^

 

In defense, if my girlfriend was in a runaway Toyota she wouldn't have a clue what to do I guess that is why I put her in an Accord.

 

1) I was attempting to help move a stalled car the other day (an early- to mid-90's Lexus). It was in (D)rive, and I was unable to shift it to Neutral. I'm assuming there's a lockout of some sort, but I don't know the purpose of it, nor could I (or the car's owner) figure out how to override it. And this was while the car was safely parked on the side of the road... not while careening down a highway at 90+mph.

2) If you turn the key to the (Acc) or (Off) position, doesn't the steering wheel lock engage? Seems like that would be a bad thing while moving.

 

^

1) it won't go in to park because of a lock, however it will go in to neutral.

2) turn the key one click should keep the steering lock from engaging, and if not then just turn the car off, then put the key back to the on position. (that may be a bit complicated for the average driver under emergency conditions)

 

I think modern steering wheel locks don't engage until you either remove the key or do some second action such as push the key into towards the lock cylinder or press a release button. On my older Toyotas it used to be you would push a button about the key. Later you would just push the key into to the lock. Either way if you simply turned the key without pressing in or on the button you could turn the car off but it wouldn't engage the column lock. I suspect there is some sort of government regulation regarding just that with the understanding that someone may at some point want to turn off the car while it is moving.

 

1) It was either in Drive or maybe Park (but I'm pretty sure Drive, since it had just stalled). It would not move to Neutral. I was trying to push the car, I had no desire to move it into Park.

2) If you turn the key to (Acc) or (Off) to turn the car off, but you turn it back to (On) while the car is still moving, then you're providing power back to the ignition system and the car will start again. This is the same as bump starting a car, as many people do with cars w/ manual transmissions when the battery dies.


rockville- I think you're right about the lock not engaging until the after the key has been removed or something. Thanks for pointing that out!


Edit: Oops, I see the source of confusion... I typed Park in my earlier post, when I meant Neutral. I'll fix it.

 

1) your first post said Park. ahhhh- crafty ninja edit you have there.

2) I know it can happen, but rarely does, I have never heard of anyone being able to push start an automatic, but under these circumstances it could be different.

and I think rockville may be right, either way I wouldn't trust a novice driver to do anything more than try to shift in to neutral or turn the key off.

 

I don't think a torque converter allows push starts, most new ones allow almost free wheeling and even old ones don't transmit torque backwards.

 

I should make up a bumper sticker for those of us who don't have Toyotas telling Toyota drivers to shift into neutral before they slam into the back of my car.

$100 to the first person who can take a picture of a crashed Toyota with a LOYALTOYOTA bumper sticker on it.

 

I'm not going to go into all the things wrong with why these cars accelerate out of control however..

Are people seriously that bad at driving? I think the biggest lesson learned here is that the majority of people are not equipped to be driving an automobile. ( majority based on the fact that I have not read anything where someone said their car was out of control, but they took care of it )

I remember when I took "young drivers of canada" some 21 years ago. One of the things they taught me in a parking lot, in an automatic car to clarify, was in a panic stop situation, to hammer the brakes and push the gearshift into neutral.

I've never had to use that lesson, but hey 21 years later I still remember it. I won't bore anyone with all the things I've learned about driving. We're here on an enthusiast website, at least most of you will know what I'm saying.

The outcome of this should be the government stepping in and admitting that the biggest danger on the roads are the people, not the cars. Call me crazy, but you shouldn't be able to get your license with out advanced car training, crash avoidance, skid pad training, and frankly what most of us actually go spend money on and call entertainment.

When the weather is shit and I have to go somewhere and hesitate, it's not because the roads are icy, or I doubt my abilities its that the odds of some moron plowing in to me are too high. I stay home.

Back in the day, and if any of you old guys remember, I used to race dirt bikes, wayy back the old 2 strokes used to do something called "racing" not exactly sure what the deal was, even now, but it was a common thing where as the 2 strokes would wind up, and then go like a bat out of hell and you couldn't stop them.

At 10 years old, my first instinct when that happened was to turn it off. if they had cell phones back then, I wonder if I would have just kept driving around in circles and called my dad.