Lulz, it appears most acceleration events in Toyotas were because of retardation

[kornphlake]

I take it there is no way the pedal sensor can fault and assume that the pedal is floored... thus engaging full throttle?

+1

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i saw an "accident" (shitty driving is not an accident) where a woman driving an s-10 pickup hit an SUV stopped at a red light. the pickup got underneath the SUV and lifted it up on it's nose. the whole time she had the gas pinned, and kept it floored for another 10 seconds or so. diagonally across the intersection, a state trooper had the same expression i did:

 

[MJinZ]

It's no secret really...lots of Toyota owners can't drive. My g/f included.

Yup.

Toyotas are the iPhones of the car world.

 

[Pulsar]

+1

I love how people try to turn things into a giant conspiracies. It's a pretty sure sign they have other motives for believing the way they do (other than the facts).

Trust me - the government didn't decide to assess the maximum amount of damages possible under federal law because they felt like it. Toyota Executives didn't send emails directing underlings to cover this stuff up and obstruct as much as they could by accident.

+1 for kornphlake etc. People should use common sense more often - all these charges didn't get leveled at Toyota for fun, and it's been an ongoing issue in other countries for which there were already recalls.

 

[Pulsar]

Yup.

Toyotas are the iPhones of the car world.

Without 1/2 the styling that an iPhone has.

 

[MJinZ]

The computers CAN malfunction. That covers the case where the gas and brake were engaged at once - car suffered from unintended acceleration (computer thinks the gas is engaged), driver attempted to hit the brakes.

Those 35 times when the gas was engaged and the brake was not point to two possible conclusions:

1. There was a sudden unintended acceleration event and the driver did not step on the brakes for whatever reason (panic, crashed before they could react, etc.)
2. The driver pressed on the accelerator pedal, I guess inadvertently. In which case they're just an idiot.

I am confused by the crashes where the brakes were partially applied. Might these be cases where the driver just didn't press hard enough? How partially were the brakes being used anyway?

What happened was the most simple - the sudden acceleration was due to a malfunction in the human brain.

The brain though it was braking, but the foot was on the accelerator.

Sudden unintended acceleration.

 

[MJinZ]

Without 1/2 the styling that an iPhone has.

You mean an iPhone that looks like um a squarish block? Yea.

Giving iPhone style points is like giving Lady GaGa Ms. Universe beauty points.

 

[Gibson486]

What happened was the most simple - the sudden acceleration was due to a malfunction in the human brain.

The brain though it was braking, but the foot was on the accelerator.

Sudden unintended acceleration.

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

Let me pull the accelerator from under your foot at a moment of my own choosing and we'll see how many people can react quickly enough to step on the brake before causing an accident. I've said it over and over again, in a stressful situation most people won't react rationally. The statistics prove 60% don't even step on the brakes. It's not a matter of how you would react sitting behind your keyboard, it's a matter of how people who were put in a life threatening situation reacted.

Been there, done that. Someone pulled out in front of me when I was going 50 on the highway in the snow. First reaction was apply heavy brakes, second was to stop my car from spinning into oncoming traffic (Ice patch). Both objectives achieved, and pants were not browned.

 

[Malak]

I don't think computers can't malfunction.

I'm certain that when they do, we can tell that they did.

Only if you are the one driving. Their sensor readout says no braking was applied, but that doesn't mean no braking was applied. If the brake sensor isn't working, the reports of the drivers could be accurate.

 

[sandorski]

Just people playing the Toyota Lotto.

 

[SparkyJJO]

If the computer glitches, all the "readings" can be moot. Just saying.

I'm sure a number of cases were just people trying to get on the bandwagon, or trying to shift the blame of the accident from their stupidity to the vehicle, but after seeing what certainly looked like an out of control toyota on the highway, well.... It was in the left lane of the interstate, looked like it was moving at a fair clip (80MPH? maybe more, passing vehicles), and had smoke pouring from the wheels :hmm:

 

[Throckmorton]

This is basically like asking a wife abuser if his wife deserved it. Of course he's going to say she deserved it.

But that has no bearing on whether he's guilty

 

[AdamK47]

It isn't surprising reading about how Toyota drivers could not properly operate their appliances. Driving aptitude is generally pretty low for them.

 

[Throckmorton]

By definition "unintended acceleration" happens when the computer thinks you're applying throttle. Of course it records that you were applying throttle... How would it know otherwise?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

By definition "unintended acceleration" happens when the computer thinks you're applying throttle. Of course it records that you were applying throttle... How would it know otherwise?

The car could be trying to commit suicide.

 

[senseamp]

So basically your average Toyota buyer is a retard.

 

[Bignate603]

The car could be trying to commit suicide.

If I were as boring as most Toyotas I'd consider it.

 

[kornphlake]

Been there, done that. Someone pulled out in front of me when I was going 50 on the highway in the snow. First reaction was apply heavy brakes, second was to stop my car from spinning into oncoming traffic (Ice patch). Both objectives achieved, and pants were not browned.

Your example is meaningless, your vehicle responded as physics demanded because the controls were working properly. If you'd said in the same situation your steering linkage broke and you still managed to keep on the road by opening your door and dragging your heels I'd give you some man points, otherwise your experience is completely irrelevant.

Is the consensus that stupid drivers only buy Toyotas? Do they have some dumb driver message board where every dumb driver is verbally assaulted until they agree to buy a Toyota? Why wouldn't Honda, Kia, Chevy or Ford have just as many claims of unintended acceleration if it was purely because of idiot drivers? You'd have to have a few loose screws to buy a Chrysler, I'd expect them to have more stuck accelerators than any other manufacturer since only a dumb person would drive a Chrysler, nearly 100 percent of all Chryslers should suffer from unintended acceleration.

Where are the stats? I want to see that the number of reported incidents for the other major automakers.

 

[StageLeft]

kornphlake it may be that the toyotas have closer pedals (?). It may also be that once this stuff hit critical mass there were more and more people "convinced" that they had suffered unintended acceleration. I wonder if the gov arbitrarily picked ford and said we've had reports of this issue how many would come out of the woodwork saying yeah it happened to me! Humans are fickle. And stupid. it's why most of them should work their time away in camps for the greater good.

 

[LTC8K6]

Originally Posted by Possessed Freak
I take it there is no way the pedal sensor can fault and assume that the pedal is floored... thus engaging full throttle?

No investigation has ever found such a pedal assembly malfunction. Such a malfunction would be obvious to NHTSA. It would be among the first checks.

As would a brake sensor / pedal malfunction. NHTSA didn't just get off the bus from investigator school.

 

[StageLeft]

NHTSA didn't just get off the bus from investigator school.

Heh, this is true. This is why I am confident that in light of this article most of the unintended acceleration events had nothing to do with the car but simply stupid drivers. Like the link above with the person who wanted a drive-through starbucks.

 

[thescreensavers]

I thought the problem was the computer opening the throttle all the way and stepping on the brakes did not do anything, so the computer would not see it since there is a short or some type of computer malfunction?

 

[Pulsar]

No investigation has ever found such a pedal assembly malfunction. Such a malfunction would be obvious to NHTSA. It would be among the first checks.

As would a brake sensor / pedal malfunction. NHTSA didn't just get off the bus from investigator school.

Perhaps that's because the NHTSA couldn't produce the same cosmic rays that Toyota claimed might be causing the issue.

 

[StageLeft]

I thought the problem was the computer opening the throttle all the way and stepping on the brakes did not do anything, so the computer would not see it since there is a short or some type of computer malfunction?

This was the problem in people's minds who were guessing at the cause. There has been zero electrical failures found to be the cause of this despite Toyota throwing vast amounts of effort into locating such a thing.