On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:37:29 -0500, "Charlie"
wrote:


"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
...
mm wrote:
OT Toyota

If it's not the carpet that's causing Toyatas to speed up, then how
can replacing the gas pedal help?

I couldn't find the article I saw this in again. The problem is
moisture getting into the accelerator somehow. Symptoms of a possible
problem include the accelerator being harder to depress, not operating
smoothly, and or not returning to the upper position.

There was a clip on CNN today that had a driver who said that he got a toe
under the gas pedal and pulled it up with no effect.
Could this be related to something like cruise control that pulls the pedal
down as it rengages?
The worry is that new or revised gas pedals will not turn out to be the
right answer.

Charlie


If that's the case and it's a mechanical problem then the design of
the pedal mechanism must be such that there is not a fixed connection
between the pedal and the "sensor" gizmo inside the pedal assembly,
i.e. the pedal an push it down ok against a coil spring that makes the
"sensor"gizmo push back and make the pedal return. But if the gizmo
itself is sticking down then it won't return the pedal AND the pedal
will not be able to pull it back. I can easily envision such a design,
it would make it easier to have one "box" that could be used with many
different pedals in different cars. Only problem would be that the
designers failed to anticipate that anyone would ever have a desire to
hook a toe under the pedal to make the darn thing return to "zero",
figuring instead that the spring would always be able to return it.