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http://www.apa.ca/template.asp?DocID=337Toyota’s Sudden Unintended Acceleration
APA's first reports of unintended acceleration on Toyota vehicles were received in summer 2008. APA did not notice a pattern until autumn 2009, when we read reports in the US media. The reason for the delay: unintended acceleration complaints are received on an ongoing basis at a low-frequency level for several brands, and staff -- like Canadian government defect investigators -- almost always begin by attributing them to pedal misapplication.
Toyota vehicles are manufactured to extraordinarily consistent standards, and the "Toyota Way" as interpreted by Americans who have written about it, has spiritual overtones, with its emphasis on continuous improvement, respect for people etc. However, those values appear to go out the window once the vehicle leaves the factory. In APA's experience, whether it concerns issues surrounding product quality, vehicle safety, or retailing standards, Toyota is secretive, sparing with reporting, and prone to evading scrutiny. This culture of secrecy can work for you when you have superior product and internal processes, but it has hampered the investigation of sudden acceleration incidents from the get-go -- which it now appears goes back at least to 2007.
Until very recently, in virtually all cases reported to the APA, when owners reported incidents of unintended acceleration to Toyota dealers, the complaints were buried or mishandled (complaint not logged, no engine malfunction code so no problem, consumer turned away/sent home). In many cases, dealers noticed aftermarket floor mats and did not any look further. To APA's knowledge, Toyota has not formally instructed its dealers that complaints are the key to solving the problem, nor told them to contact Toyota to send down an engineer when a customer reports an incident, nor offered customers free loaner vehicles while theirs are being investigated.
Brake placement and operation is a legacy system that goes back to the days before power assist when you needed the pedal at the end of the strongest limb to apply maximum force. A solution to the acceleration problem lies in the area of design, since pedal error is a foreseeable occurrence, and arguably, so is the potential for mechanical or electronic failure. On a vehicle with electronic throttle control, when both pedals are applied simultaneously, the brake should override the throttle. This feature equips many of the European cars APA tests. The location of the gas and brake pedals, so close to one another and out of the field of vision of the driver, is an anomaly. Other vehicles (motorcycles, snowmobiles, for example) do not place two similar controls so close together, and outside of the operator's field of vision.
If you own a Toyota vehicle, here is what you can do:
1) Canadian law requires Toyota to mail notices to your last address in their records. If you are a second owner or have moved since purchasing the vehicle, contact a dealer or the automaker to update the record to ensure you will receive current and future notices.
2) If you install aftermarket "pant saver" style floor mats in the car during the winter, remove the summer mats. Leaving two thicknesses of mat in the vehicle can contribute to interference with the accelerator pedal. If the accelerator pedal can touch the mat when depressed, consider cutting away part of the mat to clear the pedal. If the driver's floor mat is prone to moving around (shifting forward) either replace it, or have it secured to the seat frame with a tie wrap and a hole punched in the corner of the mat.
3) On an empty stretch of road, practice responding to a sudden acceleration incident. At low to moderate speeds, press the gas to the floor for no more than a couple of seconds. The vehicle will begin to accelerate rapidly. Shift into neutral. If your foot is still on the gas, the sound effects will be dramatic. Brake the vehicle without pumping the pedal to bring it to a stop. Repeat one or two more times. Turning off the engine is not as good a strategy as you will lose braking and steering power assist.
APA's investigation of this issue is ongoing. We are forwarding reports received to Transport Canada, who are now more likely to look at a variety of potential causes for the incidents than just the mats. Models represented in APA's complaint log that are not included in the two existing recalls include the Echo, and Corolla and Camry from years not included in the recalls. Contact APA at 514 272-5555
