Unintended acceleration

[Tommy]

The unintended acceleration news story of the day today involves a Toyota Prius. Now I don't have any inside information about the Toyota situation or about unintended acceleration in general, but I have been around long enough to have heard many stories, most of them long before the recent Toyota fiasco. There are countless stories of people pressing the gas pedal when they intended to press the brake. Many of them fessed up after the accident and admitted their mistake. Others swore they were pressing the brake pedal even after a thorough post incident examination revealed no mechanical problems that would have caused the acceleration. So, my uninformed opinion is that most if not all of the problems of unintended acceleration are caused by driver error. .... I view the heartfelt stories of drivers who swore they were standing on the brakes with the same skepticism I feel when someone describes their encounter with space aliens or supernatural creatures.

[4RE KLR]

Not tryinh to stir the pot here but I see this differently.

The incident today involved a police vehicle assisting a 911 caller pleading for assistance. When the officer reached the driver accelerating down the highway he could see the brake lights were on, he could smell the brakes burning to shreds and could physically see the car accelerating down the road.

The police office was providing instructions over the PA system as they both sped down the highway.

I would be my guess this driver was doing every in her powers to stop the car.

just my.02

[jmillington]

Yes, apparently everything except turning the darn thing off!
According to the report I read, using their loudspeaker, the CHP yelled at the driver to turn the car off, which is how they got the Prius to stop.

"When the Prius, which had reached 90 mph, dropped to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a stop. There was nothing else he could have done to stop the car, Sikes said."

[computerworks]

That car has the push-button start/stop. In the news interview, the driver (he) said he hit the button repeatedly and it would not turn off... it only shut down when he had slowed under 55 or so.

[jmillington]

Now that is a horse of a different color - that totally sucks!

[4RE KLR]

my mistake
...he / she

Toyota has had numerous commercial around here telling people to NOT turn the car off if or when this happens. That will make the power brakes and power steering not work efficiently. On some models the steering will lock when the ignition is turned off.

They are saying to put the car in neutral let the engine idle up (extremely high) and pull over THEN turn off the ignition. I am sure that would blow up the engine, but it sure beats dieing in a car wreck.

Seems like it is really a no win. I think I would turn off the car and take my chances.

[Paul F]

...and this same technology is flying planes.....and now, the 'I remember when' cliche.

Read in an old man grumpy voice.

I remember when brakes and accelerators were all mechanical with no computer override. We didn't have these problems.

[Jamo]

The most amazing thing about the whole episode is that the ugly little buttplug could reach 90mph.

Fly/drive-by-wire...we're relying on the good faith of robots.

[Paul F]

I think the problem is that the Prius' are becoming self aware, despise what they are, and are trying to commit suicide.

[Jamo]

Now that there is some funny sh!t.

[Ralphy]

This thread has got me thinking about Steven Wright.

A cop stopped me for speeding. He said, "Why were you going so fast?" I said, "See this thing my foot is on? It's called an accelerator. When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine. The whole car just takes right off. And see this thing? This steers it."
- Steven Wright

[Mark IV]

Are NO Toyota drivers aware of "neutral"?!?!?

[joyridin']

I don't buy the whole thing. Sounds like a set-up for a huge lawsuit. The car accelerated, the brakes wouldn't work, and he/she/it couldn't shut it off and didn't have enough intelligence to shift into neutral?

Maybe Toyota can counter sue the driver and the state for letting a person this stupid behind the wheel of a car.

[Tommy]

In today's report on the Prius story, the 911 operator reports the driver did not respond to repeated instructions to put the car in neutral. The driver claims he did not hear much of that because he had put the phone down so he could use both hands to steer. (I assume he's never driven a manual transmission that requires one to steer with one hand while shifting with the other.) He also claims he was afraid to shift into neutral because he thought it might cause the car to flip over. .... As I said at the beginning, I think driver error is the major contributor to most of these incidents. And I agree with joyridin that this sounds like someone looking for either a lawsuit or escape from paying for a Prius.

[Mark IV]

Now if one of the "Oscar Nominees" had arrived at the red carpet in an "out of control" Prius, THAT would have made the Academy Awards worth watching!

Tearing a swath of destruction through a crowd of "B" listers and hangers-on would have generated carnage and a mushroom cloud of silicone.............giving James Cameron the chance to remake "Gone with the Wind" via CGI.....................

[Bill Bess]

I think it's a really deep plot here,... maybe revenge, or some sort of deep seated form of payback. Little electric cars, controlled by computers from a far away land, suddenly switching to the "Kamikazemode"..... YIKES !
NA ! it's just a plot to get you by a GM product instead of that thing.

[Dan40]

How does one become aware that a Prius IS accelerating?

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by joyridin'

I don't buy the whole thing. Sounds like a set-up for a huge lawsuit. The car accelerated, the brakes wouldn't work, and he/she/it couldn't shut it off and didn't have enough intelligence to shift into neutral?

Maybe Toyota can counter sue the driver and the state for letting a person this stupid behind the wheel of a car.

I said something similar to one of my coworkers on Monday and he told me he heard that the Toyotas have a safety mechanism that prevents them from being shifted into neutral when the car is moving??? That just sounds wrong.

[Bobcat]

I believe it was said earlier that the driver pushed the start/stop button repeatedly .... that would be a problem . Toyota specifically says to push the button and HOLD it for 3 seconds .... not repeatedly keep pushing it . There is a delay built in so accidental contact with the button will not cut the car off . Obviously , I wasn`t there .... but it sounds like the driver screwed up by not understanding his vehicle or froze because he panicked .

Bob

[bomelia]

I remember when Audi went through this. This was before computers ran automobile sub-systems. IIRC, that's where the "step on the brake while shifting into drive" procedure came from. It took Audi more than 15 years to recover from that debacle, even though no one ever proved definitively that there was a problem (in fact, some in the media helped fabricate evidence). But with computer systems running the show, anything is possible. Computer programs can get so complex that unknown behaviors can occur with no way of being able to predict it or even find it!! This sounds like a heisenbug or borhbug.

Mike