In view of the recent problems with the American made Toyotas having accelerator pedals/software sticking (off throttle), I decided to post some relevant emergency procedures. This info holds true with most vehicles. Electric, hybrids, diesels, and vehicles with CVT's will have other procedures that are either different or additive. Thank God that Scions are 100% pure blooded Japanese!

Do you know what to do in case this (stuck accelerator) ever really happens to you? This was taught to all new drivers back in the days of carburetors and throttle linkages. Not sure that it is being taught anymore. Back then, it was not uncommon for the throttle to get sticky after a tune-up due to the air cleaner being improperly installed. They sat directly on top of the carb. Cold weather could also cause issues.

What was taught is during this occurrence, try to depress the pedal a few times to get it to unstick. If that did not work, then turn the ignition off. You had to be careful not turn the key back any further or you risked locking the steering wheel from turning. If unable to do that step or did not work, then you would put the trans in neutral. If for some reason that did not work, you could select lower gears. If for some reason that did not work, then slam it into park for auto or reverse for manual. As a last resort, you can run the car up against something like a guard rail. This can be risky based on what it is and how fast you are going. Do not use a curb at a speed over 30MPH or you certainly risk the car jumping and loosing directional control of the vehicle. If that does not work, pull the eject cord and


Above all else, Don't Panic nor just rely only on pressing down the brake pedal. Needless to say, you should be trying to use the brakes while doing one of the above procedures. Floor mats did not cause those people to die. In most cases, the people reacted poorly to the emergency. Had they had the knowledge and kept their wits about them, they would have survived. The motor and trans, probably not. There was no reason that Police Officer and his family had to die. They narrowed their focus on freeing the accelerator pedal, thus narrowing their chances of survival. They lost their situational awareness that blinded them to the obvious solutions. This is what causes good pilots to crash airplanes that have survivable in-flight emergencies. One thing to note, reaction time is key so if you only have seconds before the crash that you realize the accelerator is sticking, then you probably can't avoid the wreck.