Toyota brake question....

[Skuzzy]

Skuzzy, this is not really the case...

For instance my 00' Grand Am has traction control, it has a standard cable linkage as well. Most of Pontiac's other offerings had the same feature, as well as hundreds of other vehicles. They use timing and dropping spark/fuel to certain cylinders to prevent or control wheel spin. It is true that many of the higher end sports cars with traction control will be as you described though.

Strip

Then I stand corrected.  I have never worked on a car with an eletronic traction control system which had a physical cable attachment to the gas pedal.

Heck, even a Mini has a fly-by-wire throttle control.

[Strip]

maybe but a cell single phone isn't going to make a cable flip out.

It wont make a electric throttle control system flip out either....

Strip

[dedalos]

maybe but a cell signal phone isn't going to make a cable flip out.

A cell phone wont make anything flip out.  Does your car flip out every time you get a call?  Let me guess, you are using string and a can cause its more reliable than the electronic cell phone?

[whiteman]

that was almost funny, but I'm not going doubt some sort of electrical interference might be a cause.

[Beefcake]

I'm so glad I drive a caveman truck, I'll take my stick shifter 4L-N-2H-4H over those traction control systems any day.

[trax1]

Just saw a video online about a guy in Cali that has a Prius, and got a recall letter, he took it in and they told him he wasn't on the recall list, a week later on the highway the gas got stuck, he was going 94mph, CHP had to get in front of him and on a incline was able to stop the car with his.

[whiteman]

I'm so glad I drive a caveman truck, I'll take my stick shifter 4L-N-2H-4H over those traction control systems any day.

My Z/28 has a traction control but still has the throttle cable and the auto stick is still connect directly to the transmission, these Toyota's are all drive by wire. Which is why i think there is an electrical interference some where since the shifting in to Neutral does nothing once the car takes off.

[Skuzzy]

Toyota, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Nissan, Mini, Volvo, Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW and many others all have drive-by-wire throttles.  The reason many of them have it is due to how the fuel and air are being regulated today.

Mini and BMW use dynamic valve trains (lift and duration) to regulate the flow of air into the engine, in combination with varying the pulse width of the eletronic injector.  How are you going to hook up a cable to that?

[SIK1]

Mechanical linkage can fail too. I had a '75 F250 with a 390 in it when you mashed the go pedal down hard the engine would go full throttle and stay there until you shut off the ignition. Later found that the two bolts that hold the driver side motor mount to the frame had backed out and was allowing the motor to lift up. It wasn't a problem under part throttle but made for a few exciting experiences when the gas was mashed.

Ford has been using a drive-by-wire throttle on their PowerJoke diesel since '94.

Funny thing is these are pretty much the same comments heard when the F-16 was introduced.

[whiteman]

Toyota, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Nissan, Mini, Volvo, Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW and many others all have drive-by-wire throttles.  The reason many of them have it is due to how the fuel and air are being regulated today.

Mini and BMW use dynamic valve trains (lift and duration) to regulate the flow of air into the engine, in combination with varying the pulse width of the eletronic injector.  How are you going to hook up a cable to that?

Difference there is I trust Mercedes Benz, BMW and few of the others.

[Skuzzy]

You are talking about Mercedes Benz who decided not to use a head-light relay on some of its late model cars which resulted in switches burning out?  The damage would not be localized to just the switch either.

You talking about BMW who decided plastic would be a good material to use for a thermostat housing, which turns out, would disintegrate at almost precisely 50,000 miles and take the engine with it?  Or how about iDrive?

Every car company has some skeletons in the closet.

And again, how do you cable an electronically controlled fuel injector or dynamic valve train operations?

[whiteman]

I've gone back read my posts and all i said is "I'll take my caveman car with cables and push rods and be happy." not once saying they need to hook cables to ever car on the planet. curious where you got that from?

on the side I'm sure one day I'll be in a car that has the same system, just won't be a Toyota.

[SIK1]

And again, how do you cable an electronically controlled fuel injector or dynamic valve train operations?

I think people are getting a little confused because they see a cable that leads to the throttle. The fact that the computer reads the throttle position sensor and mass air flow sensor and makes the required adjustments to the engine is not so easily seen.

[Beefcake]

Ok I will admit my brakes or throttle cables could easily break/fail on my old caveman car. However, unless it's a catastrophic failure you can usually feel/hear these problems long before they reach a critical point.

The reason why I don't want a computer controlling my brakes / gas is simple, look at computers today. My desktop will sometimes randomly crash, for no reason, and upon recovery the computer doesn't even know it crashed. A car's computer is no different and I don't trust windows controlling my brakes. I'm just not comfortable with the possibility that my cars computer might BSOD and in turn cause me to suffer a WOD because the gas pedal stuck.

[KgB]

You are talking about Mercedes Benz who decided not to use a head-light relay on some of its late model cars which resulted in switches burning out?  The damage would not be localized to just the switch either.

You talking about BMW who decided plastic would be a good material to use for a thermostat housing, which turns out, would disintegrate at almost precisely 50,000 miles and take the engine with it?  Or how about iDrive?

Every car company has some skeletons in the closet.

And again, how do you cable an electronically controlled fuel injector or dynamic valve train operations?

True, i remember we were replacing axillary fans on X5, after few vehicles caught on fire they issued recall.Actually BMW doesn't make thermostats, BEHR does. When it fails BEHR pays labor and for loaner vehicle if needed plus you get 2 year warranty for every BMW part after replacement. And the only reason it takes engine with it is because for some reason people choose to ignore bright red overheat warning light or cover temperature gauge with picture of family members.