Fixing Cars

Toyota will announce that they’ll do a recall of the Toyota Prius for brake problems.  This will first be announced in Japan and could follow up in the US.

US Toyota Prius owners will likely become more vocal about the problems they’ve had with their Prius brakes.

The Prius uses a regenerative braking system which means it recaptures energy to charge the batteries that power the hybrid in electric mode.

Toyota Models Recall List (will be updated to include Prius)

Avalon VIN # beginning with “4T1” Years: 2005 – 2010
Matrix VIN # beginning with “2T1” Years: 2009 – 2010
Tundra VIN # beginning with “5TB” Years: 2007 – 2008
Tundra VIN # beginning with “5TF” Years: 2007- 2010
Sequoia VIN # beginning with “5TD” Years: 2008 – 2010
Camry VIN # beginning with “4T4” Years: 2007- 2010
Camry VIN # beginning with “4T1” with CTS pedal Years: 2007- 2010
Corolla VIN # beginning with “1NX” and “2T1” Years: 2009 – 2010
Highlander VIN # beginning with “5TD” Year: 2010
RAV4 VIN # beginning with “2T3” Years: 2009 – 2010

This report came from a dealer outside Toyota City in Japan.

[Source: Reuters]

CTS MFG Date Pedal

This image shows how to find the serial number and manufactured date on your pedal.

In actuality though, unless you bought your car after January 15 2010 and it had a pedal manufactured date later than that, your CTS Pedal is part of the recall.

One would expect that the only real difference would between CTS pedals manufactured before 1/15/2010 are the spring rate, otherwise the fix / shim being put into the recalled Toyota’s is only a temporary fix.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced that it is opening a formal investigation of the Toyota Prius Hybrid model year 2010 to look into allegations of momentary loss of braking capability while traveling over an uneven road surface, pothole or bump.

The Office of Defects Investigation has received 124 reports from consumers, including four reports alleging that crashes occurred. Investigators have spoken with consumers and conducted pre-investigatory field work.

“Safety is our top priority,” said Secretary Ray LaHood. “That is why in recent weeks NHTSA has also issued a consumer advisory on the recall of several models of Toyota vehicles and the Pontiac Vibe involving pedal entrapment and sticky accelerator pedals. We will continue to monitor these issues closely.”

Late Wednesday, Secretary LaHood spoke with Toyota president, Akio Toyoda, who reassured him that Toyota takes U.S. safety concerns seriously and puts safety at the top of the company’s priorities.

Consumer complaints about possible safety problems are one of NHTSA’s most important sources of information about vehicles. Officials review each one within a single business day and analyze the information to ensure trends are detected early.

Of the 100 investigations NHTSA opens every year, there are currently 40 open defect investigations, three of which involve Toyota. NHTSA has the most active defect investigation program in the world, opening or closing an investigation almost every week. Over the last three years, NHTSA’s defect and compliance investigations have resulted in 524 recalls involving 23.5 million vehicles.

NHTSA is advising owners of vehicles affected by recent Toyota recalls to contact their local dealership if they detect a problem. For more information, consumers should visit www.nhtsa.gov or call the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at (888) 327-4236.

Regenerative Toyota Prius Brakes

The government is currently investigating Toyota Prius brakes which are at the center of Toyota’s latest recall.  

The braking system in the Prius is controlled by an ECU or Electronic Control Unit. An ECU is simply a metal box with electronics inside of it that gets information (input) from various sensors and then transmits an (output) to other computer systems in the vehicle.

The regenerative brakes are part of the Prius charging system, which reclaims voltage like a generator does. A software glitch is what is supposedly the problem and Toyota dealers will begin being informed of the intent to recall about 100,000 Toyota Priuses in the US. Usually when a problem occurs in the ECU a fault code is stored so that further diagnostics can be performed to determine the software upgrade that could fix it.

The Prius brakes are programmed to switch between friction and regenerative braking when certain pre-determined programming conditions have been met. The CPU will interpret the data and then send signals through the communication bus to various modules to perform set tasks.

The sudden loss of braking occurs when the Prius is driving on a rough road or in poor weather conditions which may cause the brakes to pulsate as the system switches between regenerative and standard braking.  

The switch occurs when the vehicle speed reaches a set MPH, and a delay occurs when the brake system changes over from regenerative to standard.

Some owners of the popular Prius have been aware of this brake problem for years, and some of them have documented the problems despite getting help from Toyota.

Heres what one of our readers shared:

“I have a 2007 Prius and I had thought my car just not good in the winter. It has been getting progressively worse. Last month in the ice storm, the brakes didn’t hold. I pulled over on the side road where we live, called my husband crying to come and get me. He brought our RAV4, and he drove the Prius home. It was a very scary feeling that the brakes wouldn’t hold on slippery roads.
I reported this problem to the NHTSA and was told there are other complaints being called in. I bought my Prius thinking I was buying a well made Toyota. I hope Toyota can fix all the safety issues with the Prius.”

Ray LaHood, the Transportation Secretary has opened investigations in regards to these issues surrounding the Toyota Prius and went so far as to say owners should park their Toyota until a final repair is deemed sufficient.  He then revised that statement to say owners who are experiencing problems should contact their local dealer immediately.

Improper braking can occur in the Prius while traveling on icy roads, and could be linked to electronic problems with regards to the vehicle speed sensor which is what the vehicle uses to determine when to switch from regenerative to standard braking. All of this information should be retrieved from the ECU and Toyota should be able to publish the solution to the fault codes that are being thrown when the braking problems occur.

Toyota Metal Shim For Pedal Fix

Toyota could be facing a potential $2 Billion dollar loss from the result of a safety recall affecting over 2 million vehicles in the US with gas pedal problems, brake problems and accelerator issues, regardless of an increase in sales from the previous quarter.

Toyota is dealing with a catastrophe, it’s being questioned by Ray LaHood continually about whether they’re being completely open about the overall issue. Feds are pushing them hard, Ray LaHood said the company was being a little “safety deaf” when he summarized the urgency Toyota displayed when the problems began to build. Now that brake problems are getting added to the list, it has customers wondering.

Toyota stopped production on the recall models and years that were affected so that they could produce a solution for the cars currently on the road that have issues related to unintended acceleration, and recent news of Prius brakes (recently brought up in Japan with regards to the Toyota Prius).

The company has been struggling with trying to keep it’s customers informed of what to do, leaving many losing confidence in the company that once was known for the car that ran forever.

Talking with Toyota owners in person one can quickly sense the situation as being a severe threat to the loss of future business due to the slow reaction of the recall and then leaving people without enough information and being concerned about whether they should even drive until its resolved.

Toyota was reporting $155 million in losses per week quickly add up considering the additional costs of manufacturing and getting their customer’s vehicles serviced. Some Toyota dealers began installing the shims today and are working around the clock.

The Feds are now probing beyond this mechanical issue which Toyota claims are the result of pedals sticking, and looking into possible electronic and electromagnetic issues since the accelerator pedal assembly uses drive-by-wire, an electronic signal is sent to the throttle body based on the % the pedal is depressed.

Now that the Prius brakes being reported the fact that people are coming out with details about the braking system flaws, Toyota is going to be adding more to the list of recalls. Toyota Prius brakes, which are regenerative braking system that recycles energy back into the battery system to recharge itself seem to be plagued with problems, the electronic glitches, lead people to believe Toyota will need to start sharing more of the big picture since they are starting to indicate the problem is more than simply a worn pedal that is sticking.

In addition to the braking issue, Steve Wozniak, one of the original co-founders of Apple has described a throttle issue while on the freeway in cruise control. Toyota is getting a closer look at Wozniak’s Prius when they take it for a week to evaluate it.

Here’s the current Toyota Recall Models And Years.

A Gas Pedal Diagram that shows the recalled CTS pedal.

The Following Toyota vehicles are not affected by the recall:

Toyota Yaris
Toyota Prius
Toyota Corolla with VINs that begin with “JT”
Toyota Camry with VINs that begin with “JT”
Toyota Camry with VINs that begin with “4T1” AND are equipped with Denso accelerator pedals
Scion – All models
Toyota Venza
FJ Cruiser
Highlander with VINs that begin with “JT”
RAV4with VINs that begin with “JT”
Land Cruiser
Sienna
4Runner
Tacoma

Below is a list of new and used vehicles that are affected by the voluntary recall:

Avalon VINs beginning with “4T1” MY 2005 – 2010
Matrix VIN # beginning with “2T1” MY 2009 – 2010
Tundra VIN # beginning with “5TB” MY 2007 – 2008
Tundra VIN # beginning with “5TF MY 2007- 2010
Sequoia VIN # beginning with “5TD” MY 2008 – 2010
Camry VIN # beginning with “4T4” MY 2007- 2010
Camry VIN # beginning with “4T1” with CTS pedal MY 2007- 2010
Corolla VIN # beginning with “1NX” and “2T1” MY 2009 – 2010
Highlander VIN # beginning with “5TD” MY 2010
RAV4 VINs beginning with “2T3” MY 2009 – 2010

With all of these different problems from the brakes and the accelerator pedal and all these other issues, the indication seems to be coming from the computer system, that is being sent mixed signals.

The indication or the problems that are starting to surface could date back several years, and there could have been some underlying issues that only now are becoming amplified to the point where people are noticing them or getting significant issues with the drivability, they might have been so minor that people just ignored them in the past.

People are really concerned about their car especially with the recent developments around Toyota and the problems that are occurring with the gas pedal situation and the brakes.
Toyota Prius brakes are being looked into in Japan and there US just announced they’ll be looking into these as well.

It really is hard to envision how a company even as big as Toyota, is made to handle such a crisis, their response time and their ability to handle the volume of problems that are coming to them is unimaginable and people who own Toyota are demanding that they be helped as quickly as possible.

Here is information that details the components in a driver assist system. Note the Accelerator Reaction Force Control Unit. This may or may not be a system thats currently part of the Toyota platform, but it would suggest that if there were a reaction force control unit then it could be a combination of a bug in the software and a safety mechanism that is supposed to “alert a driver” via brakes being applied.

10 990 603 Driver Assisting System Meth

It looks like Toyota was working on some driver assistance technology that may or may not have ever been implemented, but trying to gain a drivers attention by quickly applying and releasing the brakes indicates the possibility for this type of behavior to exist in the current brake problems.

The car’s safety system continuously monitors the road ahead using a radar system, and if it determines a crash may be possible, it matches this with the driver evaluation gathered from the camera. If the driver doesn’t appear to be paying attention it sounds a buzzer and warning light.

If things progress and a crash becomes probable then it also tries to gain attention of the driver by quickly applying and releasing the brakes. At this point the car’s pre-crash brake assist system is also readied. When a crash is judged to be unavoidable the safety system engages the brakes and seatbelts for the collision.

[Source: PC World]

Here’s where I’m placing my suspicions until I can hear that this issue has been considered and tested.

Most people are expecting this issue to shift toward being an electronic problem and not that of a mechanical issue, so this is just to put it on the table.

10 853 507 Automotive Vehicle With Redun

What could be easy to remember and extremely effective in a runaway Toyota situation?
BOB - Brake + Observe + Bump

I thought if nobody else was going to do this, I might as well. So I came up with a simple but easy to recall phrase similar to the old “stop, drop, and roll” for reacting to a fire, everyone knows that reaction because it’s been drilled into our heads since childhood, but that’s what needs to happen.

People need to be able to react quickly and without panic. Forgive my lack of creativity for something that I think is better than nothing at this point.

This could be a simple as BOB= “Brake” - “Observe” - “Bump”

Brake - Brake firmly.

Observe - Observe a path (preferably in the right lane)

Bump - “Bump” (all it takes to bump the shifter to knock it into neutral)

Toyota has been in the news with regards to a problem with the Prius brakes and hats off to PriusChat and their findings that confirm the issue with Prius brakes. More on the Prius Brake Problem thats been confirmed by a TECH.

The Toyota Prius has a regenerative braking system, which is the same type of braking thats used with electric motors which turn them into generators for recovery of energy. There are different phases or stages of braking that Prius owners have been able to encounter that teaches them the advantages of using this form of braking with regards to getting excellent fuel efficiency.

Regen Braking PDF

Prius brakes are controlled by the vehicles computer system which relies on data from sensors and other types of electronic devices, just like the engine it has parameters and logic that sends signals according to the force being applied to the brake pedal. In the case of the Prius, where braking while the foot is removed from the accelerator, or gliding, at speeds under 40mph is the sweet spot for Prius owners. More on these conditions of maximizing mileage with a Prius on HybridCars.com

This braking problem could have nothing to do with the actual brakes themselves, ie. brake pads, calipers, discs, rotors, or the brake pedal so by paying very close attention one may notice some common occurances that affect not only the brakes but the overall drivability once the vehicle enters a certain mode. This certain mode when looking at the overall vehicle electronics system could be summed up for a basic explanation of whether your car is in open or closed loop, you can read more about that on this wikipedia page about electronic throttle control.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_throttle_control

So be fully aware that if your Toyota is showing signs that don’t seem normal and you haven’t spoken to your dealer, then it’s potentially be a very dangerous situation not only for the owner / driver of the vehicle but for everyone on the road. So be vigilant about this and contact your dealer, and if they don’t help call another one until you get one on the phone that will that day listen to you, the problem and make a recommendation.

In addition, I’ve put together a list of some tips on determining whether your Toyota Prius has a brake problem which is currently being looked into by Toyota at the request of Japan and the US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. So until they’ve made an official determination, here are some things you can consider about your brakes.

Read more for the FAQ list : read more »

GM sales are up, and it looks like things are starting to look good for Detroit. There’s battery plants which are getting ready to start hiring, and you can just sense the excitement coming from the company. I’d be willing to bet that they could emulate the likes of Apple when a new iPhone goes on sale and a line of people are waiting outside for the doors to open should the Volt get more publicity in social media.

I reached out via Twitter with an idea that would potentially create that kind of buzz, and the idea was to literally sell Chevy Volt’s door-to-door. It would blow people away that a car company like GM would be so willing to connect with their customers, visit their homes to see how they’d get their charging station integrated and talk with them about how they can expect their lives to change when driving an electric vehicle.

Here’s the news from GM on their increase in sales:

read more »