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"If the throttle and brake are both pressed, it gives the brakes priority and sets the throttle to idle."

1. This morning's news said that Toyota was considering just that as a fix. Apparently their cars don't have any similar system today.

2. It's only been a week or so since the news was all about failure of push button ignitions to shut down when drivers tried to cut power. Seems in that case the various makers use several differing systems, all with different rites to make them work.

3. It is likely that most people who can pass the driver's test will forget or misapply the proper kabuki to "give the brakes priority and set the (electronic) throttle to idle" when their car starts to do the thinking for them.

4. Finally, and admitting to being an automotive neanderthal; you're driving a computer!
After decades living with these things the thought of handing my life over to a consumer level robot scares hell out of me...how many here have not listened to someone's car alarm going off at random when there is no apparent cause?

Today's cars, for all the reasons cited in this thread, are simply too complex to avoid run aways and a multitude of other failures totally independent of the driver.

Unless you are willing to pay for aircraft style safety systems (which have been known to fail), or someone comes up with a panic button and wire loom guillotine, this same thing can, at some time or another, happen to any car being sold today.

Stuck throttles are hardly new. Throttles have been getting impossibly stuck since there have been throttles.

Throttle cables and return springs are just as likely to stick, and can be impossible to get unstuck.

Kabuki? You don’t need to do anything to get the Chrysler DBW system to set the throttle to idle. It does so automatically if the throttle is open and the brake is pressed. No kabuki necessary. If the throttle sticks, press on the brake, and the engine returns to idle.

Same for the system on VW/Audi cars.

All push button start/stop systems work the same way, actually. Tap or hold to stop the engine. Tap if you are in park, hold if you are in gear.

Infiniti has gone a step further and programmed it’s system to recognize repeated tapping as an attempt to shut off the engine, which was a good idea.

I’m in my early forties, and I’m quite used to driving a computer. I love all the gadgets in my Jeep. They all work well.

Brake assist to recognize a panic stop attempt and apply maximum braking force for me. All speed traction control to help me keep control when it’s slippery. Hill descent control to prevent a downhill runaway. Hill start assist to hold the vehicle stationary on a hill until I press on the throttle. Electronic throttle that recalibrates itself in 4low to give me far better control of my engine speeds off road. Etc., Etc,. Etc.

All of it works and works well.

The hill descent control is flipping amazing. Put it in 4low and hit the button, and it will crawl slowly down the hill all by itself. All you gotta do is steer it.

Can’t do that sort of stuff with a carburetor and a cable.