Posted on 03/28/2010 5:38:29 AM PDT by raptor22
Toyota chased General Motors for years until finally passing the General to become the world's largest automaker, and now...disaster. Reports of runaway Toyotas are all over the news. The ghost of 1980's Audi is haunting Toyota. Now, we have to find out if the problem is with the car or the driver.
Walter Olson at National Review and Richard A. Schmidt at the New York Times surprisingly have the same opinion: They both believe it is primarily driver error. They blame the runaway car problem on older drivers. The over-60 generation is taking it on the chin this year -- first the threat of death panels and cuts in medicare, and now this.
In fact, I believe that driver error is the least likely cause of most of these accidents. I agree with both authors that the majority of unintended acceleration claims against Audi in the mid-eighties was more than likely thanks to driver error. The sensationalized "60 Minutes" story almost put Audi out of business. However, that doesn't mean that we are seeing the same situation now.
Elderly drivers stepping on the wrong pedal by mistake is just one possibility that investigators are looking into. The list of possible culprits includes sticking accelerator pedals, out-of-place floor mats, a computer glitch, and even cosmic rays. Let's examine each of these potential causes one by one.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
No, it's deliberate slander by the socialist state controlled media.
Most cars today have some form of throttle control that the computer actually controls. I have not seen any discussion about that. It could simply be that the car's computer takes over during some malfunction and causes the car's "throttle" to go to full open.
We really have to quit with this mild speculation BS. Being overly consumed with turning every stone is insane when the plain and simple truth is that the Marxist administration wants Toyota trashed because it’s non union. End of story.
The article mentions a few important things : A tragedy (That I hadn’t heard) of a State Police officer, off duty, with his family in a loaner Lexus. Car jumped to over 100 mph. All occupants died. That’s a professionally trained driver !
Steve Wozniak of Apple had an unintended accel problem, taking him to 97 mph without being to slow it. He finally got it slowed, perhaps understanding the software and how to cancel commands. (I’m being serious.. I would immediately think to to override software instead of just screaming)
Then studies that show the “long press” of the start button taking 3.3 seconds to work in a Camry. That same V6 Camry went from 60 mph to 80 mph during that time. 3 seconds is an eternity.
These cars and their toys are getting out of hand. I blame a lot of things - not just Toyota specifically.
I think there’s too much technology involved these days.
When it isn’t malfunctioning and siezing control from the driver, its allowing the driver’s mind to wander away from the road. Same with trains and planes.
Now’s the time to get a Toyota for 0% interest for five years, no money down. I just did.
Why won’t Toyota release the black box info and the code to read it. That would settle the arguement.
You got that right.
Forcing people into smaller and smaller vehicles by mandate and brow beating them has resulted in people driving vehicles that are physically incompatible.
I've had difficulty with my size 13 feet also hitting the gas pedal at the same time as the brake on even large SUVs’.
Perhaps for once we should examine the facts and the truth before we drag CEOs’ in front of the most corrupt, lying and disgusting group of morons ever assembled in one location.
Is It Driver Error? even CNN did a report that most of the run away cars happened near high voltage grid systems most cars have shielded computers might be the problem.
People have been stepping on gas instead of brakes for decades . Suddenly its the factories fault!
I cannot claim to be any type of expert in this area, but I have been responding to car accidents for over 20 years as a professional firefighter. I am no big fan of Toyotas, the only foreign car I have owned in my life was a little Mazda GLC. But I would tend to question whether Toyotas have any worse safety record than any other brand of automobile. This reminds me of many other primrily lawyer based auto safety scares... tipsy Suzuki Samaris, Chevy trucks that explode, Firestone tires causing roll-overs... in the end they all turned out to be mostly hype.
I wouldn’t necessarily blame driver error, although in my experience many persons blame their car after they screw up. Many of us have had a throttle stick on us during our driving experiences. I know I have. Most persons who have had it happen managed to deal with it without getting in an accident. In the 67 Ford of my youth, all I had to do was turn the key off. In most newer cars the safest option is to shift the car into neutral which is what my wife had to do in her old Plymouth.
The tragic accident with the Law Enforcement Officer most likely could have been avoided if he would have shifted the car into neutral. And by the way... if you accidently shifted it into park the pin won’t catch until the vehicle is almost stopped which most the time won’t actually cause an expensive repair. When I took drivers education, part of the course dealt with mechanical malfunctions and emergencies.
We can argue about why the cars accelerate, but we then have to argue about why they never put on the brakes.
Primary power wires generate strong magnetic fields. Most shielding--and car electronics goes through extensive interference testing--is designed to protect against electrostatic and electromagnetic fields, but is less effective against low frequency (60 Hz for power) magnetic fields. You need to remember a little physics to undertand the difference. I suppose it's worth looking into.
Give the the computer another input besides braking an interrupt command. Set the cruise control and turn off cruise.
Not necessarily. The black box records what the vehicle does, not what the driver does. If the accelerator pedal electronically controls the acceleration, instead of the old fashioned mechanical linkage, it would show the same results if either pedal was pushed to the floor, or a failure of the electronics told the computer the pedal was to the floor.
The computer data from all the cars systems is carried on a common data bus. A short circuit or failure of any component on the data bus could affect other systems.
“Is It Driver Error?”
]Double Hell no!. I have been driving a Prius since they were introduced. Never had a problem. Not one.!
The new 2010’s have a unique cruise control however, Unlike american cruise controls, holding up or down on the cruise lever for more than 3 seconds the unit will advance 5 mph and continue to increase 5mph as long as you hold it up or down.
Most american cars just execrate until you let go. I have mentioned this to the dealer and they were unaware of this change. It is in the manual however; but who ever reads the fine print. Toyota should make this new change in really bold print.
That said, they are the greatest cars since the NSX.
Another example of our tax dollars at work propping this azzhole up.
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