Unintended acceleration

[Chris Cappuccio]

Brett Dikeman [brett.dikeman at gmail.com] wrote:
> 
> My 'R has vacuum-assisted brakes.  I assure you, they work very well,
> including full-throttle-to-hard-braking transitions.  Even if the
> engine shuts off, there is an auxiliary vacuum pump which kicks in any
> time the ignition is on and vacuum pressure drops.  I was bored one
> evening waiting for someone and played with it- you have to work
> pretty hard to use up the vacuum faster than the pump can replace it
> and exhaust the vacuum reservoir.  That's better than the hydraulic
> assist, technically- two completely independent sources of brake
> assist.
> 

Perhaps the Toyota's vacuum breaks don't work quite so well (that's what the reporter suggests, anyways)

> It's also curious why the car, which surely was throttle-by-wire,
> didn't shut off the throttle when the brake was applied.  That's very
> common behavior, has been for nearly a decade.  Why didn't the driver
> attempt to put the car in neutral, switch off the ignition, etc?

One of the problems is that this was a loaner car.  It had a push-button ignition which you have to hold down for three seconds to turn off.  It's likely the driver didn't know this.

-- 
The past cannot be changed.  The future cannot be guaranteed.