Toyota to install brake override systems
Toyota have come up with a fix for their runaway cars, it will be installing brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles by the end of the year.
This will be a global upgrade said Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota North America Inc., in an interview at the Detroit auto show today. This follows a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles last year in the United States to fix the problem.
“We expect to have it standard on all vehicles by the end of the year,” said Mr Inaba.
In the United States there were instances of runaway Toyota and Lexus vehicles which caused injuries and in some cases death. Toyota blamed the floor mats becoming logged under the accelerator pedal. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) believe the floor mats were not the only cause.
Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman, says the brake override software system shifts the engine to idle if it senses the driver is attempting to apply the brakes without success.
“If the pedal is stuck, tampered with, no matter what the pedal is doing, the engine will go into idle,” Mr Michels said.
Toyota has not mentioned the cost of installing the brake override system.
0
