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> * The prius's out there seem to have stopped accelerating unintentionally https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toyota-unintended-acceleration-has-killed-89/ https://

> * The prius's out there seem to have stopped accelerating unintentionally https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toyota-unintended-acceleration-has-killed-89/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toyota-unintended-acceleration-... well they did have a big recall push to fix about 3.5 million toyotas so that's probably why. if the problem was with the car cpu bit flipping like the one report said was possible it's possible that those cpus were just defective and more susceptible to that error. either way the issue got aged out by attrition.

LanceH 5y ago
The put a hook in to hold the floor mat. If that was the problem, the throttle was still being pressed and the brakes weren't being applied, contrary to the media's hysterical reporting.
- weaksauce 5y ago
  I'm not sure I buy that explanation fully. one of the guys driving was a CHP officer and the acceleration was stuck wide open... the mat could have been a contributing factor but there were software issues that could have caused it too. The witnesses said the car was surging in acceleration immediately prior to the accident. there were also some components changed in the accelerator assembly too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx2diBKXN_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx2diBKXN_Y https://embeddedgurus.com/barr-code/2013/10/an-update-on-toyota-and-unintended-acceleration/ https://embeddedgurus.com/barr-code/2013/10/an-update-on-toy...
  - LanceH 5y ago
    Try https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-releases-results-nhtsa-nasa-study-unintended-acceleration https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-t... The large majority of these are either someone getting the throttle stuck with junk in the floor space (including the mat), or someone hitting the wrong pedal. I'm not saying that nothing ever broke and there was never a stuck throttle or two. But it is portrayed in the media as the cars pressing the throttle on their own, and the brakes suddenly not working (though they work in the wrecked car afterward). The media goes right along with this hysteria and plays it all like it is true. A very large percentage of these "stuck throttles" with "brakes that don't work" are people pressing the wrong pedal. It's that damn simple. With the Audi 5000 in the 80's (same hysteria) it was possible because the pedals were shaped a bit different. This also led to requiring the brake to be pushed when shifting from park.
    - weaksauce 5y ago
      That barr report directly rebuts that NASA report. I don't know the ins and outs of any of these and i'm sure some floor mats have caused it but i highly doubt that hundreds of deaths are attributed to it without there being some kind of manufacturing defect. the guy was a chp officer that had to take really intensive high speed driving courses and also had car issues before that eye witnesses attested to. if anyone was well equipped to drive a car it was him and the extenuating circumstances seem to point to other factors than a floor mat. I've never bought that since the floor mat had to do two contradictory things at once... both pin the accelerator down and also simultaneously prevent the brake from engaging. for that to happen more than once is very hard to believe. it really seems like a canard thrown out by toyota so it wouldn't cause panic about their car software.

LanceH 5y ago

The put a hook in to hold the floor mat. If that was the problem, the throttle was still being pressed and the brakes weren't being applied, contrary to the media's hysterical reporting.

weaksauce 5y ago
I'm not sure I buy that explanation fully. one of the guys driving was a CHP officer and the acceleration was stuck wide open... the mat could have been a contributing factor but there were software issues that could have caused it too. The witnesses said the car was surging in acceleration immediately prior to the accident. there were also some components changed in the accelerator assembly too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx2diBKXN_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx2diBKXN_Y https://embeddedgurus.com/barr-code/2013/10/an-update-on-toyota-and-unintended-acceleration/ https://embeddedgurus.com/barr-code/2013/10/an-update-on-toy...
- LanceH 5y ago
  Try https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-releases-results-nhtsa-nasa-study-unintended-acceleration https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-t... The large majority of these are either someone getting the throttle stuck with junk in the floor space (including the mat), or someone hitting the wrong pedal. I'm not saying that nothing ever broke and there was never a stuck throttle or two. But it is portrayed in the media as the cars pressing the throttle on their own, and the brakes suddenly not working (though they work in the wrecked car afterward). The media goes right along with this hysteria and plays it all like it is true. A very large percentage of these "stuck throttles" with "brakes that don't work" are people pressing the wrong pedal. It's that damn simple. With the Audi 5000 in the 80's (same hysteria) it was possible because the pedals were shaped a bit different. This also led to requiring the brake to be pushed when shifting from park.
  - weaksauce 5y ago
    That barr report directly rebuts that NASA report. I don't know the ins and outs of any of these and i'm sure some floor mats have caused it but i highly doubt that hundreds of deaths are attributed to it without there being some kind of manufacturing defect. the guy was a chp officer that had to take really intensive high speed driving courses and also had car issues before that eye witnesses attested to. if anyone was well equipped to drive a car it was him and the extenuating circumstances seem to point to other factors than a floor mat. I've never bought that since the floor mat had to do two contradictory things at once... both pin the accelerator down and also simultaneously prevent the brake from engaging. for that to happen more than once is very hard to believe. it really seems like a canard thrown out by toyota so it wouldn't cause panic about their car software.