I'm sure all of us agree that operators should be responsible for their actions as coincidently all adults should be but I think the gentleman was attempting to find the mechanical or electrical failure or anomaly at the root of the issue he's having. I haven't had time to attempt to replicate the problem but the way the speed control works on the toy trucks allows the unit to accelerate to speed normally until the desired speed is reached based on a gear tooth counter in the diff. if you have ever driven one you noticed that the truck will go just past the speed then RPM's will drop and speed will drop and level off at the preset level. It may be that rapid reversing allows extended acceleration time at high RPM levels as the desired pulse from the sensor is not reached and this could allow at least temporary access to speeds above the preset level. just a thought.

Guys, there is a good article in the archives on this site concerning just this issue. It basically states that if your floor supervisors are not knowledgable in proper use and safe operation of powered equipment, how can you rely on them to identify and correct issues concerning THEIR operators. I agree, management somtimes does not understand the undermining effect simply "Painting" a unit will have on ensuring operators are held accountable. Operator accountability is vital to maintaining costs and staying within budgets. Not to mention the HUGE safety aspect all of us here already understand.

I concur with TC17's response. There should be zero tolerance for this kind of vandalism, tampering with a safety feature, creating an unsafe work condition/circumstance, and blatant waste of company time.
Sadly, the same operator mentality that is the root cause of stuff like this is quite common in the occupation.
Regarding the "too much time on my hands" remark. How true!
Many years ago on our dock, one of our fairly new (then) Komatsu FG20ST-12s was repainted completely (including wheels and tires) to "John Deere Green" by what must have been a "team effort" using spray can paint (which was pilfered from a damaged shipping carton that had been placed in the damage claims holding area). One has to wonder why the supervisors on duty did not get skewered for allowing something like this happening on their watch. To my knowledge the culprits were never identified (thick as thieves crew) and management back then did not even seem too concerned about it. In fact, it was our shop mechanics who had to report the incident to the dock managers. Their reaction was more like mild amusement instead of a sober and serious determination to address the situation for what it really represented.

Good morning everyone, at least it is here in Wisconsin. After reading this I printed it off and talked to our head fleet maitenance mechanic and he said that it is extremely unlikely that it could be over ridden by shifting from reverse to forward very rapidly. If it does there is a malfunction in the system somewhere. With that said we also agree that either the lift truck operators have way too much time on their hands to be trying ways to override the system, no matte what they are doing, or someone has given them the access codes to make the changes which should be a strict no - no, as we are talking sfaety issues here and if they are overriding the system in other means, this could be over riding the warranty as well. I would have the manager give AN EFFECTIVE NOW WARNING and let it be known, if the employee responsible is caught making these alterations, immediate termination will be the result.

I agree with toyzilla, somebody on your floor knows how to get into your speed control. Do your trucks have the optional display with buttons to the left? Or do you guys use handsets to diagnose the trucks? Had the same issue here on both the 7FBCU30 and 8HBE30 units. The riders can be locked out using the service tool, but the sitdowns cannot. Im sure Toyota will offer some type of dual locking passcode on their sitdowns real soon.

actually sounds more likely to be some thing to do with speed control than governor operations. you would need to change the tach input to the ecu to change the gov perameters. it can be done but would take a lot of trial and error

Issue's like this really need to be shown to Toyota so they can work out / release a fix.

We found a software issue with the BT RRE Reflex the other year that allowed people in to the calibration menus without a BT can key if they did a certain sequence of button presses.

Sent BT technical an email with the instructions on how they where getting in to the menus & a software update to fix the issue was released inside 3 weeks.

They used to pull off the meters (they just pull away from the dash and unplug from underneath) and the machine will run wide open until the meter is replaced, but they got a huge reprimand over that. I would suspect when they get caught they will be escorted straight off the premises and likely with the shift foreman too as it is a very serious safety issue. I also know it has happened at one of our other terminals that have 40 or so machines. Our machines are all 8FGCU25's across the country and all have SAS as well as a dealer installed seat switch.

overriding a governor on a lifttruck is a major safety violation no matter how they achieve it

set an example
if you catch one of them doing it?
give them a free ride on the short bus to the unemployment line,
that should cure the problem and the other drivers should drive like they have a brain ;o)

I don't see how that could affect the signal from the ECU to the throttle motor on the 8F.
The ECU uses the tachometer signal to sense RPM and then governs the operation of the throttle motor to limit the RPM.
If the trucks have SAS on them, there are some other parameters fed into the ECU such as vehicle speed, mast height, mast tilt angle and steer axle yaw from sensors. The RPM is reduced on SAS models according to input to the ECU from sensors about the conditions the truck is operating under at any given time.
I fail to see how the action you describe could make such a complex watchdog system go haywire, but if this does turn out to be possible.........Toyota has a huge liability problem being dumped into their lap.
Have you actually seen some damage that could be attributed to excessive RPM/vehicle speed or is it just anecdotal rumour that makes you ask?