On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:56:20 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:43:31 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Mar 11, 1:26Â*pm, Harry K wrote:
On Mar 11, 9:43Â*am, wrote:

On Mar 11, 11:59Â*am, "Bob F" wrote:

My '94 Caravan with an electronically controlled automatic does the same.

What, we don't have any readers here with a toyota prius?

I know a couple of prius owners and they're not willing to do a full-
throttle shift-to-neutral test on their cars.

I really want to see if the stuff I've been reading about the computer
not letting the transmission shift into neutral to protect the engine
are true.

Almosst certainly _not_ true but it would be nice to have an official
source.

Yes, I think we all would like to see a link to any credible source.
All I've seen is:

A - speculation from various individuals that it might be possible
that some of the Toyotas can't be shifted into neutral under runaway
conditions

B - some of the people driving the runaway cars have claimed they
could not shift them into neutral

C - Toyota has said at least on the Lexus that they can be shifted
into neutral at any time. They may have also said it about more cars
than the Lexus, not sure about that.

If there were an intentionally designed system to prevent shifting
into neutral while moving, I would think there is a 99% chance we
would have heard about it by now.



We are discussing cars that are malfunctioning. Perhaps not being able
to shift into neutral is connected to the malfunction in some way. Or,
perhaps not. You can't rule it out without correctly and completely
diagnosing what is causing the runaway problem.

I'm also not sure how many people, in the midst of a crisis, would be
quick to assume that turning off the key would NOT lock the steering
and make things worse.


Everone is looking for an electrical or electronic boogeyman to blame
- and I can tell you, absolutely and without any doubt, there is NO
electrical or electronic failure that could POSSIBLY make it
impossible to shift the vehicle to neutral, as the neutral control is
STRICTLY MECHANICAL. No need to diagnose what caused the runaway
problem, because there can be NO inter-related issues.