Do Toyota Floor Mats Mask a Larger Problem for All Manufacturers?

November 4th, 2009. By Hunter West

In late August, after an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and three passengers were killed when their runaway Lexus crashed at speeds exceeding 120 mph, Toyota triggered the largest recall in its history and placed a focus on ill-fitting, or improperly-installed floor mats that could jam the accelerator pedal and hold it down. 

But then came the statement released yesterday by the US Department of Transportation (DOT)… 

“Toyota has announced a safety recall involving 3.8 million vehicles in which the accelerator pedal may become stuck at high vehicle speeds due to interference by the driver’s side floor mat, which is obviously a very dangerous situation. Toyota has written to vehicle owners stating that it has decided that a safety defect exists in their vehicles and asking owners to remove all floor mats while the company is developing a remedy. We believe consumers should follow Toyota’s recommendation to address the most immediate safety risk. However, removal of the mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles. NHTSA is discussing with Toyota what the appropriate vehicle remedy or remedies will be. This matter is not closed until Toyota has effectively addressed the vehicle defect by providing a suitable remedy.” 

The one sentence is telling: “…removal of the mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles.” 

What is the defect? The DOT won’t say, or doesn’t know. Meanwhile the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has done six separate investigations pertaining to acceleration surges in Toyota vehicles since 2003 and has found no defects in the electronics involved. 

Toyota has issued a statement saying that there is no proof that a defect exists in Toyota electronics. Monday night, Toyota executive Bob Daly said on the corporation web site that “some news reports suggest there may be other causes of unintended acceleration, speculating about electronic engine control systems, braking performance or electro-magnetic interference among other theories. There is no evidence to support these theories.” 

However, according to an ABC News report by investigative journalist Brian Ross, safety analysts have found an estimated 2,000 cases in which owners of Toyota cars including Camry, Prius and Lexus have reported that their cars surged without warning up to speeds of 100 miles an hour. 

ABC News, last night, claimed that the number of excessive acceleration cases began to spike earlier in the decade in concert with the introduction of electronics that control and govern the throttle system. 

Right now Toyota is in the hot seat. But the issue may be bigger than Toyota, given the complexity of the modern car. In an effort to increase efficiency, increase space and minimize weight manufacturers have over the years replaced mechanical systems with computerized entities. It began with fuel injection, replacing the carburetor. Then the automatic transmission was computerized. 

Today most modern cars have throttle-by-wire technology that effectively eliminates the mechanical cable that used to connect the accelerator pedal with the engine. Now it’s all done electronically by way of a series of sensors in the pedal that work in concert with the system that controls the RPM of the engine. 

It improves efficiency, and helps consolidate systems like cruise control and other systems. 

The problem is that sometimes even the best computers hang. They stop working, or work erratically. And even with the complexity of the automotive by-wire systems, which include back-up systems, sometimes a computer can go wonky without explanation. Most IT guys will tell you that a software glitch is often the result of garbage in, garbage out. But not always. Sometimes you just have to reboot the sucker. But you don’t want to be doing that at 120 mph. 

What about viruses? It’s one thing to have a stand-along computer system looking after the vital functions of a car. But now you can plug your iPod, or mp3 player into your car. Is it possible to transfer a virus from an iPod into a car’s electronic functionality? Has anyone ever asked that question? 

Airplanes are becoming increasingly complex, with computers controlling the cockpits and electronic by-wire systems replacing hydraulic systems. However in isolated cases computers have been known to react to faulty sensors, responding (correctly) to incorrect information from sensors, but in so dong taking control of the plane away from a pilot who might otherwise intercede against the misguided action and affect a correction. 

Is it any wonder, then that you hear of cars suddenly accelerating for no apparent reason, in the absence of a corresponding action from the driver, given that acceleration and deceleration is managed and delivered by a computerized, electronic control rather than a mechanical one? 

While power-assisted steering has been around for years, the steering function is still mechanical and in a pinch you can still steer the car if the engine quits, or the power assist system fails. But just as there is now widespread use of throttle-by-wire, the technology exists for steering-by-wire. In fact, it’s in use…in slow-moving vehicles such as forklift trucks and tractors. The speed inherent with passenger cars is the main reason why regulators have resisted allowing steer-by-wire (read computer) in passenger cars. 

But make no mistake; they’re experimenting with it. 

There is little doubt that computerization and electronics have revolutionized life, as we know it. How could we function without email, or the web today? We use the home PC for everything. For many people cell phones and Blackberries have replaced fixed line phones. We bank on the web, buy on the web, work over cyberspace and generally hold the PC or Mac as an extra limb. 

But when it quits….when it hangs…we can always pick up the phone. We can physically go to the store to shop, or to the bank to make a withdrawal. We can write a letter on a piece of paper with a pen, get a stamp and mail it at the post office. Life would be different as we know it, but life would go on even without the computer. 

However… 

When your computer quits, or hangs when you’re 50,000 feet up in a plane, what do you do? When the throttle-by-wire acceleration system in your car hiccups and you’re suddenly hurtling down the freeway at over a hundred miles an hour, what do you do? 

ABC News on November 3^rd featured several stories about Toyota owners who experienced unexplained gross acceleration and it had nothing to do with floor mats. 

The technology in all cars today, from all manufacturers, is astounding. But who are the regulators that agreed this stuff was safe? 

Somebody, somewhere decided that the old reliable, tried-and-true keyed ignition system needed improving upon.  Perhaps it was due to a need for improved security, or anti-theft. 

Whatever the reason, the Lexus 2009 ES 350 has a keyless ignition that uses an electronic key fob together with a button on the dash that is used to actually start the engine. That same button can be used to stop the engine in an emergency. However, like many controls of its ilk (including those you find on a PC) it only works if you push and hold the button in for a full three seconds.

When off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor climbed into a loaned 2009 Lexus ES 350 after dropping his own Lexus off for servicing, he was soon hurtling down a San Diego freeway with his wife, child and brother-in-law after the accelerator stuck open. The investigation is ongoing as to why the sudden acceleration happened. Was it floor mats? Or something else? One thing seems apparent—no one either had the time in the midst of a panic-ridden situation (even if they knew about it at all) to push the dash-mounted button and hold it for three seconds in order to cut off the engine. 

In the old days, you’d just turn off the key. 

We don’t know if Saylor’s own Lexus had the button feature—a feature that allegedly carries no reference on the dashboard instructing that you have to push, and hold for three seconds for the cut-off to work. It’s in the owner’s manual. But who reads the owner’s manual cover-to-cover before climbing into a car you’re going to effectively borrow for a few days? 

Who among us ever read the owner’s manual at all? They’re complex as it is…and industry insiders say that if manufacturers put EVERYTHING into the owner’s manual given the complexity of today’s vehicles, the manuals would run 1000 pages. 

It should be noted that the automotive industry is a competitive industry. When the other guy comes out with a whiz-bang feature, you have to go one better. But while cars are lighter, more fuel-efficient and potentially safer with airbags, seatbelts and crumple zones, many wish for a more simpler time when there was so much mechanical skill required to drive a car that you really felt like you had control of the car. You felt the road and heard it, too. You didn’t feel like you’re in a cocoon, or a cockpit. If you hit something big…well, airbags are nice but some still lament the loss of the big, heavy frame as a buffer. 

But at least you knew that you could just turn off the ignition in the event of an emergency. 

Mark Saylor couldn’t do that, apparently. A man who had 19 years as a CHP man and skilled at the art of defensive driving and crash avoidance. But he was no match for the Lexus, as it hurtled down the freeway at 120 mph, so much out of control that even an experienced cop with his loved ones at his side, gripped in fear, could not diffuse. 

His brother-in-law, sitting in the back seat, called 911 from a cell phone. 

“Our accelerator is stuck. We’re in trouble. We can’t…there’s no brakes. 

“We’re approaching the intersection. We’re approaching the intersection! Hold on!” 

From the front, Saylor simply said, “Pray…” 

Moments later he was dead. Had he managed to shut off the engine he, his wife and daughter and brother-in-law might still be alive today. 

Is design complexity Toyota’s problem? No. It’s everybody’s. 

We have lost the k.i.s.s. axiom of ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ 

Maybe that should be ‘keep it simple, survive.’ 

But maybe it’s too late for that.

Tags: Automobile, Car, Floor Mats, Toyota

This was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Defective Products . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.