondering, why didn't they shift to neutral? Why didn't they turn the key/switch off? If there was time to call 911, & report the trouble, Somebody should have had time to think of this! Is it impossible to do, with a stuck throttle?
 
I was a toyota tech and part time warranty clerk for toyota in the mid 80's. They got away with some dirty crap even back then that people never knew about(like most car manufacturers, they make mistakes and cover them up). As for the sudden acceleration issue, you remember when the toyota CEO said that Americans do not know how to drive. That is the companies attitude.
 
Infamous1 said:
talk about a stall converter..............
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I agree here. If I hold my feet down on the brakes there isn't a stock Camry in the world that should be overpowering the front brakes. I have never driven an automatic that could overpower the brakes at parking lot speeds.
 
OnlyOneDR said:
I agree here. If I hold my feet down on the brakes there isn't a stock Camry in the world that should be overpowering the front brakes. I have never driven an automatic that could overpower the brakes at parking lot speeds.
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Yeah, and one off the car mags actually tested it. They took whatever model Camry was most likely to have the throttle problem out on a closed course, accelerated to 80 or 90, pinned the throttle wide open, then stood on the brake. Even at speed with the full power of the engine, the car stopped. I think they said it warped the crap out if the rotors but it did stop.
 
rodney eppes said:
One of the first horrific crashes, of Toyota, was several adults in the car, on a highway [I think], calling 911 & passing 90MPH, approaching an intersection! Wasn't a retired State Tropper, driving? Had both feet on the brake? I keep wondering, why didn't they shift to neutral? Why didn't they turn the key/switch off? If there was time to call 911, & report the trouble, Somebody should have had time to think of this! Is it impossible to do, with a stuck throttle?
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That one turned out to be a hoax. They were trying to get a settlement.
 
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