Cars out of control

“Life's golden age is when the kids are too old to need baby-sitters and too young to borrow the family car”

You may have read recently that Toyota will recall nearly 4 million vehicles because the accelerator pedal can become stuck on the floor mat while driving. This killed a family of four and their tragedy was captured on a 9-1-1 call before they impacted a wall at 120 mph. The affected cars are:

2005 - 2010 Toyota Avalon
2007 - 2010 Toyota Camry
2004 - 2009 Toyota Prius
2005 - 2010 Toyota Tacoma
2007 - 2010 Toyota Tundra
2007 - 2010 Lexus ES350
2006 - 2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350

If you own one of these cars, immediately remove the driver-side floor mat and contact your dealer.

Because of this recall, Consumer Reports decided to look at the problem of stuck accelerators. What can you do?

They tested two cars, Mercedes-Benz E350 and Volkswagen Jetta Wagon, with German “smart-throttle” technology. These cars disable the gas flow when the brake is depressed. “Smart-throttle” cars have no problem stopping even with the gas pedal on the floor.

The next two cars they tested were not so lucky, Toyota Venza and Chevrolet HHR. Like most cars, the brake pedal does not stop the gas so the engine is fighting as you try to brake. With struggle and strength they managed to slow the cars from 60mph to 10mph at which point the brake pads were worn down and would not slow the car any further.

Bottom Line

The conclusion of the Consumer Reports for a stuck accelerator is to shift your car into neutral. The engine will rev like crazy but the power won’t go to the wheels and you can brake safely. Shifting to neutral is quite easy. A few weeks ago my wife accidentally hit the gearshift pushing it to neutral while I was driving and it took me a moment to figure out why the car would not accelerate.

Consumer Reports does NOT recommend turning off the car while driving with a stuck accelerator. Yes this will stop the runaway engine but it will also stop your power steering and power brakes. I found this out the hard way years ago when I tried to move my parked car a few feet. It was pointing downhill so I figured, just shift to neutral and coast – no need to turn the car on. The coasting part worked well but stopping – no so great. Without power the power brakes required a LOT of physical strength. I was pushing hard but couldn’t stop before bumping into the car in front of me.