Slashdot discussion of "sudden acceleration"

[mmurphy]

Slashdot.org has an active discussion of sudden acceleration in Toyotas.

Slashdot Technology Story | Toyotas Suddenly Accelerate; Owners Up In Arms

Many of the comments mirror those on PriusChat, but several posts are written by people who appear to have real expertise on the throttle by wire control system.

[chrisj428]

I can tell you that, from my 8-year tenure as a service writer, if a DBW system detects any anomalies in any redundnacies with itself, the engine will not come off of idle. No amount of gas pedal application will change that.

[mmurphy]

Originally Posted by chrisj428

I can tell you that, from my 8-year tenure as a service writer, if a DBW system detects any anomalies in any redundnacies with itself, the engine will not come off of idle. No amount of gas pedal application will change that.

Allong the same lines, according to David(45671) on the slashdot thread:

"
I have first hand hacking experience with the drive by wire throttle because my Grand Challenge team automated a Toyota Prius for the last Grand Challenge. There are 2 completely independent signals that go from 2 independent sensors on the pedal to the computer throttle component. The signals have to move in lock step with each other or the computer will detect a fault. If a fault is detected the throttle goes completely off and the car has to be turned off and turned back on to recover.
So for the throttle to stick down both pedal sensors have to fail in the same way at the same time, which seems highly unlikely to me. Or there could be a bug in the computer control section, bus as a software engineer I can assure you that that would be impossible. ;-)
"

[bottomfeeder]

ABC Nightline Segment, 11/03/09

YouTube - Toyota Acceleration Problem Is Still Unresolved - ABC's Nightline

YouTube - Toyota Acceleration Problem Is Still Unresolved - ABC's Nightline

[TheForce]

Originally Posted by bottomfeeder

ABC Nightline Segment, 11/03/09

This reminded me os a TV show I seen on FOX a LOOOONG time ago about cars going crazy. It was something about the CAT that made the cars crazy. When the CAT was removed or something the car would crash straight into a wall then reverse into another wall then drive forward again into the wall. They would spin out and flip over. It was all FUD to try to get rid of the things or something. I dont remember the name of the show.


This "Toyota problem" is going to be 1 of two things.

1. Its a real problem. Its going to be like one of those very rare computer problems that you just cannot replicate over and over again to find the cause. Stuff like that usually never gets fixed because it so hard to find the problem.

2. This is all FUD to make Toyota look bad and to get people to buy American.

[chrisj428]

Everything old is new again. It was driver error in the '80s with Audi and I'm supremely confident it will end up being that now.

(Edit: Was it ABC which started the Audi 5000 witchhunt or was that CBS?)

[bac]

Originally Posted by chrisj428

Everything old is new again. It was driver error in the '80s with Audi and I'm supremely confident it will end up being that now.

(Edit: Was it ABC which started the Audi 5000 witchhunt or was that CBS?)

I came here to say just that - Spot On!

-Brad

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by mmurphy

Allong the same lines, according to David(45671) on the slashdot thread:

"I have first hand hacking experience with the drive by wire throttle because my Grand Challenge team automated a Toyota Prius for the last Grand Challenge. There are 2 completely independent signals that go from 2 independent sensors on the pedal to the computer throttle component. The signals have to move in lock step with each other or the computer will detect a fault. If a fault is detected the throttle goes completely off and the car has to be turned off and turned back on to recover.
So for the throttle to stick down both pedal sensors have to fail in the same way at the same time, which seems highly unlikely to me. Or there could be a bug in the computer control section, bus as a software engineer I can assure you that that would be impossible. ;-)
"

For the accelerator rebuilding project Doug lets me carry forward:

Accelerator Experiment

Comparison of NHW11 and NHW20 accelerators:


Example of the NHW11 performance after repair:


This was from a unit with a 'bent' cam follower:


Before and after contact cleaning:



One accelerator that had a bent cam follower:


Unit has been repaired but it part of my experimental set:


Accelerator test jig:


Bob Wilson

[David Beale]

Actually the Audi fiasco was found to be caused by driver error induced by having the throttle and brake too close together. So it was an ergonomic problem.

I suspect the "Toyota problem" is caused by people, period. I have never, and never expect to, have a problem with "sudden acceleration", brake failure, the car accelerating suddenly during braking, or any other small brain induced or imagined failure.

The Prius is a computer system. The operator has absolute control. If the car isn't doing what you want, you can always shut it down (hold power switch down for 3 sec. - just like -any- computer made will do and has done for the last 15+ years.

So "hey bud, what's your problem"?

[a64pilot]

Not to argue, but I don't think the Audi "problem" was ever resolved. I believe the most logical conclusion was that the brake pedal and gas pedal were is a slightly different position than most cars, but I don't think it was ever "proved". I believe the problem went away on it's own as there was never one to begin with, but not before absolutely trashing the re-sale value of an Audi first.