Toyota to Offer Brake Override Systems as Standard

The Japanese manufacturer Toyota might have found the solution to fix its largest recall ever: installing brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus and Scion models. Basically, such a system could prevent unintended acceleration, which proved to be the cause of several accidents and even deaths in the last months of 2009.

At that time, a recall affecting 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicle in the United States informed that certain models are equipped with incompatible floor mats that could block the throttle pedal. However, after further investigation, it has been revealed that some cars lost their brakes entirely, while the cars kept accelerating.

The brake override system would automatically bring the engine into idle mode in case it detects that the driver presses the brake pedal with no effect.

“If the pedal is stuck, tampered with, no matter what the pedal is doing, the engine will go into idle,” Toyota spokesman Mike Michels told Autonews, explaining the way the system acts.

The Japanese manufacturer has already installed such systems on Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 and plans to make it standard on all vehicles by the end of the year, Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota North America Inc.

Toyota's officials haven't mentioned the sum to be spent on the installation but earlier rumors suggested that the Japanese manufacturer would need up to $5 billion to correct the issues. However, it was initially believed that Toyota would have to replace the accelerator pedals entirely, an operation that would result in a cost per car of $1,315.