Sudden Unintended Stupidity

Many are crucifying Toyota for alleged design flaws that "cause" Sudden Unintended Acceleration. First, this phenomenon is not new and is not in any way limited to Toyota. Second, the #1 cause of SUA is the incompetent driver behind the wheel. Some schmuck stomps on the gas instead of the brakes, is too panicked to remove their foot from the accelerator, take the vehicle out of gear, turn off the ignition, attend to the steering or any other controls or any other effective solution for the problem and subsequently crashes, causing great property or bodily damage. The loose nut behind the wheel is then unable to come to terms with his or her responsibility in the incident and chooses to blame the inanimate object (which cannot defend itself, especially in the absence of unbiased witnesses).

Fact #1: All vehicles have much stronger brakes than motors. No matter what vehicle you choose, the braking distance from a certain speed is much shorter than the distance it takes to accelerate at full throttle to that speed. This is true even of all-wheel-drive and 4-wheel-drive vehicles as well as family cars, exotic supercars and subcompacts. This is always true. Period. What this means is that it is always possible to slow down or stop your vehicle, even if the vehicle is left in gear at full throttle.

Fact #2: It is more common than you might think (or want to admit) for people to inadvertently step on the wrong pedal, even when they are intimately familiar with the vehicle and have been driving it for years. I've even done it myself. The difference is that I immediately knew and understood what happened and removed my foot from the incorrect pedal and applied it to the correct one. This situation can be compounded with another uncomfortably common occurrence, which is having the vehicle in reverse when one thinks it is in drive, or vice versa.

Fact #3: Even if you aren't convinced that your vehicle's brakes are stronger than its engine, there is always the option to take it out of gear. Once the drivetrain has been disconnected from the engine, the throttle position becomes irrelevant. In neutral but with the engine running, you still have unlimited use of your power brakes and steering.

Fact #4: The final solution is that you can turn off the ignition, and once again the throttle position is irrelevant. This solution is not ideal if you have power steering and/or brakes, but it is guaranteed to slow the vehicle down. Power brakes have a vacuum reservoir, so as long as you don't pump your brakes or otherwise irrationally use up vacuum they will still bring you to a stop without drama. If you run out of assist, use both feet and the power of both legs if necessary. There's always the "emergency brake" (aka "hand brake" or "parking brake"), which only acts on the rear wheels but works the same regardless of whether the engine is running or not. The steering can be more of an issue if you're traveling down the road, but the faster you're going the easier it is to steer, so higher speeds are less of a problem, and the worst part will be the last few feet as you roll to a stop.

True, some poor design choices can exacerbate the situation, such as poorly placed pedals and wayward carpeting, but part of owning a vehicle is being completely familiar with all the controls and any possible problems, as well as responsibly taking care of preventive maintenance. All too many people drive their vehicles into the ground and do no maintenance to speak of until after a problem has already occurred. There is no excuse for that. If you have time to drive a vehicle and money to fuel it then you have the time and money to maintain it.

The thing is, this phenomenon has been occurring since long before the advent of "drive-by-wire" systems. People have been accusing vehicles with 100% mechanical systems (which were closely inspected and found to be operating completely normally), of suddenly jumping to Wide Open Throttle for decades. In those days it was truly impossible, not just extremely improbable, for such a situation to occur without human error being the one and only instigating factor. These days, with fuel efficiency (prompting drive-by-wire throttles and in some cases even brakes and electrically assisted steering) and gee-whiz gimmicks (such as keyless push-button starting/ignitions) taking precedence over safety and common sense, there is a very, very, very slim chance that multiple simultaneous malfunctions could cause spontaneous WOT, maybe even without the option of killing the ignition, but I have yet to be made aware of a vehicle that cannot be taken out of gear and the brakes employed regardless of every other circumstance.

Bottom Line:
A vehicle doesn't jump to full throttle all by itself. It can only stick there if the operator of the vehicle has pressed it there, which means that a) the full-throttle condition is 100% the fault of the operator and b) the ensuing consequences are 100% the fault of the operator. Even in that .000001% of the cases where numerous simultaneous malfunctions combine to create a spontaneous WOT condition, there are too many easy and obvious solutions to blame the vehicle for an incompetent driver's poor judgment and skills.

The Real Dope:
This is yet another of the myriad symptoms of a society that refuses to take responsibility for its actions, either on a group or individual level. It is so ingrained in our daily lives that even when our lives depend on owning up to the problem and taking appropriate action, we panic and blame someone (or something) else instead.