Posted on 02/08/2011 11:10:17 AM PST by OldDeckHand
WASHINGTON -- A government investigation into Toyota safety problems has found no electronic flaws to account for reports of sudden, unintentional acceleration.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I don't know how dumb he may have been, but he did call 911 for help.
That's dumb.
We watched the Fox news reality section on the lies re Toyota.
Our MSM probably did the lies to promote Government Motors, 1 and 2.
1 = the Former GM
2 = the Former Chrysler
Bingo for BigBobber!
“The whole problem was “caused” by Toyota closing it’s only union worker plant (NUMMI in Fremont CA)in America while keeping the non-union ones open.
It was a union payback courtesy of Obama and his cronies. Total shakedown scam.”
“Not flawed cars, idiot drivers.I fixed it”
Not flawed cars, flawed drivers. I fixed your fix, which was unnecessary.
Both of mine do NOT close the throttle on application of the brakes. That was the fix that was put on after this 'event'.
“So, does Toyota get their fines returned ?”
NO.
Toyota was fined because they failed to report knowledge of defects within the 5 day period required by law. The fines were attached to defects which Toyota did in fact put out recalls for. In the case of the 4Runner, it was a defect that there is evidence Toyota knew of for more than a decade before recalling the vehicles in Japan, then waited another year before recalling them in the US, despite the designs being identical.
There are a lot of people confusing the release of these findings with an exoneration of Toyota. If you read it carefully, it is obvious that what is being stated is that they were unable to find any evidence of a software or electronic problem behind Toyota’s high rate of unintended acceleration complaints (which started back in 2002, YEARS before these stories broke in the press). That does not say there wasn’t a problem - they clearly state that the only problems they have been able to find were the floor mat entrapment and sticky gas pedal issues.
Toyota clearly violated the law in these cases - heck, in one case, they recalled the vehicles in Canada and then waited 6 weeks to notify the US government and start a recall in the US of the identical vehicles.
So again - those fines were not related to simply having an unintended acceleration problem... they were for failure to notify the gov’t and take swift action when there was a known problem.
No - there were thousands of complaints before the news reports... the rate just skyrocketed even more afterwards as people jumped on the bandwagon.
Which was also incorrect. "Most" did not.
You must have never driven a 1960's drum-brake equipped car.
thanks ..that make sense.
Sure, if by software you mean those behind the wheel:
NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford said... the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.
No, it’s people trying to get out of accidents that are their fault. I knew the whole thing was a crock. I’ve owned 3 Toyotas since 2000 and have never seen anything like this. I’ll put my Toyota’s reliability up against a GM any day of the week.
Interesting. Thanks for the ping.
NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford said... the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.
The full quotation is this:
NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford said that in many cases when a driver complained that the brakes were ineffective, the most likely cause was "pedal misapplication," in which the driver stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.
I notice you cleverly replaced the words "that in many cases when a driver complained that the brakes were ineffective" with an ellipsis to subtly change the meaning of Mr. Medford's statement. "Many" is not quite the same thing as "all".
The conclusion of the NHTSA did not let Toyota off the hook for having had mechanical problems.
The software problem that Toyota did have (and has fixed as part of the recall process) was the failure to include a very simple safety feature in the "drive by wire" system that they (and many other manufacturers use) whereby hitting the brake pedal would override the throttle. So, if a defective pedal mechanism (or an errant floor mat) caused a signal to be sent to the car's engine management computer calling for a wide open throttle, applying the brakes would cause that signal to be overridden, thus avoiding a runaway situation and also preventing the loss of brake power assist.
I'm not saying this particular software problem was a direct cause of any of the runaway incidents, but it certainly made it more difficult for a driver to manage the situation.
You need to watch this video produced by Consumer Reports. It clearly shows the software issue that Toyota had, and has now fixed.
And then there is turning the ignition off.
I don’t believe that’s true. Before the press started reporting the supposed “issue” I’m pretty sure that Toyota had only gotten about 8 reports of unanticipated acceleration. A couple of them were actually a mechanical malfunction of some kind, but the rest were all floormat-jams of the pedal.
In the well-publicized case of the guy who called 911 and they recorded his whole call and crash... he was driving a loaner car that had mistakenly been outfitted by the dealer with floormats from an SUV model that didn’t fit correctly... and jammed against the pedal.
What’s a huge mystery is why he didn’t just hit the brakes, which would have stopped the car, or turned off the ignition, or popped it into neutral... any of which would also have stopped the car. That he didn’t try any of those things is unfathomable to me.
Nonsense. Toyota was fined because it was politically expedient to do so.
I had a 2002 Sequoia, my very favorite car of all time! Happened to me twice on the highway... no i am not elderly...yet. I kicked the gas pedal back towards me.
Worked both times. I replaced the floor mats due to a pending ski trip, never happened again.
Loved that car!
Driving an LTZ Tahoe now (10) What a piece of carp!
It has holes in it and is made of plastic.
Looking at the new Lexus SUV. Hoping my son’s 99 Lexus 300 RX dies soon so I’ll have an excuse!
It doesn’t matter whether there’s a throttle cut-off on the brake in a drive-by-wire system. The brakes can still overpower the the engine torque and stop the car. Such a cut-off might mitigate damage to the transmission or other parts... but as a safety issue applying the brakes will stop the car with or without it.
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