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CAFE Vs. Toyota
Investors.com ^ | March 10, 2010 | INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY Staff

Posted on 03/10/2010 6:12:49 PM PST by Kaslin

Auto Safety: As a Toyota Prius with a stuck accelerator races down a California freeway, no one mourns the victims of the fuel economy standards imposed by Congress. Forced into smaller cars, thousands have died.

We can barely imagine the panic felt by James Sikes, 61, as his Toyota Prius accelerated uncontrollably while he drove down Interstate 8 in San Diego County. We can imagine the continuation of the grandstanding by the owners of "government motors" as they further browbeat a competitor of government-run GM and Chrysler.

We do not minimize the safety issues here that need to be addressed, but we feel a sense of perspective is sorely needed. Toyota has been accused of cutting corners in the name of profit. The Congress that now huffs and puffs in righteous indignation can be accused of increasing the carnage on the nation's highways in the name of saving gasoline.

Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed for at least 19 fatalities and 815 vehicle crashes since 1999. That's fewer than two fatalities a year in a country that makes 1.8 million cars annually. How many crashes and fatalities are caused by the use of cell phones and text-messaging while driving?

Let us take a look at the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards enacted by the federal government in response to the Arab oil embargo. Lately, supporters have sought to increase these standards in the name of fighting climate change. They have neither reduced our dependence on foreign oil nor saved the Earth.

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Extended News; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 111th; acceleration; accelerator; automakers; automobiles; autos; autosafety; bho44; bigbrother; cafe; cafetoyota; cars; carsafety; chrysler; climatechange; congress; djsob; foreignoil; fueleconomy; gasoline; generalmotors; government; governmentmotors; highwaysafety; hoaxtoyota; ibd; jamessikes; lexus; nannystate; nhtsa; obama; obamasamerica; oil; prius; runaway; toyota; toyotahoax; toyotaprius; unintended; warontoyota
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To: CharlesWayneCT

20 mph frontal crash and the airbag didn’t deploy?


41 posted on 03/11/2010 10:38:29 AM PST by green iguana
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To: green iguana
Oh, the airbags deployed all right. Quite a shock. For all I know, I even lost a few seconds of awareness -- I never saw the pole (it was right in the sun), and then the radio was playing music (it had been on talk just before). Both air bags went off, along with the seat belt tightener explosives -- which causes the seat belt to melt lines into my vinyl jacket, and left some bruises along that path.

They sent me to the hospital to have an EKG, but everything was fine, and they made me go home for the day because I was a bit woosie -- I just think i was in shock, the car was 2 weeks old.

It all worked out. I had to wait 4 months on the waiting list to get a replacement, but the insurance totaled it and covered it in full because it was so new. Only accident I've ever caused in my life, so didn't effect my insurance premiums either.

The snow was from AFTER The accident. The pole was unharmed. I did not back up the car -- that's how far it bounced back after it hit the pole.

42 posted on 03/11/2010 11:43:05 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: mamelukesabre

I was thinking about this, and I think I actually did manage to push-start my car a couple of times, by parking uphill. It was a 1972 Olds Vista Cruiser with automatic transmission, so it certainly wasn’t easy to push-start. I didn’t think you could push-start an automatic, but my wife swears we did it, and I remember doing it.


43 posted on 03/11/2010 11:44:45 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT

I’ve push started an automatic with a weak battery. You can’t do it with a totally dead battery. The automatic transmission won’t push hard enough on the transmission to turn it over, but it does help. You need to do both, roll in gear AND use starter. Together the two will start up your engine. Sometimes. I’ve done it before. It’s really not worth the risk(imo) because if it doesn’t work, your car is stranded. I’d rather leave it in it’s parking spot and jump start it.

The other thing is, you need to get moving pretty fast...like down a long hill.

Also, you need to disable the neutral start switch. Doing so on a modern car is probably impossible. actually, push starting anything with fuel injection is impossible as well, unless you have enough battery power to pressurize the fuel lines. And now that I’m thinking more about it, there is a lock on the gear selector lever on modern cars that won’t let you shift out of park without depressing the brake. If there’s no battery power at all, you may not be able to get it out of park.

I suppose it is theoretically possible to push start an automatic with a totally dead battery if you got moving fast enough...but I’ve never tried it and I’ve never heard of people doing it.


44 posted on 03/11/2010 3:59:35 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: mamelukesabre
fiat x1/9

The Toyota MR2 of its day.

45 posted on 03/11/2010 4:48:24 PM PST by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: mamelukesabre

ON the other hand, I can “jump-start” my Prius with a 12-volt hand drill battery, and a couple of 24-gauge alligator clips.


46 posted on 03/11/2010 6:46:07 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Are you sure? I would think it would take more than that.


47 posted on 03/11/2010 7:01:28 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: Spktyr

i didn’t know that when i made this post.


48 posted on 03/11/2010 7:23:51 PM PST by 1st Division guy
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To: mamelukesabre

You would also have to have an automatic that has a rear pump. You cannot do this with any car built in the last 20 years.


49 posted on 03/11/2010 7:29:19 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: mamelukesabre

Sure. I do it all the time. The Prius doesn’t use the “auxilliary battery” to run a starter. It’s just used to power up the computer. Once the computer is online, the computer-controlled inverter/regulator generates 12 volt and other power levels off the main traction battery. The electric motor/generator (smaller electric motor) is used to spin up the gas engine to idle speed if it needs to start the gas engine, and then it is fired to run it.

So all you need if your auxilliary battery is dead is enough power to get the computers to come online. The only reason you need more than a 9-volt transistor battery is that 9v is just a little too low a voltage, and the aux battery does draw down some power for recharging when you jump it.

THe 24-gauge wire gets pretty hot; I’d use 20-gauge, but 24-gauge allligator clips is what I have sitting around. I’ve heard others who use a 12-volt AA pack, but they disconnect the aux battery to start the computer.

You wouldn’t even NEED an auxilliary battery to start the car if it wasn’t for the fact that you need the computer to run the electronics to step down the traction battery voltage.

The reason I’ve jumped the car fairly often is that in the original Prius (2002 model), the aux battery was very small, and there are several things that draw power even when the car isn’t run at all. If you leave the original Prius sitting for 2 weeks, it will run down the battery (stupid design). People either start it up for a few minutes once a week, or disconnect the battery.

If you leave the indoor lights on in the car overnight, it also kills the battery.

In the hatchback version, the aux battery was bigger and you could leave the interior lights on overnight without killing the battery.


50 posted on 03/11/2010 7:39:08 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Spktyr
"You cannot do this with any car built in the last 20 years."

The last automatic built that had a rear pump was the full size iron case torqueflight that was discontinued at the end of the 1961 model year.

51 posted on 03/11/2010 7:47:09 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Democracy, the vilest form of government, pits the greed of an angry mob vs. the rights of a man)
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To: editor-surveyor

Some of the aluminum cased TF727s still were cast as if they could have had the rear pumps installed, had the appropriate machining have been performed at the factory.

While the 727 was the last domestic automatic that had that capability, it was not the last in sold in the US. That would be the Mercedes 722 series, which still had a rear pump right up until the early 90s.


52 posted on 03/11/2010 7:57:11 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: editor-surveyor

Hit send too soon - the 722s sold in the US that had this capability ended production in 1990, IIRC.


53 posted on 03/11/2010 7:59:31 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

Whoops, I was a bit off there - some 722s continued into the late 90s.

So unless you have a Mercedes or a Merc trans (some Jaguars and others) you haven’t been able to push start an automatic in over 30 years as best I can tell.


54 posted on 03/11/2010 8:04:27 PM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: mamelukesabre
there is a lock on the gear selector lever on modern cars that won’t let you shift out of park without depressing the brake.

There is frequently a release button. I've got one car with about a quarter inch by quarter inch little cover labeled 'shiftlock release' on the console near the shifter - I've never popped it open to see what I'd need to shove down in there to actually trigger it. Another car,you pried off the console cover, reached in beside the automatic shifter, and flipped a small, unmarked button that was normally fired electrically.

55 posted on 05/15/2010 9:53:53 PM PDT by PAR35
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