U.S. safety officials have widened their investigation into Toyota's sticky gas pedals to see whether the same problem could exist in vehicles from other auto manufacturers that used the same pedal supplier as Toyota.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it has sent a letter to CTS, the Indiana company that made the pedals that caused Toyota to recall millions of vehicles worldwide. The safety agency wants to know more about pedals that CTS — which has a manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ont. — made for other auto companies.
CTS says it makes pedals for Honda and Nissan cars and a small number of Ford vehicles in China. The company has been adamant that the issues are limited to Toyota alone. Other automakers have also said their pedals are based on different designs and aren't at risk of the same problems.
Fourteen complaints in Japan


Japan's Transport Ministry said Wednesday it has also received 14 complaints since July last year about brake problems with Toyota's new Prius hybrid.
The ministry ordered Toyota, the world's No. 1 automaker, to investigate the complaints. The other 13 cases happened between December 2009 and January 2010. Transport Ministry official Masaya Ota said the ministry has yet to receive a formal report on the complaints from Toyota.
Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said the company has received reports about the Prius complaints in North America and in Japan and was now looking into the matter.




















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I haven't heard that Toyota has some pedal problems?Where this come from?

 

Don't know the full story.

This "appears" to have started with complaints of uncommanded acceleration which stated years ago.

Toyota stated the issue was the carpet getting stuck under the pedal. Toyota shortened the pedal and thought in some cases replaced the carpet.

Complaints continued.

In one event a Highway Patrol officer and his family were killed the apparent result of uncommanded acceleration in the Lexus loaner car he was driving. The car apparently reached 125 MPH before crashing, a family member was on the phone to 911 asking for help.

Toyota's response was to state the gas pedal position sensor was sticking (CTS manufacturer). A recall will add some kind of shim to "prevent" sticking assuming to be followed by sensor replacement as the new design becomes available.

There may also be some software changes?

The Prius issue appears something to do with the braking system switching between typical wheel brakes and regenerative braking or the opposite? when going over things like pot holes. The result may be unusual braking, or different braking then the driver is used to and complaints.

A well known software person complained about his Prius brakes not working correctly, stating in his opinion it was a software problem.

Lots of bad PR for Toyota who may or may not have ignored and dragged out the throttle pedal problems and may now be going overboard on the Prius issue.

 

IS there an "electronic shifter" in any Toyota product instead of direct mechanical linkage? I doubt it, but will stand corrected. Until I am, I mantain "just bump it into neutral". Part of this frenzy, I am sure, is being stirred up by "Government Motors" union hacks. In the frozen north, old VW bug throttle cables froze all the time-- you just pushed out the clutch, turned off the key, and coasted to the side of the road, then worked the cable back and forth from the engine end 'till it freed up.