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I presently own two vehicles where the Steering Wheel Locks when the key is removed whether the vehicle is in Park or not...
1972 Toyota Corona with a 5 speed manual Transmission (No Park)
1972 Oldsmobile 442 convertible with a 4 speed transmission.
Both vehicles have not been modified...
Perhaps the Steering Wheel interlock applies to newer vehicles or vehicles with automatic transmissions?
Correct. My fault for not being clearer. However, you should have to shift into reverse (I think) on the Olds to be able to remove the key. Not sure about the Corona. (Haven't seen one of those in years). From '68 on, automatic transmissions had to be in park to lock the steering.
Does your Olds have that annoying warning buzzer if you leave the key in?
According to wikipedia:
With the introduction of federal vehicle regulation in the United States in 1968, FMVSS 114 required the impairment of steering wheel rotation, to hinder motor vehicle theft; in most vehicles this is accomplished when the ignition key is removed from the ignition lock.
On a side note, on my '67 Camaro the ignition switch is in the dashboard. I have an '07 Altima that doesn't require a key. It just has a pushbutton.
Somebody a while back on here was blowing about how awesome new tech like electronic throttle actuation was. A month later my next door neighbor's throttle control $h*t the bed on his Toyota Camry. I was behind him on my way to work and his car was jerking fore and aft violently until he wrangled it off the road. I sat there with him trying to diagnose the problem to no avail because it didn't repeat it. I continued to follow him on to work. He had the Toyota dealer look at it. They figured out what it was pretty easily. OK does anybody see that this is a potential safety concern? What if the thing would have hung wide open instead of doing what it did?
Also....Anybody venture to guess what the repair bill was for that?
$650. I kid you not.
OK why in the hell is that better than a throttle cable?
If you slam the brakes at high speed they will lock up and you will skid directly into the intersection - trust me, I know...I've done it in my mother's car on one occasion (a Camry).
Well Toyota must not make a very good ABS system than. The whole purpose is to prevent a skid.
The mats are not the standard mats, but all weather mats (hard rubber that have ridges, the pedal got stuck on one of the ridges because the mat wasn't anchored).
The ignition in the Lexus is keyless, and you can't just push it, it has to be held down for a few seconds... generally not a lot of time, but if you're going full throttle - its a long time.
And again, in this particular case, the drivers had time to call 911.. you'd think they would have figured out something without having to call.
But, there has been reports of this issue for years to Toyota.... so I guess there may be some negligence there. Could the pedals be redesigned to minimize this issue since the first reports? And mats can always bunch or roll up underneath the pedal... so there's also some safety precaution there that needs to be considered regardless of which car you drive.
I understand what you're saying. But at the same time, I would not place the blame on the driver at all.
Under normal circumstances it would be obvious to just hold down the push-button ignition, I'm sure the driver could not think clearly at the time. Cognitive function goes down significantly when a person is in a panic. The blood rushes way from the brain and into the limbs and the fight-or-flight response takes over. Most people cannot be rational problem solvers when they feel like they're about to die, as simple as the solution may have been. It's not an instinctual situation like slamming on the brakes or twisting the key. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.
This tragedy just reinforces my earlier points that the quality advantage that Toyota supposedly has over Ford is not reality. In the 80's and 90's there may have been one, but now it is all (hopefully) fading perception.
Just curious, I saw no mention of what the 17 year old was driving except that she was speeding and that the particular intersection was a very dangerous one with way too many wrecks in 4 years time. So how is this Toyotas fault. As for the trooper, he put wrong floormats in the car when he got it and as a trooper, should have known how to slow down the vehicle. I have had floormats ride up in every vehicle I own when the were not standard issued floormats including the ones in my 4runner, but before i drive off, i make sure they are where they are supposed to be.
Best solution with floor mats is to get some that don't shift around and wad up on you. The mats in my 'burban are heavy duty mo-fo's that haven't moved a quarter inch since I installed them I bet. But to each his own.
Some have already alluded to it, but I think the floor mats are just a diversion from a much larger and more serious issue...Toyota's drive-by-wire system. It's quite ironic that all the vehicles recalled are 2004+ models that all have a drive-by-wire system. The Prius got it in 2004 and the Camry got it in 2005, and since then it has spread to other models in Toyota's lineup. Toyota had 400 reports of unintended acceleration on the Tacoma alone, with 51 of them reporting in crashes.
Some have already alluded to it, but I think the floor mats are just a diversion from a much larger and more serious issue...Toyota's drive-by-wire system. It's quite ironic that all the vehicles recalled are 2004+ models that all have a drive-by-wire system. The Prius got it in 2004 and the Camry got it in 2005, and since then it has spread to other models in Toyota's lineup. Toyota had 400 reports of unintended acceleration on the Tacoma alone, with 51 of them reporting in crashes.
Ding ding ding. That's what I was talking about, and honestly it's so hard to tell these days what's fact, fiction, corporate spin, regular spin and driver error. I mean we see people get mixed up and plow through a store-front because they selected the wrong gear. But really, honestly, I hope for the sake of Toyota, a good company, that they are not sweeping a drive-by-wire problem under the mat (pardon the pun) to cover up a serious design flaw in their drive by wire. If federal money is spent on this "mat thing" it should be spend on ruling out all other possible causes.
FWIW, We have an 08 Yaris hatch and love it.
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