Electronic Flaws Did Not Cause Toyota Problem, U.S. Says

nytimes.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp., which built its reputation in the U.S. on safety and reliability, has been cleared by the government of electronic problems in its vehicles. Now it needs to convince consumers that it has put its safety recalls in the rear view mirror.

The Transportation Department said Tuesday that electronic flaws were not to blame for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration. Since 2009, Toyota has recalled more than 12 million vehicles globally over safety problems. The government's new findings bolstered Toyota's contention that the company had directly dealt with the problems through its recalls and is making safety paramount in its lineup.

I just bought a new 2010 Toyota, which I got at a good price as the 2011's are what the demand is for. After I bought it, I realized that some of the 2010's were recalled along with the 2009's. Of course, my family lost no time in telling me so.

Fortunately, there is a link you can go to on the Toyota site where you can type in your Vin and it will tell you if your car is now or has ever been recalled. Fortunately, mine has never been involved in a recall.

I know one other person who had a Toyota recalled, and she told me that it did not then, and has never since, had any unintended acceleration problems.

I think I'm still a Toyota fan in the face of the bad publicity as the last one I had was almost totally trouble-free.

Also, Toyota has had a bad year due to the negative publicity and now is the time to get a really good deal, as I did.

I just wonder why these morons with the bad ones never, A. Turn off the damn car. B. Mash the break down + E-brake.? So many people out on the roads who have NO business driving.


Deebo

reply to post by Sestias


Spamming for Toyota eh? Just kidding, saw this on the news at lunch.

reply to post by Sestias



Well what was the nature of the problem then ? Mechanical as in thermal ?? Logical, as in software ?

Islamic Terrorists ? Ghosts ?



The accelerator pedal systems today are electronic or drive by wire. That means that there aren't mechanical cables running through the firewall.

What we have are two computers essentially communicating with one another. One at the pedal itself sending it's position and the other on the engine responding by moving the throttle body valve accordingly.

There are cases in which crosstalk or thermal conditions can cause a state change within computers.

I feel that that might be the true nature of this problem. Reason being, the other Japanese automotive manufacturers such as Honda,Mazda and Nissan haven't experienced this anomaly and most are using the same processors, and pedal mechanisms for that matter. But what differs amongst auto companies is their own unique "Proprietary Software".

Seeing as this anomalous behaviour has occurred primarily on Toyotas AND Lexus automobiles which share many of the same componentry/parts. It does points to something unique about Toyota and their software.

I can understand Toyota's response in attributing it to driver/operator error though.

Personally, I did once have a floor mat shift and depress my accelerator once on a BMW. Fortunately I was driving a standard, as I always do, and it was pretty easy to just pop the car into Neutral, slowing down and removing the floor mat away from the accelerator.

When I hear of these people having crashed and/or even died as a result. It really sounds as if much of this could be attributed to operator error. AND/OR the possibility of seeking financial gain via a lawsuit against Toyota ?

Granted you might not have sufficient time to react before impact or your brakes might not stop you immediately but was the gear selector disabled as well ?

How about training people what to do in emergencies in our driver education program....as they do with Pilots ?
One of the first things you learn once aloft in a small aircraft is what to do in case you lose an engine.

Sorry for the rambling...but most of all enjoy your new CAR OP !!! And don't forget your gear select lever !!

Originally posted by nh_ee
reply to post by Sestias

 

Well what was the nature of the problem then ? Mechanical as in thermal ?? Logical, as in software ?

Islamic Terrorists ? Ghosts ?

The accelerator pedal systems today are electronic or drive by wire. That means that there aren't mechanical cables running through the firewall.

What we have are two computers essentially communicating with one another. One at the pedal itself sending it's position and the other on the engine responding by moving the throttle body valve accordingly.

There are cases in which crosstalk or thermal conditions can cause a state change within computers.

I feel that that might be the true nature of this problem. Reason being, the other Japanese automotive manufacturers such as Honda,Mazda and Nissan haven't experienced this anomaly and most are using the same processors, and pedal mechanisms for that matter. But what differs amongst auto companies is their own unique "Proprietary Software".

Seeing as this anomalous behaviour has occurred primarily on Toyotas AND Lexus automobiles which share many of the same componentry/parts. It does points to something unique about Toyota and their software.

I can understand Toyota's response in attributing it to driver/operator error though.

Personally, I did once have a floor mat shift and depress my accelerator once on a BMW. Fortunately I was driving a standard, as I always do, and it was pretty easy to just pop the car into Neutral, slowing down and removing the floor mat away from the accelerator.

When I hear of these people having crashed and/or even died as a result. It really sounds as if much of this could be attributed to operator error. AND/OR the possibility of seeking financial gain via a lawsuit against Toyota ?

Granted you might not have sufficient time to react before impact or your brakes might not stop you immediately but was the gear selector disabled as well ?

How about training people what to do in emergencies in our driver education program....as they do with Pilots ?
One of the first things you learn once aloft in a small aircraft is what to do in case you lose an engine.

Sorry for the rambling...but most of all enjoy your new CAR OP !!! And don't forget your gear select lever !!

The one thing about the floor mat issue I don't fully understand is how? When I first started driving(was a 94 tempo) the floor mat slid under the accelerator and it didn't speed out of control. It was exactly the opposite, I thought my transmition or something was dieing because of how little acceleration I had. Then it was a "duh" moment.

As for toyota, if their 09/10 models use a similar shifter as the 04 Prius it is a WTF? Hybrids are so easy to shift into neutral with.

reply to post by Sestias



There exist a couple of different types of accelerator pedals.
Some are mounted , anchored with the base and pivot on the floor and some are suspended from the firewall.

I have never cared for the firewall mount because of this. It takes too little pressure to depress the accelerator.
This is what Toyota is using...it's also a cost cutting measure vs a pedal anchored to the floor.

Unfortunately with the suspended firewall mount, there exists a small gap underneath the pedal which is open and allowing objects to slide between the bottom of the pedal and the floor itself.

In your case it sounds as if you had the firewall high mounted pedal and the floormat went underneath the bottom of the pedal, inhibiting it's downward travel.

On the other hand, the floormat can also ride up on the base of the pedal and essentially forcing it downward as if the driver were depressing it.

And thereby causing unintended acceleration...