There are a couple of important points which have been left out of the whole Toyota discussion:
- 1) The braking system in 'modern day' vehicles will slow and stop most, if not all, vehicles with a Wide Open Throttle (WOT). I have seen demonstrations of the brakes overcoming WOT at various starting speeds and with a number of different vehicles. I have not seen it tested with the specific Toyotas, however I expect the Toyota braking system can overcome the WOT.
2) Many WOT cases involve misidentification of the pedal (see information on the Audi 5000). The driver simply continues to 'slam' on what they think is the brake, but what is actually the gas pedal, so the vehicle does not slow down and stop.
3) Pumping the brake with anti-lock brakes is wrong. Anti-lock braking systems already pump the brakes for you. For low friction cases some drivers trained on pre-anti-lock braking systems had instructions to pump the brakes (to prevent brake lockup in the older vehicles). DO NOT pump the brakes with anti-lock brakes (you might lift your fiit off once to see if 'the brakes' are actually 'the gas pedal' (per item 2 above)
4) Using the `parking brake' may also be a wrong. It is not an `emergency brake' as has been identified in many articles related to the Toyotas. Using the 'parking brake' may result in the vehicle swapping ends (a locked end wants to lead! see information on the GM X-Cars) depending on the type and configuration of the vehicle and how the `parking brake' is implemented..
5) Turning the vehicle off does not disable steering and braking. It merely disables the power assist for steering and braking.
6) Before driving ANY vehicle you should familiarize yourself with the On/Off system and the shifting system. How do you turn it off while in motion? What happens? How do you shift into neutral while in motion? What happens? Do these things in an open parking lot or long street wihout traffic to familiarize yourself with the vehicle.
I have investigated many 'unintended acceleration' cases over the years.
I have also been in several different vehicles where the gas pedal has become stuck and the vehicle remains or goes into Wide Open Throttle (WOT). In those cases (from 10, 20 & 23 years ago) I was able to reach down and untangle the gas pedal and then proceed as usual.