The Toyota Recall and What Nobody Talks About.

I had a very exiting moment in the early 1970's when I was heading west on Interstate 8 in San Diego. When I was halfway in to the sweeping left turn on to 163 South, my throttle stuck wide open in my Austin Healey 3000. I quickly turned the key to 12 o'clock position killing the engine, then waited an instant to let the engine compression slow the car a bit, then shifting into neutral and eventually coasting to a stop on the side of the freeway. That was standard procedure. I wasn't going that fast - maybe 60 or 70 miles per hour. Stopped on the side of the road, I opened the hood( the bonnet) and unjammed the primitive levers and pivot's that made up the throttle linkage. I then drove to the nearest Auto Parts Store and bought a couple of return springs and that was the end of my problem. I didn't even think about it again until I read about that Highway Patrolman and his family's horrible crash and burn in a Lexus loaner car from their dealer.
In this case, the Highway Patrolman did not have the option of turning off the engine. He had never read the manual and didn't know that you had to hold down the start button 3 full seconds before the engine would shut off(a lifetime in these situations). And it was a loaner car. But here is the real problem. He didn't have the option either of shifting into neutral, because because the software in the cars computer didn't have a variable for a stuck throttle. It had a variable for not allowing you to accidentally shift into neutral at speed, but no variable for a stuck throttle that would allow you to shift into neutral in an emergency. In other words, there was no mechanical override of the cars computer to allow him to shift the car into neutral at speed. And even if there was, it would have still taken too long to activate it in an emergency situation anyway. That family was doomed from the beginning of their ordeal.
The reporting in the media is trying to suggest that this tragedy happened because of some floor mats that didn't fit and this caused the crash. There might be something to that, but they still should have been able to stop the car safely. The wider recall by Toyota suggest to me that they need to completely rethink a few more things than the floor mats. Toyota has forgotten a few things about safety in emergencies.
If you drive a Bush 2 Administration Era Lexus and Toyota, remember about holding that start button down for 3 seconds to kill the engine. You probably won't have three seconds if your throttle sticks, but if you remember that little tidbit, you have a better shot at survival than that poor family did. By the way, the photo on the upper left is the 2010 Ferrari Formula One Car. I bet they have a variable for a stuck throttle. I bet that Ferrari could even shut the car off from the Pits electronically if they had to.