Read this article carefully:

The company is making steel plates in Japan that will be used to fill a gap in the pedals and prevent the risk of sticking that triggered the recall, said John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. unit. CTS Corp., which made the original pedals, is delivering modified pedals to Toyota’s North American plants to help restart idled assembly lines, he said.

“We have very high confidence in the durability of the field remedy, that it’s as good as the factory remedy,” Hanson said. “The kits are being produced in large quantities, and dealers may start getting them as early as Friday.”

This morning on CNBC Toyota USA's President had this to say - listen carefully:

In October and December Toyota blamed floor mats trapping the accelerator pedal and then "sticking" accelerator pedal parts.  And if you remember there was a well-reported fatal crash blamed on this:

CHP Officer Mark Saylor, 45; his wife, Cleofe, 45; his daughter, Mahala, 13; and his brother-in-law, Chris Lastrella, 38, were all killed in the Aug. 28 crash in Santee. 

Police said someone in the 2009 Lexus ES 350 called 911 just after 6:30 p.m. to report that the car's accelerator was stuck. The car was a loaner because Saylor had dropped off his regular vehicle for service. 

Witnesses say the Lexus was going about 100 mph on northbound state Route 125 when it slammed into the rear of a Ford Explorer, plowed over a curb and went through a fence before hitting an embankment and going airborne. 

The Lexus reportedly rolled several times before bursting into flames in the San Diego River Basin. 

Toyota, which makes Lexus cars, recalled the "all-weather" floor mats in its 2008 version of that model because of complaints about them sliding forward and jamming the accelerator. 

Later reports alleged that inspection of the vehicle showed that the brakes were destroyed - that is, the driver attempted to stop and the brakes overheated to destruction.

This sort of problem is exacerbated in modern cars without traditional ignition switches and/or electronic transmission controls.  The two "traditional" ways of dealing with a runaway like this (and which was in fact covered back in my youth when I took driver's education) are to either turn off the ignition (one click only so you don't accidentally lock the steering column!) or shift to neutral.  The former disables power steering so you may find it more difficult to steer to a safe place while the latter may be impossible with an electronically-controlled transmission (it may deny the shift under load irrespective of your command in an attempt to protect the transmission from destruction.)  Shutting off an electronic ignition is difficult in a panic situation as electronic ignition switches require that you press and hold them for several seconds to command a shutdown when the car is in gear - not exactly something you're going to find easy to do when the gas pedal is mashed to the floor and you're trying to avoid collisions!

But not all cars can "run away" in this fashion, and it can be argued that none should.  Indeed, it can be argued that that any vehicle with a drive-by-wire system MUST have a means of intuitively overriding an "un-commanded" acceleration in order to be considered reasonably safe and thus able to be certified for sale.

Guess what: Some cars with "drive-by-wire" throttles do have such a safety override.

VWs (I own a diesel Jetta) are indeed set up to prevent this sort of event from happening.  If you press BOTH the gas pedal and brake on a VW the brake "wins" - the ECU (engine computer) sees the brake switch is "on" and reduces the engine to idle even if you are stomping the gas pedal - or it is stuck - at the same time.

This safety function has to be able to be overridden, especially in manual transmission vehicles, in order to be able to reasonably launch on an incline - or if there's a failure in the brake switch (lest the vehicle become immediately un-drivable.)  VWs include that - it's documented in the owner's manual and ALSO quite intuitive - if you press the accelerator while the brake is applied the engine will not rev, but if you "double tap" the accelerator pedal the safety measure is overridden for the moment and you can accelerate as required.  If the brake switch sticks on you can still drive the car - you do, however, have to "double tap" the gas pedal to command acceleration in this circumstance.

Note what's NOT in the "official" Toyota announcement by Toyota USA's statement above - any mention of a software change, as Toyota's President asserts that the software is perfectly ok - and safe.

But then we have Autonation's CEO, and this is what he said this morning - listen specifically at 6:00 into this clip - at 6:30 Autonation's CEO confirms that they're changing the software!

Why is it that Toyota USA's President didn't bother to mention the software? 

Is Autonation (a Toyota dealer) misinformed or is Toyota trying to bury any mention of part of the fix - that it is changing ECU software?

You decide whether Toyota has been and is now being straight with people or not.

I'll keep driving my VW Jetta, which came from the factory with a documented intuitive safety override for any sort of "stuck accelerator" fault, along with a documented (in the owner's manual) means to override it should that become desirable - or necessary.

Disclosure: No position in Toyota or any of the parts manufacturers involved.

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