How to put a runaway Lexus or Toyota into "Neutral"

[treesapa]

or just take out the damn floor mat

[phillipd91]

buy a manual :)

[alexanderpas]

that's why a manual shifter is safer... CLUTCH!!! -- dummy version: press any two pedals: hear the engine revving, try another combination (good combination is break+clutch, will stop any car, even without shifting to neutral.)

[stupidYOOTUBE]

this is best going down the hill,. saves gas

[outdoorsman310]

who doesnt know how to shift thatr car into neutral?

[asdeaff]

Good advice

I was wandering if the toyota has the "brake to idle" system.

Push the brake pedal and it kills the throttle automatically..

my old 1995 VW has this system.

[chrwl007]

@asdeaff Germans... always one step ahead.

[TheSupraStar]

SrtTom has wise words to follow...

[SrtTom14]

Lesson here.. If your not smarter than your borderline average 16 year old teenager, and you don't posses the knowledge stop your vehicle, ride the bus. Its that simple!

[mistachewey]

your video = funnies.

"that's it" really made me lol people can't even drive an automatic these days....[facepalm]

[Motorfordtoyota]

People are so stupid " Why the hell am I accelerating past 100, I dont have my foot on the gas" "Have you tryed neutral?" "No, let me try it, ok, I stopped" What the hell?

[iceman5815]

And then the family was able to put 30k miles of trouble free problems on the Lexus. No other country has this problem but only here in the US?? Hmmm...Toyota became #1 auto company in the US in 2009. GM and Chrysler needs bailout to survive..?? Need I say more>>>

[iceman5815]

Bogus complaints and false claims by stupid American drivers that can't tell the difference between a gas pedal and a brake pedal. Here's how u stop a so call run away Toyota: Get ur fucking foot of the gas pedal(the one to ur right) IDIOT.??? And just because ur bankrupted and 5 payments behind doesn't qualified u as a run away Toyota. And u say that ur lexus is possessed and accelerates wildly but then u sold it to a family without telling them.

[skins70]

@iceman5815 Stupid American drivers!? and who the fuck are you? The only bad drivers I see around here are arrogant assholes from other countries such as yourself. And learn how to speak fucking english, "get ur fucking foot of the gas pedal" very nice grammer.  And for the rest of you complaining about shifting into neutral, buy a fucking American car, I drive a 94 Chevy, runs like a clock and I can shift it into neutral whenever i want cause its not a fucking computerized robot, its a car.

[iceman5815]

@skins70 You drive a '94 Chevy...lol. That explains why you are so arrogant and stupid at the same time. Oh and let me rephrase: I meant "some stupid American drivers not all." You still drive a '94 Chevy...Dame!!! And of-course it runs like a clock because it's park in the garage collecting dust and cobwebs. A '94 Chevy...still...personally I wouldn't even mention it...'94 Chevy..lol

[banstaman]

@iceman5815 I think he means a clock with a dead battery.

[michaelthepsycho]

@skins70 If you're driving a 94 Chevy in 2011, life didn't turn out the way you wanted it to... Fact is, the unintended acceleration is like f*cking webMD; everyone thinks they have something to get rich from. Give me a f*cking break. Idiotic American drivers. You think Asians drive bad? You wouldn't survive one day in any Asian traffic because of your rigid rules and inability to flex your schema.

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@iceman5815 You're a fucking idiot. No matter how much you apply brakes the Toyota will not stop go do some fucking research before making yourself look stupid.

[iceman5815]

@MegaDeathwarrant Megadummy..right..that's what I thought. Do You drive a "94 Chevy too???

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@iceman5815 You obviously don't know shit about cars. Newer Toyota cars acceleration is now computerized you idiot. Some new Toyota cars like the 2010 Prius is having glitches in the computer that causes the acceleration to be stuck and no matter how much brake power you apply it will still increase speed, the only way to stop is to push power button or go into neutral you idiot. Like I said go do some research before making yourself look stupid.

[iceman5815]

@MegaDeathwarrant Wow numbnuts you are so smart. You must do a lot of researches lately...on how to fake a run-away Toyota.

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@iceman5815 No I listen to the news you moron.

[GneshGnesh2837]

@MegaDeathwarrant if you listened to the news youd know that nasa, after their 10 month study, couldnt find any bugs in their electronic system that could lead to SUA. oh wait, i forgot, that wasnt big news because the media is trying to promote people to buy american by scaring people out of buying toyotas. -__-

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@GneshGnesh2837 You're an idiot.

[GneshGnesh2837]

@MegaDeathwarrant because i used a valid news source(CNN) accrediting a valid study? yup, im so stupid.

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@GneshGnesh2837 So you're saying cnn is valid but the stories they had about run away Prius vehicles aren't? Way to make yourself look dumb.

[GneshGnesh2837]

@MegaDeathwarrant -__- this is an explanation as to WHY they could have had sudden unintended acceleration. this is the most recent news about it, february of this year, and until shown or proven otherwise, im sticking with that. why dont you google it yourself? just type in CNN NASA TOYOTA. its the first article and will have a picture of an avalon. also, MANY of these mishaps were faked, and nhtsa gave bullshit statistics on how often it occurred.

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@GneshGnesh2837 So then those people that died in a runaway Prius that happened on CNN was just a lie? I thought you said CNN was a "valid news source"?

[GneshGnesh2837]

@MegaDeathwarrant i dont recall anyone DYING in a prius, only the ES350, so why dont you send me the link to that in a PM?

[MegaDeathwarrant]

@GneshGnesh2837 Oh I guess you don't watch cnn then go look it up yourself since you're so smart.

[GneshGnesh2837]

@MegaDeathwarrant yeah, i just looked it up, nothing came up, look whos making things up? wow that sounded very redundant, but oh well. the only legitimate claim was the out of control ES350. thats it. and by the fact that *I* looked it up and couldnt find anything, and that *YOU* refused to send me a link shows your intelligence of the situation.

[anthonyledo]

*model

[anthonyledo]

and are you traveling over 45 mph in this video? NO

because i heard this locks the vehicle out of neutral.

[TheSupraStar]

@anthonyledo

FALSE. I've done this test repeatedly from 55+MPH, and the neutral is not locked out. For obvious safety reasons, I can't film it while driving that fast.

[bravecat100]

If this is your first encounter with this odd gearbox at 90mph in a panic, odds are, it will be tough.

[Yappabiddada]

I know 2007 camrys have shift by wire.

[Yappabiddada]

Because there is no mechanical linkage between the shift lever and the transmission, if you are experiencing a software or electronics problem, the car may not respond to your imputs. Survivors of unintended acceleration have testified putting the shift lever in neutral did not result in the transmission actually going into neutral. Software also controls the accelerator and engine shutoff button. This video shows how easy it is with everything working properly.

[TheSupraStar]

Some people are perhaps confusing (ECT) Electronic Throttle Control with shift by wire. These are different things. Indeed there is much the computer controls with how the car shifts. However, there is STILL a mechanical connection to the transmission. Not so with the Prius and HS250 transmissions.  There is NO mechanical connection to the transmission...it's ALL electronic.

[ArcticWolf2010]

@Yappabiddada All the more reason to not remove the mechanical linkage. I like having some physical connection between me and what my vehicle is doing. I drive a Pontiac Sunfire (I know :P) but the automatic gearbox has a mechanical connection that allows me to select a gear of my choosing, not when the computer tells me I can. It is a question of knowledge, and I believe that if you don't know a thing about gear ranges, then you shouldn't be driving any sort of vehicle besides a lawnmower.

[SW20FL]

Forgot to mention, you don't even need your foot on the brake to do this.

[SW20FL]

The only ones I don't know of is the newly released Lexus HS and Toyota Prius because they have the 100% electronic column stalk instead of the regular gated shifter. I still wouldn't doubt you can put those in neutral, but not sure about those models.

The Lexus ES, GS, LS, and IS I have all driven and can all be slid into neutral.

[busascotty]

I'm sure lots (75%) of these wrecks are preventable, BUT, the cars shouldnt do this in the first place. The more we rely on non mechanical control of vehicle functions, the more of this type of stuff that can happen.

[MrChappyp]

Thanks for the quick response. It's nice to get some first hand knowledge.

[MrChappyp]

Will the lexus shift into neutral from drive if the engine is over 5000 RPM? I have seen several places online saying that there is a firmware restriction in place to protect the engine and won't allow neutral to engage. I see the floored comment below but was it tried over 5000 rpm. Thanks.

[TheSupraStar]

You can absolutely put the car in neutral over 5,000 RPM...I did this several times. There is no safety restriction in any way that showed itself on my car.. Also, on my car, you can hit 6,500 RPM in neutral as well. So if there is no safety restriction for 6,500RPM to "protect the engine", there certainly isn't one for 5,000.

[TheSupraStar]

Further, only 1 Toyotas/Lexus on the market have "shift by wire" (Lexus HS250). In that case, it could be possible, since there is no mechanical interface to the transmission. All of the other transmissions used by Toyota (except possibly the Prius?) still have a mechanical interface..

[dasstrooper]

Wrong

[henrybird]

a woman testified that she tried to put it into neutral but it would not go.......... "Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, description from Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop - shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and turn off the engine"

[areswarren]

Rhonda Smith said,

"Now I am at 85‐90 mph. I push the car into NEUTRAL and it makes a revving noise. I push the emergency brake on nothing helps."

Why do you think the car makes a "revving noise" when you put it in neutral?

[areswarren]

I'll answer.

The reason the car made the rev v i ng noise when Smith put it in neutral is because the drive train was disengaged. If she had left it in NEUTRAL the car could not have continued to accelerate and she would have been able to successfully stop the car within a couple hundred yards.

Instead, of leaving it in NEUTRAL, Smith panicked at the sound of the increased RPMs and took it out of NEUTRAL.

Know your vehicle instead of just jamming on the brake.

[areswarren]

I honestly wonder if there aren't a lot of drivers out there who don't even know what the phrase, "put the car into neutral," means.

It's amazing that some of the drivers in the much hyped Toyota acceleration cases had time to make cell phone calls, but crashed anyway.

If you can hit the speed dial on a cell phone, you can put a car into neutral. You shouldn't have a license to drive if you won't familiarize yourself with the vehicles you operate.

[ArcticWolf2010]

@areswarren Amen!

[areswarren]

It's true. These much-hyped Toyota tragedies are preventable.

In the last few years, I've put every car I've driven into neutral while driving, including Toyota rentals. Never had a problem.

In these Toyota -hype crashes, failure to shift to neutral would mean either 1) that the car has two extremely unusual malfunctions - accelerator stick AND a shifting problem at the same time or 2) That the driver panicked and couldn't perform a simple task in time to avert a crash.

Know your vehicle!

[TheSupraStar]

I assure you, it's THAT simple.

[pavilj]

LIES there has to be more to it!!!!!

[TheSupraStar]

The car does indeed shift into neutral while it's being floored while driven. I could not video tape that while driving for obvious safety reasons.

[irocz0r]

Your video is a bit of a joke.

On the other hand, if you were flooring the accelerator whilst shifting into neutral, this video might actually be considered hard evidence against Toyota detractors.

[SW20FL]

It can be done under wide open throttle as well. As a mechanic, I've tet driven all kinds of cars, including all of the new Toyotas and Lexus's. ALL can be slid into neutral with your foot on the gas. I don't drive customer cars at WOT, it it's no difference.

I'm APPAULED at how many people don't know this!! I had the floormats get stuck on me in a Honda Accord and Neutral was my first instinct in less than one second.

Man I am shocked. really. Just can't believe 90% of people don't know!