How to Stop a Vehicle with a Stuck Gas Pedal

Pete and Jason,
Apparently neither of you have ever driven fast in the real world. Why is shifting to neutral a last resort?!?!?!?!?! This is how it really works: I'm driving along in my Toyota and the throttle proceeds to stick in wide open mode. Because the Toyotas in question are now built as a fly-by-wire application, it has become an electronic issue, not a mechanical (as in a stuck cable) issue. This means that you aren't going to be able to override the acceleration by applying the brakes because, the brakes in your average Prius/Camry/ES350 are designed to bring the car to a dead stop from 60 or so mph with no extra forward force (such as that from the engine running at high speed). Every driver who is actually qualified to race in a sanctioned event and/or has raced in the real world knows that a street car with stock brakes will not stop from 90-ish mph if you just stand on the brakes. There is a thing called brake fade (this happens when the heat builds up high enough to boil the brake fluid in the caliper) and it can happen quickly when the speeds are that high. Now, add in the 110 horsepower of the Prius (or how about 272 hp in the Lexus ES350) pushing in direct contrast to your braking efforts. There is NO chance of stopping merely by using the brake pedal as your only method.
Your brilliant idea of turning off the engine only complicates things for your average driver (ie: moron with a license that has only the high school level driver training program that teaches them to drive around cones in a parking lot). 99.99% of American drivers will do exactly what they should NOT do under stressful driving situations, and that is PANIC! Add the panic to a key-off maneuver and you've just locked the steering wheel, (because the panicking driver just turned the key one too many clicks backwards) reduced the brake pedal to stepping on a brick. That is a DEADLY combination and not any better than just aiming for a nearby SUV and killing the family that was driving next to you. It really pisses me off because I might have my family in that SUV.
The best real world method of stopping begins with shifting to neutral (which is the big N that has been right there on your shifter for years that you would see if you'd paid attention) or the big P. That's right, PARK! If I am suddenly thrown into a dangerous situation of quick unintended acceleration, I am going for whatever means I can achieve to SAVE MY LIFE and the lives of my family and possibly your family if you may happen to be next to me (you never know do you?) By shifting into PARK at high speed, you are going to destroy the transmission. Do you care? Would you sacrifice a trans for saving your life? I know I answered an emphatic YES without hesitation. If you are more worried about mechanical parts than your own life, you need to turn in your license NOW!
Pete, I would love to see the pistons come through the hood of my Toyota and I would love to see the transmission laying on the ground 200 feet behind my safely stopped car which is now on the side of the road and keeping my family SAFE. After safely removing the family to another location (away from traffic) the issue of repairing or replacing the car would begin. I honestly could care less about wasting the engine or trans if it means saving a LIFE!
I'm guessing that you don't have kids because you'd definitely have a different outlook on auto safety. I have one son and it upsets me that I have to take him out on the road with unskilled and untrained drivers. I do the best I can.
By the way, I am a licensed and qualified driver in five different sanctioned racing series. This means I did more than show up and take a 10-question mulitiple guess quiz. I have nearly 30 years of racing and real world driving experience. I'll never say that I can handle any situation, but knowing your vehicle, getting some additional driver training and getting a clue about safety can prepare you for many of the issues you may encounter once or possibly never in your life. Being prepared and knowing how to handle a worst-case-scenario can save your life or mine. Go take a REAL driver safety class, it is not only informative, it is FUN! Thanks for saving my life someday.

Hmmm........let's see; with a tiny bit of research I found:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/automotive/22469042/detail.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_5209_handle-stuck-gas.html

and my personal favorite, since it's basically from Consumer Reports
http://moneyning.com/misc/how-to-stop-your-car-if-the-gas-pedal-is-stuck/

I guess we all need to go with what we believe is in our own best interests, and that of others on the road.

The person who wrote this article should probably stick to teaching yoga and flying kites. If your throttle sticks, you need to apply full brakes immediately- cutting the engine first is only setting you up for a disaster.

having driven at speed on a race track a fair bit, I agree with Pete_Eckhardt... If you kill the engine, you have at most 1 brake application before you lose power assist in MOST cars. As cars move to electric assist, you might not even get that.

If you shift into neutral, you will probably damage the motor or transmission.

If you go to turn off the motor, you may LOCK the steering wheel as well...

In Racing, its always the following sequence...

1) Brakes
2) kill the Ignition
3) as a last resort, shift into Neutral.

Wrong, wrong, WRONG! This is BAD advice, and could get someone killed.

GET ON THE BRAKES!!! This should be your first reaction, and it should happen automatically, without having to think about it. In most cases, your brakes are MUCH stronger than your engine.

AFTER you have the car under control, THEN turn your ignition off. Turning it off prematurely WILL result in significant loss of braking AND steering control. Know where your key is without having to look for it! (Next time you're in your car, close your eyes and see if you can find the ignition key without looking for it). And if you have one of those buttons, do you want to wait one...two...three seconds while your car is accelerating? No? BRAKE!

DO NOT throw the car into neutral, except as a last resort, unless you'd like to see a piston come through the hood, followed by a cloud of smoke. (Actually, the rev limiter should keep that from happening, but, still, you could do engine damage).

This sequence (brakes, ignition) saved a friend (who happened to be a cop) and I, while heading toward a congested traffic circle in New Jersey. With the gas pedal stuck wide open in my Lotus. I had the car off and parked in a side street before he knew what had happened.

Toyota should not be condemned. It's only a few assemblies that are sticking, and, ironically, they are the ones made in the U.S. This can happen with any car, and can be something as simple as the floor mat fouling the gas pedal. Also, many cases of "unintended acceleration" have been shown to be driver error.

I have consulted with driving professionals before posting this response, and the answer is the same: BRAKES!

Definitely a great public service announcement! :)

You're quite welcome. I've been forwarding on this information to anyone I know who has a Toyota. Now I'm realizing I should just send it to ALL my friends, because it's sound advice, no matter the make or model of the vehicle.

Thanks for this site, people need to know this regardless of the make! But esp. if they have one of the recalled vehicles. I'll text this on, also.