I wasn't afraid of driving my 2009 ES until I read this (the bold Clarence Ditlow paragraph below). Now I'm a little worried about the electronic malfunction that the media keeps writing about. Has Toyota addressed this? Are any of you worried, too?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/0...ex.html?hpt=T2

Clarence Ditlow, Center for Auto Safety: All across America, Toyota owners are asking if their next ride is their last ride. Will they be the next victim of unintended acceleration or will the latest recalls for floor mat interference and sticking accelerator pedals by Toyota remedy the defect? Even DOT Secretary Ray LaHood seems to be a bit confused by first advising Toyota owners not to drive and later to drive to the dealer for recalls repairs.

In 2007, DOT tested a Lexus ES350 to determine if floor mats or electronic malfunctions caused unintended acceleration. Under the pressure of FOIA, the agency produced a comical video showing the driver jamming the accelerator pedal with the carpet and floor mat but not one bit of test data on electronic control systems. DOT couldn't say what it did, how it did it or what the results were. Yet a survey of Lexus ES350 owners showed electronic malfunctions were just as likely as jammed floor mats to cause unintended acceleration.

 

Is this horse still alive?

The recent recall applies only to certain Toyota models and not to Japanese built Lexus cars. Seems the problem was the acceleration pedal made by CTS in the USA. The Japanese Denso parts that were made in Japan are fine. I'm not blaming CTS as they probably built the part to Toyota's specifications and Toyota has stated they consider the part a Toyota part not a CTS part.

In summary, your car is safe as long as you don't double stack the wrong floormats in the ES 350.

Welcome to Club Lexus and enjoy your ride.

 

Until Toyota/Lexus can provide data that the electronic throttle control system is not prone to EMF issues, or show to the public how their logic settings default to a 'safe condition' in case of sensor wear at the throttle pedal, or that any other electrical issues in the system go from 'not normal' to 'potentially unsafe' will be taken care of by the software then the public will not feel at ease with Toyota/Lexus products.

This could happen to any car manufacturer using throttle-by-wire-systems but forces greater than the media decided to pick on Toyota first - there are cases of unattended acceleration with other auto-makers who use throttle-by-wire systems, we'll see if they pick on them also.

Until the NHTSA demands an EMF hardened or structured default code setting in the software(as in aerospace applications) then the auto-makers will not spend a dime on making their systems that way. Until somebody tries to make a stink of it...

Toyota should have come out of the gate swinging on this one with data showing their software/electrical safeguards(if they have any in place) before the media jumped on this. They blew it

 

After I read the investigation report on that infamous crash with Californian cop, I am not afraid to drive my car, sudden acceleration or not.
Cars would malfunction, Lexus, Toyota or any other. Cars would malfunction, or appear to malfunction, more often for people who don't know much about how cars work. People would commit human error when panicked.

It is drivers' responsibility to know their cars and be prepared to act properly when things go awry.
They teach you in driving school what to do if the tire blows out.
You should know what to do if you catch a soft shoulder with your wheel to pass your written exam.
Now they should tell everyone what to do if the car accelerates out of control:
1) Brake hard.
2) Put it in neutral.
3) Steer to the shoulder.
4) Shut the engine off.

 

While I agree with you, it may be asking too much of the consumer in a panic situation. The reflashing of the engine to reduce power if the gas and brake pedals are both depressed will address the issue.

 

Toyota has already proven it but consumers, and the media, aren't listening. The media is just too loud on this subject. They are so loud, in fact, that in reality, to this day, there has never been a problem found with a sticking or stuck gas pedal in ANY Lexus or Toyota vehicle. (except, of course, for the floor mat issue.) This, after nearly 10 years of exhaustive investigation by the NHTSA with full cooperation from Toyota. Toyota is trying to do the right thing, here. They learned all too quick, from Audi, that you can't place blame on the consumer. (even though it's the truth) The recall on nearly 8 million cars and trucks is in place to do nothing more than satisfy a terrified public, and an all too vocal media. The repair, itself, does nothing.

 

Not worried at all. If our ES350 starts to accelerate abruptly, my wife and I know to shift the car into neutral and pull over, letting the engine rev to high heaven or until it blows up.

 

Engine won't blow from high revs. On-board computer won't let it rev high enough to do that.

 

The sensors do not wear out; they are electronic. In the gas pedal assembly, there are two (i.e., redundant) Hall Effect ICs. Pressing the pedal moves magnets in the vicinity of the sensors, which varies the sensors' output voltages. The sensors are slightly different, such that one's voltage is offset (a bit higher) than the other's. The ECM (computer) receives the sensor voltages via separate wires. It can tell if one or both of the sensors have failed since failed sensor(s) will result in voltages offset by the wrong amount.

The ECM sends pulses to the throttle servo (small electric motor that adjusts amount of fuel fed to engine). A sensor in the servo informs the ECM of the servo's position, so mechanical or electrical servo failure or failure of the ECM electrical output drivers for the servo can be detected. A spring snaps the servo & throttle back to idle in the absence of electric power.

Due to the above, a failure of the sensors or actuators causing the throttle to improperly open is highly unlikely (simultaneous failures of separate components would have to occur). In theory, the ECM (computer) could go haywire and decide to open the throttle and keep it open. However, the same ECM must operate properly in order for the engine to run at all (it must fire the spark plugs and do so at the right time, for example). These embedded controllers typically run a real time operating system that's simple to analyze in terms of what gets executed in what sequence and under what circumstances; they don't run complex operating systems like Windows, for example, that can stop doing one thing right and still do other things right. Assuming Toyota's programmers did even basic analysis of the software's flow and failure modes, it's pretty unlikely there's a failure mode in which the ECM could keep the engine running properly while erroneously keeping the throttle wide open.

Therefore, it's very likely that all of the cases of runaway Toyota/Lexus cars are due to one or more of the following: mechanically stuck gas pedal (CTS pedal identified as having tendency to do this in small quantities under certain conditions), floor mats jamming gas pedals (operator error by dealer or owner not using proper mats or securing them properly), or drivers mistakenly pressing the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal.

 

Excellent! It should be noted, that, through intensive investigations by the NHTSA and Toyota, it was found that the CTS manufactured pedal could "possibly" be an issue. However, there has never actually been a stuck or sticking CTS pedal found in any Toyota or Lexus vehicle.

 

Thanks for the comments, advice and info.

Now I feel that the media is jumping on Toyota for everything. I feel all the recalls are precautionary. I'd still buy Toyota/Lexus, even with everything in the media. All the noise the media is making has not changed my opinion of Toyota. In fact, the media is starting to annoy me.

Also, yesterday we got a flyer from Hyundai, offering $1,000 to Toyota owners who trade in their Toyota for a Hyundai. OMG... trade in my husband's Tundra for a Hyundai?.. you gotta be kidding. IMHO, that was pretty absurd.

 

Why hasn't Toyota come and say that their system is safe?

 

Does anyone know more about the "somewhat incriminating" confidential memos leaked from Toyota or the criminal complaint filed by the New York attorney general?

 

They better get in front of the situation and i think they have. Does this harken back to the Audi 5000 UI issues and all the BS surrounding that. Those poor bastards got reamed on a non-issue.

 

It almost put them out of business in the U.S. but over time they were able to come back.