Comments on: Toyota floor mat issue solved with zip ties

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:54:24 +0000

Who did Toyota get this advice from? The bush mechanics? How about recalling the floor mats and replacing them with new ones that fit?
Don’t let Toyota engineers anywere near space shuttles.
“Help, the boosters are falling off. What ever will we do?”
I know………Zip ties

By: toxic_horse

toxic_horse — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:16:19 +0000

Lol
And of course the zip tie’s must be made in europe.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:02:08 +0000

Hahahahaha………When i took a step back as you toyotaphiles suggested i still couldn’t stop laughing!!!!!!! Hahahahaha

By: eyehearta2

eyehearta2 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:22:29 +0000

I prefer duct tape for “semi permanent” fixes. Nice job of outhouse engineering.

By: just_thinking

just_thinking — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:41:34 +0000

As for “how to drive a car” I agree to some extent, but also consider:
1. The car was a loaner and the driver was not familar with the push button start feature that requires you to push and hold the start/stop button for 3 seconds to turn off the vehicle when the vehcile is moving.
2. The boost for the brakes is provided by engine vacuum. At high throttle, there is no longer any vacuum source, so one you apply the brakes a couple of times, you will no longer have boost. Between lack of boost and heat buildup in the brakes, it is likely that the engine will overpower the brakes.
3. No excuse on the trans shifter, unless Toyota actually does inhibit neutral on a reving engine. This makes no sense to me, as the normal rev limiter can handle this with no problem.

The real solution for Toyota is to learn not to allow the accelerator pedal to travel all the way down to the carpet where it is vulnerable to floor mats or other obstructions. It ain’t rocket science.

By: Biker

Biker — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:09:19 +0000

Stupid Americans if you ask me. Next they will want their asses glued to the seat for when the car goes over a speed hump?

By: KingCobra

KingCobra — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:18:19 +0000

Hmmm, I guess its better than no solution and I suppose that they have to show they are doing something, there is a lot of facts which havnt come out of this tragic accident. Such as the person not turning off the car, the car not being put into neutral, the brakes not being effective to halt the car. A lot of euro cars will kill the throttle when the brakes are applied.

Researching on the web, it appears there have been many cases of people having acceleration issues with Lexus, it would be interesting to see if the mat was the cause.

By: SteveH

SteveH — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:33:53 +0000

Absolutely. And I also bet the Toyota ones would have been boring and misleading whereas the Holden ones would have used old zip tie technology and their PR department would tell us it is the greatest thing there is.

By: SteveH

SteveH — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:30:50 +0000

No, his logic states that the Japanese value continuous improvement and try and get feedback from everyone involved in the production of a vehicle. He is saying that a problem has been identified and it is being fixed.

If you take the example of when Mitsubishi took over the Chrysler plant in Adelaide, the most notable difference between the two management styles was that Mistubishi actively sought feedback from production line workers, whereas Chrysler told the workers how to build the car and that was it.

Back on topic, how stupid must the person have been who was driving this car that was killed? There are many things that the person could have done when instead they tried to call 911.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:29:18 +0000

anyone who know how to drive would know how dangerous a car out of gear is let alone one with its ignition switched off while rolling…….

the crazy person is the one delivering that advice