[JimWayne]

And why don’t the drivers stop depressing the gas pedal?

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

And why don’t the drivers stop depressing the gas pedal?

Ummmm... the cruise control did it... was stuck on 120 MPH... LOL....

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I believe that the problem stems from the cruise control. I think that it takes control of the throttle.

Many reports from the people that have experienced these problems state that they made numerous attempts to turn off the key and that did not work either.

[BlueDragon]

And why don’t the drivers stop depressing the gas pedal?

They do. But it's not like the old days, when the gas pedal was linked to an actual throttle valve which would shut by spring tension when one took their foot off the pedal.

I've never dug into one, or looked at a manual for one, but it's sort-of like "fly by wire", in that control inputs are picked up by sensors, which send signals to a computer, which then (I'm assuming) sends electric impulse to variable servos?

When sensors send bad outputs, either due to localized mechanical sticking or bad erroneous output, computers get confused, or undesirable feedback loops result? Something along those lines, if it's not simply a stuck sensor or control module --- or even computer error, alone?

I'm getting the impression that even Toyota is wondering "what the... hey?"

I hate computers in cars, though they can do wonders for performance, and/or fuel economy.