Basically around 2010 some people crashed their Toyota cars because the gas pedal got stuck to the floor, and there was a huge lawsuit over it. People blamed the new drive by wire throttle as the fault, saying it would get stuck at full power. Even NASA got involved at some point to look at claims that cosmic rays could be causing a bit flip that makes the car go full send.
While there were factors that may have contributed to one or more of the accidents, such as carpets getting caught on the gas pedal, with the result being every manufacturer now has to have hooks to secure the driver’s side floor mat from sliding into the pedals (and dealerships will remove any unsafe floor mats during service), to the gas pedal design being redone on every car to make it harder to get stuck like that (all gas pedals are bottom hinged now), and the fact that modern cars have to override the gas with the brake, so left foot braking maneuvers and heel toe downshifts in manual cars are now virtually impossible, the real problem is mainly skill issue.
Many of the drivers involved in these accidents were old, diabetic, or both - two groups of people that have diminished proprioception, that is, the ability to know where your limbs are. They will tell you with a life to bet they pressed all the way on the brake, because when you can’t feel where your feet are, your brain fills in the gaps and assumes, but they really were pressed on the gas thinking they were pressed on the brake, then monkey brain takes over as the car launches forward (or backward), and they press harder on the “brake”, when they’re really on the gas and that’s how they full send it into the front of a shopping center building. But, you know, it’s definitely not the driver’s fault. Obviously something’s wrong with the car.
Toyota was the focus because the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Camry are extremely popular cars among normal people and older people.
Basically around 2010 some people crashed their Toyota cars because the gas pedal got stuck to the floor, and there was a huge lawsuit over it. People blamed the new drive by wire throttle as the fault, saying it would get stuck at full power. Even NASA got involved at some point to look at claims that cosmic rays could be causing a bit flip that makes the car go full send.
While there were factors that may have contributed to one or more of the accidents, such as carpets getting caught on the gas pedal, with the result being every manufacturer now has to have hooks to secure the driver’s side floor mat from sliding into the pedals (and dealerships will remove any unsafe floor mats during service), to the gas pedal design being redone on every car to make it harder to get stuck like that (all gas pedals are bottom hinged now), and the fact that modern cars have to override the gas with the brake, so left foot braking maneuvers and heel toe downshifts in manual cars are now virtually impossible, the real problem is mainly skill issue.
Many of the drivers involved in these accidents were old, diabetic, or both - two groups of people that have diminished proprioception, that is, the ability to know where your limbs are. They will tell you with a life to bet they pressed all the way on the brake, because when you can’t feel where your feet are, your brain fills in the gaps and assumes, but they really were pressed on the gas thinking they were pressed on the brake, then monkey brain takes over as the car launches forward (or backward), and they press harder on the “brake”, when they’re really on the gas and that’s how they full send it into the front of a shopping center building. But, you know, it’s definitely not the driver’s fault. Obviously something’s wrong with the car.
Toyota was the focus because the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Camry are extremely popular cars among normal people and older people.
Thanks for the write up! I’m not in the US so I’m quite often unaware of lawsuits since we don’t have that system here
It was an interesting time. Mass panic caused a lot of people to sell their Corollas for cheap.