<VV> Toyota - no Vair, just a theory ?

Ken Clark kcvair at hotmail.com
Sun Aug 15 21:09:04 EDT 2010


I have a dumb question while we're on the Toyota subject.  Why don't these people turn off the ignition when it starts to "run away" or throw it into neutral.  Is the car so sophisticated this can't be done?  Just wondering, no one has brought this up that I've heard.  Ken

 
> From: Chaz at ProperProper.com
> To: tony.underwood at cox.net
> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:54:21 -0700
> CC: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Subject: Re: <VV> Toyota - no Vair, just a theory ?
> 
> A friend's 1995 Saturn (OBD-I) had a transmission problem, randomly shifting 
> from one gear to another with no provocation, when she was driving and I 
> figured she must be doing something weird, but it sometimes happened when I 
> would drive (OK, that doesn't completely eliminate the 'weird' aspect I 
> admit)
> 
> Anyway, after a few days of this weird behavior, her car battery started to 
> die.
> 
> Turns out the alternator was not charging, so now she has two problems, 
> right ?
> 
> Wrong, although AAMCO wanted to charge $1200 to "fix" the transmission, 
> before we decided to do the alternator first, for about $100, which was not 
> charging (the battery was fine).
> 
> Guess what ? The new alternator fixed the transmission !
> 
> I'm sure AAMCO would gladly have taken $1200 to repair a perfectly good 
> transmission only to be forced to admit that it didn't fix the problem, but 
> would not likely offer a refund for unnecessary repairs, but we'll never 
> know for sure, will we ?
> 
> My theory is that the transmission problem, possibly like the Toyota problem 
> (?), was caused by low voltage to the electrical system, since the 
> alternator fixed the transmission problem ?!?!?!
> 
> It's been a few months now and the transmission is still fine ...
> 
> Has anyone seen any reference to the correlation between alternator / 
> charging system problems and unintended acceleration in Toyotas or other 
> cars ?
> 
> Just curious if they thought of that ?
> Charlie
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tony Underwood" <tony.underwood at cox.net>
> To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 9:45 PM
> Subject: Re: <VV> Toyota - no Vair
> 
> 
> > At 04:21 PM 8/11/2010, kenpepke at juno.com wrote:
> >
> >>Uh, yes ... there are a lot of dumb drivers. However, the article
> >>indicates of the reported incidences more than half might be driver
> >>error. That would lead one to realize something less than half were
> >>NOT driver error. That is a lot of vehicle errors, even for
> >>Toyota. Years of junkyard experience tells me that Toyota quality
> >>has been add by their advertising department from the beginning.
> >>Ken P
> >>
> >> >From the attached article:
> >>And in more than half of the crashes blamed on sudden acceleration
> >>analyzed by the government, data from the vehicles&#65533;
> >>&#65533;black boxes&#65533; show the driver was not stepping on the
> >>brake at the time of the accident&#65533;indicating that driver
> >>error may have been at fault.
> >
> >
> > I keep recalling the Toyota pilot whose car ran away, cop car got
> > after him, followed, figured what was happening and managed to get
> > ahead of the Toyota and use the cruiser's brakes to stop both
> > vehicles, Toyota driver got out and refused to get back in, saying he
> > was never driving a Toyota again.
> >
> > Went to court, Toyota said their black box in the car indicated the
> > driver was stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake...
> >
> >
> > Cop countered with testimony that he watched the brake lights of the
> > car flashing continuously in a manner that suggested the driver was
> > pumping the brake pedal. It also brought back some reflections of
> > a previous crash of a Lexus that killed a police officer and several
> > of his family members after his car ran away and crashed. This was
> > the cop who phoned 911 telling them to try and clear a path ahead of
> > him, in the headlong dash through traffic for over a mile before his
> > car left the road at appx 100 mph and crashed.
> >
> > Toyota suggested that the cop's crash was also caused by the officer
> > accidentally stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake... for
> > over a mile. That driver was, in several hundred postings in
> > various automotive forums among bloggers, nominated for a "Darwin
> > Award" following Toyota's announcement regarding "accidentally"
> > pressing the gas instead of brake. Yeahright. This was a police
> > officer who I suspect knew the difference between a gas pedal and a
> > brake pedal.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Maybe there are NOT so many dumb drivers out there. Maybe Toyota
> > techs were lying their asses off or the "black box" was reading the
> > wrong data or misinterpreting it. Meanwhile, Toyota countered each
> > incident with an excuse from floor mats to gas pedals to driver
> > error... yet nobody else was having these issues except
> > Toyota. Independent software experts were sending in reports of
> > defects they had found in the Toyota electronics/software... and of
> > course Toyota insisted * in the news reports * that there was nothing
> > wrong with their electronics or software, saying the pedal was at
> > fault although some Toyotas kept having issues after pedal
> > replacement... and cars that came in for the gas pedal "fix" after
> > those initial reports were quietly getting new electronics and
> > software at the dealerships while they were repairing the pedal issue...
> >
> >
> > The pedal is a contract part, not a Toyota part... and several other
> > car makers use the same pedal assembly. None of them had any
> > runaway issues.
> >
> >
> > Fnck Toyota and the whore they rode in on. They brought this onto
> > themselves in their mad rush to be #1, and the recalls continue to
> > this day. Like I'd said several times along the way, for some years
> > now, if I won a free Toyota in a contest I'd sell it and buy a
> > Ford. Toyota's underhanded business practices for the last 20
> > years are coming back to haunt them and it's about time.
> >
> > Karma's a bitch.
> >
> > I'll keep my 'Vairs thanks. I TRUST them. I'd been watching
> > Toyota for some years now, after reading up ( and viewing documentary
> > research films and interviews) on some underhanded stunts they did
> > that caused a lot of trouble for domestic industry... up to and
> > including the sneaky Prius subsidies that a lot of people never found
> > out about to this day, although they sure as HELL should know about it.
> >
> > Toyota's got a lot of damage control to do, and I don't feel sorry
> > for them one damned bit.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > tony..
> >
> > PS: a driver who had been convicted of reckless driving and
> > manslaughter was recently released from prison where he'd been
> > serving time for striking and killing pedestrians when his Toyota had
> > run away and could not be stopped, yet the court didn't believe his
> > story when he testified in court that the throttle had stuck wide
> > open and the brakes wouldn't work... before all the rest of the
> > runaway Toyota reports had begun surfacing in media.
> >
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