UAE police rescues Toyota driver after cruise control stuck at 120 kph
Ras Al Khaimah Police rescued an Emirati driver, whose Land Cruiser’s cruise control system got stuck at 120 kph on Emirates Road, which wouldn’t allow the car to decelerate or even stop.
The Emirati driver was going at speeds of around 120 kph in his Toyota Land Cruiser when he realised he could not slow down anymore, and called the police.
According to 7Days newspaper, an official from RAK police said, “We received the report from Umm Al Quwain Police saying that the vehicle will enter RAK borders and needed help.”
Police dispatched ambulance and rescue staff immediately after they received a call from the panicking driver informing of them of the cruise control glitch. Within four minutes of hearing the call, a senior official also reached the Land Cruiser and tried to overtake the speeding vehicle attempting to slow down the car before it reached the final roundabout at the end of the highway.
The driver had earlier tried to slow down the vehicle by engaging the handbrake but the car started to veer sideways. According to Khaleej Times newspaper, he decided to flash his lights towards motorists in front of him to give way.
The rescue staff kept him on the phone as they surrounded him to clear off his way, while the senior official stayed in front of the Land Cruiser, eventually slowing him down using the handbrake till he steered right at the roundabout and crashed into the sand dunes on the road side. The vehicle was not damaged, and the motorist was not injured, but he had apparently gone mute for a while due to the terrifying experience.
The incident had occurred two weeks ago, but details were only released yesterday.
Simon Frith, Managing Director of Al-Futtaim Motors, released a statement regarding the incident, saying they are “offering full support to the respective authorities to determine the facts surrounding the Land Cruiser incident which happened earlier this month. Until the vehicle has been fully inspected and tested, we are unable to make any further comment.”
Comments
Sidharth
Freaky.
asad
there is some problem with lancruiser,i use to own 2008 model and 1day suddenly when i turned the ignition on the breaks turned out to be failed and first i thought might be a glitch in the system but then the abs system had fault and electric failure occured although my car was in warranty they charged me 7500dhs :s
royer
what is this? seems to be becoming regular news every now and then, on the other hand yahoo had posted similar artical but they had landcrusier prado photograph with article titled as UAE driver is going to sue Toyota for Landcrusier incident.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
It’s unclear what model-year the car is, but Al Futtaim Motors mentioned a Land Cruiser.
AbuDhabiCars
Its a 2009 Model. Gulf news says so + you can easily make that out in the video at 1:57 .
Amer
Mash, Then what about the incident in saudi that you reported…was the story you posted on DA made up by toyota KSA…
Runaway Saudi Toyota Land Cruiser story is a hoax
https://www.drivearabia.com/news/2012/07/24/runaway-saudi-toyota-land-cruiser-story-speeding-window-break-shoot-police-abu-dhabi/
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
There is no confirmation that this story is true either. And anything can happen in Saudi Arabia.
Hasan
ThaT land cruiser was also from UAE
Which was in Saudi Arabia
So I don’t what’s the story going on so it better we don’t blame any agent or country
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
It’s clearly a KSA number plate in the KSA story.
Dazzitfcuk
LMAO……..Seriously!!!!
Could this be the One & Only Landcruiser on the entire planet where the gearshift has NO Neutral Position 😉
Perhaps this is the model where the Cruise Control locks the gear shifter…..hahahaha
What an utter load of garbage this story is, not only is it totally unbelievable it’s also implausible.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the only problem with the car was the guy behind the wheel…..!!!
Amer
Mash, Similar to the comment above, i have a technical question, at any given speed if the car(Automatic Transmission) is forced shifted to neutral what is the outcome…can you enlighten us please?
Dazzitfcuk
As the engine was SUPPOSEDLY stuck in Cruise Control if you shift the car into neutral the engine revs will be maintained as the throttle is still in effect engaged.
Apart from a screaming engine (120kmh around 3,000 rpm) that will be all that happens, but then you just turn the key to stop the engine, another possible option I forgot to add to my brilliant 1st post. -2 votes really……Sarcasm truly is lost to all apart from the British 🙂
Prakhar
ok the throttle is still maintained… but shifting to N is a mechanical process and the gears are released giving no power to the drive train… then it is just like revving at neutral
shafiq
if cruise control was stuck at 120 then it should have started moving again after it was veered off right? or since theses cars have a mind of their own it decide to stop.
mitch
This is very worrying. I’m waiting to see what they come up with, any offcial result of the investigation. I have a Prado and I use the cruise control every day. After this stories I started to pay attention to see if it gets stuck. That should not be the case. Shame….
However, what I dont get is why has only happened to Land Cruiser’s? The other toyota models have the same cruise control system, don’t they?
Shibu Daniel
So much for being reliable. I’d rather buy a Touareg rather than the Prado or a Mercedes ML instead of the LC.
rock
i think its happened coz of modification
they modify the ECU’s of da cars or jeeps
then they faced these type of problems
samer
What is everybody is saying here …. Toyotas are divine cars that came from heaven … nobody should be talking about them …. it is a Taboo … repent before it is too late … repent people …..
bunkie79
I am not sure why heddid not shift it manual mode and reduce gear . I own an LC and it is possible.
I have owned hondas, cadillacs before they all seem creepy when using the cruise control, the vehicle does seem out of control. Hence I never use it
I know some in Oman having a 2008 , 5.7 V8 LC which is modified for speed and the guys who did it disengaged the cruise control system.
Prakhar
If its disengaged then it probably wouldn’t engage in the first place…
I think it is all BS because its always possible to shift it to N
MuK
There is no 5.7 V8 LC, 2008 model in Oman. 🙂 Have a nice day!
bunkie79
Should read 2008, 4.7 V8 not 5.7
Ironman
Toyota and alfuttaim need to seriously think about safety on their vehicles.
I wanted to purchase the fj cruiser but i found out that alfuttaim had taken off the side curtain airbags from their 2010 model onwards just to cut costs. Needless to say, Ive put my purchase on hold.
samer
They remove the airbags and remote start engine feature which was available in 2009 and increased the price by 15000 AED, but frankly, it is not their fault or not to be blamed, it is the people who still go and buy stripped toyotas even if they only have an engine and 4 wheels and pay high prices for them happily
Shahzad Haider
Since this kind of issues are happening, one should come with the suggestion or steps to follow in this situation. Cruse Control is a daily use thing, so being a responsible media you should come up with how to react in this situation ?
Thanks
Shahzad Haider
Should we except some article on addressing this problem….?
Please reply…
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
There is no proof that this is even real, especially since it involves a 25-year-old and a white Land Cruiser. But if this really happens to you, press brake, slip into neutral and keep starter button pressed. If none of them work, use parking brake slowly. If it still doesn’t work, you’re screwed, unless you can find a sandy patch to jam the car in.
vivek
I have read this news article in Emirates 24/7 and Gulf News. Both the articles have mentioned that the driver, an Emirati dude, did apparently try to shift the gear to neutral and possibly even the manual mode, but the system was “unresponsive”. Check this statement by him, an excerpt from Emirates 24/7->
Mulla told the Arabic language daily Emarat Alyoum that his car suffered from a complete failure and that he could not use its gear and other systems.
“I tried to use all the electronic systems in the car to stop it but all of them did not work…I will sue Al Futaim agents for this failure which put my life in danger so this will not happen again with other drivers,” he said.
EmmaRatty
Sounds like a hit man was hired to knock this dude off 🙂
Never in a million years will an electronic failure interfere with the mechanical action of operating a gearshift…….this guy clearly has been watching too many movies and his grip on reality has deminished 😉
Sahmed
If you move the gearshit to N, it will disengage the gears and car will rev far above the normal 2500-3500rpm at 120kph… and then the fuel cut off will cause it to bounce of the redline.
At which point you just remove the keys…
Come on guys… this is a joke.
It’s funnier when Toyota sues the guy for defamation.
samer
In fact there are many complains about the LC electric issues and how sometimes it just go dead, my cousin has 2012 LC that he bought like a year ago, he called 2 weeks ago and told me the car is dead is not willing to start, i went to him with a friend and the car was totally dead, not even a light or anything in the car, we tried to jump start it, when e connected the cables from our battery to his, the dashboard and lights came to life but it refused to start, we took the car to the dealer and he said it is the battery, frankly I never saw any car with a dead battery doing this, first the battery give indications that it is getting weaker, second, when you jump start the car should start or at least for the ignition system to run but the engine wont start, but this one was completely dead
Mohammed
Your cousin must have left his cabin/interior lights on.
ROJ
Shifting to N is mechanical.. I dont understand how it does not work.. Unless it is an electric shifter like the one found in bimmers of jaguars..
If this was the case then It might sound convincing otherwise it likely bullshit..
Hi
Ya Toyota should sue this guy for being dumb