Maybe Toyotas ARE Reliable After All

-Chris-

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703834604575364871534435744.html

It seems quite a number of the cases of unintended acceleration were due to people pressing the wrong pedal!

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

langdang

Careful now Chris, that's discrimination apparently - "It makes me very angry when someone tells me, 'She probably hit the gas pedal instead,' because I think it's a sexist comment, an ageist comment,"

Gitb1

Looks like a lot of people were trying to pull a fast one!

I never drove a toyota are the pedals unusually close together or anything?

NewApproach

I never understood the argument that the drivers were shocked by the 'sudden acceleration' and didn't know what to do before they crashed.

All the cars are ****boxes, nothing 'sudden' about their acceleration imo.

Matt Simis

langdang wrote: »

Careful now Chris, that's discrimination apparently - "It makes me very angry when someone tells me, 'She probably hit the gas pedal instead,' because I think it's a sexist comment, an ageist comment,"

Yeah or the truth.

Tea 1000

Newsflash! We guessed right after all!! The users were to blame!
In the IT industry, we call that PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
The old "I didn't do anything, I swear... the computer just went wrong all by itself..." could be replaced by "I didn't do anything wrong, the car crashed all by itself..."

Muckie

Very funny, or The Simpsons "T-Bor did it"

kasper

and the yanks only have two pedals

Cuddlesworth

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Newsflash! We guessed right after all!! The users were to blame!
In the IT industry, we call that PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
The old "I didn't do anything, I swear... the computer just went wrong all by itself..." could be replaced by "I didn't do anything wrong, the car crashed all by itself..."

Them theres one of those ID problems. We'll label this one as a 10T. Yep its a ID10T problem.

ianobrien

Yep, the whole thing reminded me of the trouble Audi had in the US in the early '80's with the "unintended accelleration" in their automatics.

It turned out that the problem was when the little old dear started her new Audi (in drive - the inhibitor switch came afterwards) the driver didn't have enough pressure on the brake pedal.

Result - When you started the engine in Drive, at idle the engine produced enough torque to move the car. The car then usually drove off the top story of a multi-story car park. Yank cars of that ear typically didnt move if started in drive.

Audi got slated at the time, poor design was blamed and the press had a field day. The real reason was the driver.....

coronaextra

Hopped into the womans old peugeot 106 once and honestly, I think I could press all three pedals at the same time with one foot!! They are soo close together :eek: Think the 206 ant much better either!

zilog_jones

It seems to be true that in a lot of these cases the drivers generally did not know how to operate their car in such an emergency situation, even if it was "unintended acceleration" that was out of their control. There were many solutions they could have taken to resolve this, such as putting the car into neutral (were they scared of the engine hitting the limiter or something?) or switching off the engine (they didn't know you have to hold the starter button for a few seconds in a modern Toyota when it's not parked) - but instead they either did nothing or used the brakes insufficiently (tests have been done and it is possible to stop these cars with an open throttle at high speed with proper braking).

Vertakill

I wouldn't mind but it seems that some of these instances weren't even emergencies. If you're driving around a parking lot and you plant your foot on the accelerator... guess what happens!

Article wrote:

Ms. Marseille said in an interview Tuesday that she was entering a parking space near a library when she heard the engine roar. "I looked down and my foot was still on the brake, so I did not have my foot on the gas pedal," she said.

Police in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., investigated and believe driver error was to blame, Chief Steven Riffel said Tuesday. He said surveillance video showed that the brake lights didn't illuminate until after the crash. But Mr. Riffel said that determination is preliminary and that his agency has turned over the investigation to NHTSA.

Based on the black box data, NHTSA investigators found that the brake was not engaged and the throttle was wide open, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Marseille sticks by her story. "It makes me very angry when someone tells me, 'She probably hit the gas pedal instead,' because I think it's a sexist comment, an ageist comment," she said.

How much more evidence do these idiots want until they back down?
She can't even use the excuse that the accelerator pedal got stuck down if she's adamant that she was pushing down the brake, despite the brakes not even being initiated until AFTER she crashed..

A lot of people got a sniff of a lawsuit (as they love to do over there) and are hopefully going to be found out.

Esel

Ah Jebus, cars have black boxes now? The cops will be checking them next.... :eek: