End of Toyota?

**ninja|oaklandr** · 03-14-10, 05:20 PM

I like this article. A lot of people are naturally sheep.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Is+bad.....-a0220995207

**bust331** · 03-14-10, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by TxKicker

The guy in California didn't get his fixed, he got the letter and went to the dealership and the dealership said he didn't need it when he really did. That is the dealer's fault. Also, the guy had 2 options..1: shift into Neutral 2: hold down the power button for more than 3 seconds. SIMPLE. As someone who got one recently, I know the instructions that say that came on the little hangy thing that explains how to start your car with the push-button. Also I hear that his claim that he held the brakes down was proven wrong by investigators. They said it was intermittently pressed in bursts. LERN YUR CARZ PEPLES!!!

Actually it said he tried that, it kept accelerating.

**ninja|oaklandr** · 03-14-10, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by bust331

Originally Posted by TxKicker

The guy in California didn't get his fixed, he got the letter and went to the dealership and the dealership said he didn't need it when he really did. That is the dealer's fault. Also, the guy had 2 options..1: shift into Neutral 2: hold down the power button for more than 3 seconds. SIMPLE. As someone who got one recently, I know the instructions that say that came on the little hangy thing that explains how to start your car with the push-button. Also I hear that his claim that he held the brakes down was proven wrong by investigators. They said it was intermittently pressed in bursts. LERN YUR CARZ PEPLES!!!

Actually it said he tried that, it kept accelerating.

In the interview I read he didn't try to shift in to neutral because he was afraid of going in to reverse and flipping the car.

Something is fishy about this guy and the story.

**bust331** · 03-14-10, 05:39 PM

Hmmm...maybe I read the wrong story...obviously this guy doesn't know shit.

**ninja|oaklandr** · 03-14-10, 06:35 PM

I have never been in that situation, but I can't see how having the car flip would come into play.

During the 911 call, the operator urged Mr. Sikes to shift the car into neutral, but he didn't do so. He later said he was afraid that moving the transmission out of drive might cause the car to "flip" or shift into reverse.

From this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

**deathgodusmc** · 03-15-10, 09:28 PM

Even if he did manage to get it into reverse it wouldn't flip. Cars now come with a reverse lock out. Which means you may get the selector to say reverse but it will not engage the gear. Even if it did by some kind of failure the gear would strip or the input shaft would break long before the car got any air.

**draco7891** · 03-15-10, 09:36 PM

It wouldn't flip because the CG is so low, the energy required to lift the car from that position would be astronomical, well beyond the capability of the engine or the physics involved to do so.

It wouldn't flip because it's impossible to engage reverse gear while travelling forward.

It wouldn't flip because of that little lockout button on your gear selector. You can freely move the selector to neutral from drive without pressing the button, but you must press the button to shift from neutral into reverse, or indeed into any of the critical gears (park, the discreet lower gears, etc.).

The other week I had to help an older lady with a brand spanking new VW Beetle find the fuel door release on her car. She didn't know how to put gas in her car.

I say good on Toyota for including a built-in IQ test in all their new vehicles. Maybe now some of the massive fucking idiots on the road will eliminate themselves from the gene pool.

Draco

**deathgodusmc** · 03-16-10, 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by draco7891

It wouldn't flip because the CG is so low, the energy required to lift the car from that position would be astronomical, well beyond the capability of the engine or the physics involved to do so.

It wouldn't flip because it's impossible to engage reverse gear while travelling forward.

It wouldn't flip because of that little lockout button on your gear selector. You can freely move the selector to neutral from drive without pressing the button, but you must press the button to shift from neutral into reverse, or indeed into any of the critical gears (park, the discreet lower gears, etc.).

The other week I had to help an older lady with a brand spanking new VW Beetle find the fuel door release on her car. She didn't know how to put gas in her car.

I say good on Toyota for including a built-in IQ test in all their new vehicles. Maybe now some of the massive fucking idiots on the road will eliminate themselves from the gene pool.

Draco

Agreed i assumed he was refering to rolling verses a full on flip.

**jmw_man** · 03-16-10, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by deathgodusmc

Originally Posted by draco7891

It wouldn't flip because the CG is so low, the energy required to lift the car from that position would be astronomical, well beyond the capability of the engine or the physics involved to do so.

It wouldn't flip because it's impossible to engage reverse gear while travelling forward.

It wouldn't flip because of that little lockout button on your gear selector. You can freely move the selector to neutral from drive without pressing the button, but you must press the button to shift from neutral into reverse, or indeed into any of the critical gears (park, the discreet lower gears, etc.).

The other week I had to help an older lady with a brand spanking new VW Beetle find the fuel door release on her car. She didn't know how to put gas in her car.

I say good on Toyota for including a built-in IQ test in all their new vehicles. Maybe now some of the massive fucking idiots on the road will eliminate themselves from the gene pool.

Draco

Agreed i assumed he was refering to rolling verses a full on flip.

Rolling would have been physically possible if the car got turned sideways but I think the guy would have been okay with the rest of the reasons Draco mentioned.

To roll your car you just need the right moment on the vehicle.
Where are the statics and dynamics gurus at?
I'm not gonna do the math but:

if the car turns sideways, the friction force located at ground level will drastically increase to a value of the weight of the vehicle times the smallest kinetic friction coefficient between rubber and concrete or asphalt.

I'm not sure what it would take to overcome this, never been good at dynamics, but it would be interesting to see....

I'm guessing there would be a

**draco7891** · 03-16-10, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by jmw_man

Rolling would have been physically possible if the car got turned sideways

Bodies in motion tend to rotate around their CG; the CG of a Prius, being a front-engined, front-wheel-drive vehicle is fairly far forward. Even assuming you could lock all 4 tires up (and you can't, because they come with ABS), the car would behave like a dart, heavy-end first: that is, the front of the car would tend to continue forward, the rest of the car trailing right along behind.

Assuming Captain Underpants doesn't jerk the wheel hard to one side, the car would neither flip nor roll nor tumble nor turn inside out.

Draco