On my 08 Camry hybrid, I have the push start. You hold the push start button down for 3 seconds to kill the engine, you lose power steering, brakes, I don't know cause I tried it stopped in my driveway. Only way I know about this is from what I read re: this accident.

Yes, you lose power steering and power brakes. But, you still have steering and brakes. It's not like those systems go completely dead. You can still stop/steer a car without the engine running...even with old American land-yachts. I was able to drive/stop my old F350 when it threw a belt. No PS, no PB, no Vacuum. It was like trying to steer through molasses, but I was able to coast to the side of the road and turn into a parking lot.

Turn it off or put it in neutral make sense but how about this obvious solution.

What would happen if the driver just slammed on the brakes and engaged the emergency brake? I have no clue if that would stop the car but I would think it would keep the vehicle from going 120mph.

They interviewed another driver in the news story who said this happened to them and they (she) did engage the brakes, yet the car continued accelerating... :confused:

I know I I'm not supposed to laugh at that....but.....:D

Won't you still have one assisted stop with a vacuum type booster?

The hydraulic systems that were popular in Audi's are supposed to be good for 5.

To clarify a bit. The car was a loner and a different model than his own car. The push button ignition requires a continual three second hold down to shut off the engine. Given the circumstances, I can see how an experienced CHP officer would not be able to turn off the engine, in this case.

Does anyone know how the steering lock is engaged in a car that does not use/need a key inserted into the switch? My understanding is these cars can be started with the button with the "smart key" in proximity of the ignition, not necessarily inserted.

Why would the brakes not stop the car? Even at full throttle the brakes will stop any car. Even an Audi.

Stupid design, and Toyota deserves to get taken to the cleaners over it. There is no key to remove and try holding a button in for 3 seconds while the car is out of control.

Fox News is not a reliable news source to begin with......sorry I had to say it

There was a segment on this a coupla nights ago on Nightline. I thought they were going to end it without telling people what to do if it happened to them, but they squeezed it in at the last minute.

They consulted a test driver from (I think) Consumer Reports and he demonstrated putting a car in neutral, braking to a stop, then turning it off.

It's amazing to me that people are calling 9-1-1... that is the last thing I would be using precious seconds for if this happened to me.

If I hadn't seen that Nightline segment, I think my first reaction would be to try brakes, then if that didn't work, I'd yank it down into low gear... you're sure never gonna hit 120 in low.

If I still couldn't get it stopped and hadn't thought about neutral, I think I'd be ramming it into reverse or park.

If there was a lockout, I'd be looking for stuff to sideswipe to scrub off speed until I found a soft target to use for a final stop.

I do know this, that you'd be surprised at how hard a car is to steer when suddenly you lose power steering. It happened to me once when my engine cut and I could hardly steer to the side of the road, was really quiet shocking how hard it was.

That is NOT funny.

My '02 Tundra: you must not only turn the key, but then push it in and turn it further to remove the key and engage the steering lock. While in drive, the key cannot be turned far enough to engage the steering lock. No power assist, but a sacrifice I'd make, kill the engine. I don't know the workings of the specific Toyota in question, but it seems that the company has thought through the possibility that the driver might need to kill the engine and not lock the steering wheel, and designed the ignition to make this easily possible in an emergency situation.

I think the Nightline segment said Toyota began putting these drive-by-wire throttle systems in their cars in '04 or '05. Remember, it's Lexus, too.

Any new car, especially something like a Toyota sedan... can bounce off the rev limiter hours most likely. I don't know why people just don't throw it in nuetral. Or hell... if you're that out-of-time... throw the f-er in park. Sure it's going to probably makes expensive noises and lock up tires but who cares... especially if you are doing 120 and out of control..


Another thing that I'm thinking on ...

Just from my time in race engineering ... and calculations involving brake systems- the brakes of a modern car should be able to dissipate more energy than what is being generated by the engine. In most cases, more than twice the energy. For instance... A Formula Atlantic I worked with could accelerate at a sustained 1.1 G's. However it could brake at nearly 2.5 G's.

Even an anemic brake system is able to dissipate 2 or even 300 horsepower of heat, and it should be able to do this long enough to stop a car. I'm sure a new lexus has a relatively large brake system, and even if the engine was making peak power, jamming on the brakes should be able to pull the car down to a safe speed if not stop it, long enough to fix the problem.


The only variable here that I do not know about is ABS. I have never worked with ABS systems and how they would respond to this, maybe they would prevent the brakes from being able to kill the engine... I don't know. In my mind though it shouldn't.

there is no key to turn

once the brakes overheat
the brake fluid boils
and you got no brakes

report on this crash inc pictures





http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/NHTSA_Santee_Inspect.pdf

My keyed '00 Celica has the ACC position between off and on. If you turn the car to the ACC position the engine will stop but you can still turn the wheel around all you want. It won't lock until you're one more position over in 'off.'

Dunno how much that counts for since it's got a key, but it is a Toyota. edit: and one with a throttle cable. And the only problem I've had is the cast nut on the belt tensioner you crank on to release tension on the belt sheared off. Makes installing a new belt a little more exciting and creative!

I dont think putting the car into Park or Reverse is possible while driving...at least thats what the Mythbusters found.

If all else failed, I would start ramming the center divider at an angle to slow the car down and hopefully break something so the car would stop. Grind it to a stop.

Never had a rental car? ;)