What the Toyota Probes Are Likely to Find

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I once met a young man in the hospital who was relly messed up. He had a neck brace and he could not do anything, not even talk. When I saw him he had already been one month in the Hospital and in the end he was still there a month later when I left. I learned from his mother that he was hit by car at a very high speed one night when he was comming out of a night club. The driver of the car saw him crossing the street and she got nervous and as she applied the brakes to avoid hitting him she instead stepped on the gas. She of course felt very bad, but had that occurred today she probably would have blamed the car.
I think to a small scale that has happened to all of us without consequence, but in many cases if somethig is immidiately infront probalilities are that you will hit it.
Its been the case that having stepped on oil and water and then setting off to drive, mi foot has slipped off the clutch and in that moment I have put the car into gear before anticipated or instead of downshifting,which under the right circumstances could have caused an accident. I have had the car seat move back while acclerating because it was not propely locked in with similar results. I can bet that anyone involved in a crash because of one of these reasons will feel that there is no logic to it and will look to blame any circumstance but themselves.

Ricardo Cuadra of FL 10:27PM August 01, 2010

The U.S. DOT has found evidence in the examination of the black boxes in Toyota automobiles that the driver had foot on the accelerator and no foot on the brakes.
Dumb, lousy driving. Not enough sense to turn off ignition or shift transmission into neutral. This is purely a case of drivers being at fault. Have an accident, blame everyone but themselves--then hire a lawyer and attempt to hit the Lotto at the expense of auto manufacturers.
We need to re-educate a large percentage of the drivers on the road. Teach them to drive properly--i.e. pay attention to driving. Omit the phone calls, messing with the music, etc. Driving is a very serious undertaking. Pay attention.

Jim Nelson of CA 3:33PM July 30, 2010

Mr MI of MI:
If the throttle is stuck under the floor mat in the wide open position, the car will eventually accellerate to a constant speed which is its top speed for the conditions it's in. Usually, the driver either turns the car off or hits something before it reaches top spedd. A stuck accellerator on a Camry in NEvada would likely result in learning what the top speed - or governor seti9ng - truly is for the car. Do it here in Atlanta, you'll beciome a statistic before you hit top speed.

littlejohn of GA 2:22PM June 30, 2010

I'm amazed at how many intelligent people are investigating this issue and have not raised the following basic question to stop Toyota lies about stuck accelerator pedals.
Common sense says that if you have a stuck accelerator pedal, then the vehicle would maintain a constant speed and not accelerate.
How does a vehicle accelerate if the pedal is stuck?
My engineering experience points to either or a combinatiof of EMC, software, cruise controls.

Mr. MI of MI 9:23AM April 09, 2010

I honestly believe that human error is the cause of most vehicle problems and or accidents. I see people driving right over double yellow lines to get ahead of you and then they find there is traffic coming from the other end ,then they panic. They are at fault in the first place going over the double yellow lines. I think after so many citations they need to go to an approved driving school and be made to pay for it,and this may help their driving habits somewhat.

Phil of WA 1:54PM April 08, 2010

I've done tech support for more than 20 years now, and more times than I care to count, I run across situations where the most likely explaination for a failure or problem is human error - and yet, very, very few of those times do the individuals involved want to admit that they aren't infallible. This is very sad, too, because human beings are capable of learning from their mistakes - if they are willing to admit to them.
Even if these are electronic glitches in the cars electronic systems, we still have human error involved - many people don't have ahy idea how to deal with a crisis situation in a vehicle, which further compounds the problem.

chris of CO 11:45AM April 08, 2010

Mr.,
Obviously you have never driven a standard transmission because your left foot would be for the clutch, not the brake. You should never use two feet for two pedals with an automatic, there is not enough room for two feet so close together, you are going to some day push both at the same time without knowing it. Then you will have (user error "unintended acceleration") and will call Toyota complaining like the rest of the idiots.

Jeff W of TX 2:05PM April 07, 2010

He carefully fails to point out that the rate of unintended acceleration increased 500% on the models where Toyota first put electronic pedals on their cars. He also fails to point out that AUDI pedal misapplication problems were explained by the fact they were closer together and of a similar height off the floorboard which contributed to the problem.
Where is the report on the Apple technical wizard Steve Wozniak who claimed he knows what the problem is and can make it happen on demand? He's a Billionaire so I really doubt he's after money.

Smells like boloney in Mi. of MI 10:15AM April 07, 2010

Interestingly most people have figured out that the federal government is stuck with the association of Government Motors (GM) and nobody wants to touch it. That is how all your attorneys (democrate in congress) get their way. They attach the successful in anticipation of bringing them down so they can get their way. In this case sell Government Motors vehicles which nobody wants. We all see it as the typical Obama Hoax just like "making home affordable" "governement school loans" "Obama care" They have cried wolf too many times. This will not help GM and goes to support Toyota's well deserved credibility. Credibility is something Toyota has earned but Congress only dreams of getting.

Broke in California of CA 4:25PM April 06, 2010

Here’s some speculation: Mr. Newman did very little reporting to write his column, “What the Toyota Probes Are Likely to Find.” If he had actually taken the time to read the record, develop an understanding of automotive defects or federal motor vehicle safety standards or extend his analysis beyond 1989, he might have made other, more educated guesses.
First, the record: Audi was not vindicated. Between 1982 and 1987, Audi issued six recalls to address Sudden Unintended Acceleration in its vehicles. Each one of those recalls was accompanied by a Part 573 Defect and Non-Compliance Report, the regulatory obligation of an auto manufacturer to report any safety-related defect it has identified to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nor did “An Examination of Sudden Unintended Acceleration.” exonerate Audi. In fact, it identified poor pedal design and placement as one of the factors that could lead to inadvertent misapplication and a sudden acceleration incident.
This history may have some relevance for the modern public relations executive; the throttle systems of a quarter of a century ago don’t do much to inform us about the problems with today’s electronic components. The industry has borrowed many of these innovations from the aviation industry – often without installing the same level of critical fail-safe redundancies. The automotive industry has brought these technologies from sophisticated and expensive machines down to the commodity level, where saving pennies is the norm. Under those circumstances, problems will occur – and they do.
Suppliers and other industry analysts have observed a direct correlation between the number of electronic functions a vehicle has and the number of defects. In 2003, Mercedes-Benz removed 600 electronic functions from its vehicles because of quality concerns.
Yes, some drivers make errors. But other drivers have had the errors thrust upon them by electronic malfunctions, and there’s plenty of data to show that, too. We don’t know what the probes will find, but it’s high time these systems got an in-depth look.

sean kane of MA 4:18PM April 06, 2010