As so many of you have requested the Toyota documents, I set up a web folder at this link http://www.hlinstruments.com//RoHS_articles/

They are in the Toyota folder.  

If you find other articles on this subject, please send me the links or the articles and I'll add them to the folder.

-Bob Landman/H&L Instruments, LLC

I'm not an expert on automobiles.  FYI, I have two cars, a 2007 Volvo XC70 and a 1992 Jaguar XJ6.  No Toyotas.  Yes, I know the Jag has Lucas electrics aka "Home before dark" :-) but it's been very reliable (has over 100,000 miles on it). British Racing Green is the color (of course).  I added the leaping jaguar to the hood; goes much faster now :-)  Used to have a 1953 Aston Martin DB2 but that's a story for another day.

Note to John Burke:  Be VERY careful about installing a "KILL" switch in your Toyotas!  If you shut off the engine fuel you'll lose power steering.
It seems to me from studying Dr. Gilbert's report, what you could do (and this will take testing) is to have the switch disable the signals from the ECM (electronic control module) to the servo that increases fuel flow.  You want to keep the engine running, you just want to stop the acceleration.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/exclusive-ttac-takes-apart-both-toyota-gas-pedals/  (good pictures of the pedal assemblies)

Video of a discussion about the assembly http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/29/video-in-depth-look-at-toyotas-sticky-accelerator/#continued (keep in mind this is an early video as it states the recall is just 2 million vehicles and now we are over 8 million vehicles being recalled.

Professor Gilbert’s preliminary report describes the conditions he used to introduce a “resistive short” within a Toyota Accelerator Pedal Position
(APP) sensor so as to produce unintended acceleration. Downloaded it from http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/Preliminary_Report022110.pdf  to the web folder.

My, how nice of Toyota to actually video demonstrate Gilbert’s process for the world to see (see Part II below). How lovely of them to state that to produce Gilbert’s scenario requires an ohmic short of some 200 ohms to 1000 ohms.  And then lovelier still for them to illustrate how “resistive shorts” intentionally introduced in a number of APP modules used in different make of car can result in the same kind of unintended acceleration. 

Marvelous!!!!

But how foolish Toyota looks, don't you agree, as they proclaim that Gilbert’s scenario cannot possibly happen in their products? Trying to make it seem as if a “resistive short” from 200 ohms or so cannot exist.  We know that's utter nonsense and it reflects badly on Toyota, don't you think?

Judge for yourselves what level of incompetence Toyota is displaying in this rebuttal video.

Part II    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWr2EuyZ_h4&NR=1  (start with this to witness laboratory induced unintended acceleration)

Part I     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkWhkU4coa4

========================

I stumbled onto something on Google. A detailed analysis of the failed display unit on a Prius.  Its an excellent article as it dives deep into what's in todays' automotive electronics.  The writer ultimately finds the problem and fixes it.  Toyota wanted $2000+ for a replacement unit (as the writers unit was out of warranty).  Do you think that's a fair price?  Read the article and decide for yourself.  Hint: RoHS is likely the cause.

I found this article http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/compare.html

Which lead me to this http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/  titled "Evaluation and repair of a failed Prius MFD"

The writer added this http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/compare.html

This is the Prius chat forum
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-care-maintenance-troubleshooting/33923-mfd-issues-04-05-prius.html

I searched on the forum for "acceleration" and found 259 postings!
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-care-maintenance-troubleshooting/61226-help-diagnosing-unintended-uncommanded-acceleration-issue.html

this article was at the top "Diagnosing Unintended/Uncommanded Acceleration Issue"

My 2006 Prius (pkg 8) has on several occasions decided to accelerate on its own. This always happens when the car is stopped. Lifting my foot from the brake causes the car to accelerate as fast as it can. Up until yesterday I wasn't totally sure my senses weren't lying. I had read a couple of articles where people complained of this problem. In the earlier cases, I was stoped at a flow control light on a freeway ramp, so the rapid acceleration wasn't a problem and when I stepped on the gas, it stopped.

Yesterday I was on a surface street and stopped at a light. When I gently lifted my foot from the brake to start the car rolling, the car revved the ICE and acted as though I had floored the accelerator (my foot was still on the brake and I hadn't released full pressure yet. When I pushed hard on the brake, the car stoped and the ICE stopped reving, repeating gently easing up on the brake made the same thing happen again.

Needless to say, I was getting concnerned. I tried shifting to neutral (no
deal) and finally turned the cruise control on and then off (it was off).
This stopped the acceleration. I have made a service appointment, but the dealer claims they never heard of this problem before.

I did some research on the Web (search Prius unintended acceleration
incidents) and discovered this has happened more than a few times for others. According to my reading, Toyota has denied the problem and claimed the floor mat was pressing on the gas. In my case, the first thing I did is check my mat (heavy rubber that never moves) and it was safely tucked under the pedals.

If there is a fix for this, I haven't seen mention of it. I did report it to the NHTSA. I will report on the dealer's response. In the meantime be aware this has been happening on 2004 - 2008 cars. Some of the reports claim it is a cruise control issue. Who knows?

I will be most interested to see how Toyota responds.

====================

Bob Landman
H&L Instruments, LLC



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