It is really not bad at all.

I would advise everyone to get the modification. The floor-mat-induced UA is a very real possibility and it is life threatening.

I'm usually very careful about these things, and I took care to use a genuine Toyota mat specifically designed for this car and installed exactly according to instructions, and it happened to me - twice!

Even if you have no floor mats at all, there is always the possibility that one of our cars could one day wind up in the hands of someone else unaware of the danger. We could be saving their life.

Will post a picture over the weekend.

 

I tested tonight ... when it's in neutral I put me foot all the way down and nothing happened. The ICE didn't rev at all.

 

Exactly as advertised (and very different from what it does in any other shifter selection).

That is precisely why the very best way to deal with an unintended acceleration is to shift immediately into neutral.

This worked like a charm for me in mt second UA event.

 

Haroldo had the same results as I did. Move the lever to neutral and the engine goes to idle. The gas pedal becomes useless If sitting still the car won't even move in neutral, even if you floor the accelerator.

Warning, if you move the selector to neutral while driving, your now on your physical brakes. Although they will slow the car rapidly you may have to use added brake pedal pressure to do so.

I confused myself in thinking, press the brakes would release the accelerator when. Now I know, I was thinking of it releasing the cruise control instead.

 

Not to nitpick, but idle is, I believe, a low rate of RPM of the engine. In my experiment, ICE was off completely. Is that what you meant?

 

Jimmy said:

"Haroldo had the same results as I did. Move the lever to neutral and the engine goes to idle. "

Larry clarified"

In the middle, I had said:

"Exactly as advertised (and very different from what it does in any other shifter selection).

That is precisely why the very best way to deal with an unintended acceleration is to shift immediately into neutral.

This worked like a charm for me in mt second UA event."

Further to this, I add:

I observe that shifting to neutral results in the system exchanging no power to (or from) the wheels and it also either sets the engine to idle or shuts it off (probably cuts fuel) according to whether or not the system needs to run the engine; e.g. to warm up.

It seems to me that the engine is either idled or shut off according to conditions in the the same manner as it would be in drive with foot off of accelerator pedal; e.g while stopped in drive.

 

How did the mat get loose from the retaining clip? I tried to remove mine for cleaning but gave up because it was too difficult.

 

Apparently some floor mats are long enough and with forward ridges that even properly restrained the bottom of the gas pedal gets stuck in a ridge.

 

Why? I believe the TCH brakes are not dependent on engine vacuum. I believe they are electrically assisted as in the Prius. Steering assist is also electric as is the A/C etc.

 

The Prius has an electric Brake Boost pump and a small accumulator tank to store the energy.

JeffD