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LA Times: (Toyota) Crash reports tell of horror

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by a1a1a1, Feb 28, 2010.

  1. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    All of the Toyota apologists are claiming that Toyota is innocent (or words to that effect). Yet Toyota refuses to provide a transparent model for its black box data. The world wonders why. And the controversy continues.
     
  2. malorn

    malorn Senior Member

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    Toyota brought most of this upon themselves. They have known about sudden acceleration problems for years and have used many different means to avoid having to deal with it. Unfortunately for some of the toyota die-hards on here there is more to come and it will be very painful for you and for the dealers who are also faultless in this.
    I think we will begin to see the long-term damage this has caused Toyota and Japan Inc when sales figures are released on Tuesday. Of course Toyota will not go away, but until they own up to the problem(electronics) and decide to fix all the cars (back to 2003) this will not go away. Every time there is a horrific crash in a Toyota that could have any chance of being the result of sudden acceleration, guess what the headline will be?
     
  3. apriusfan

    apriusfan New Member

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    Toyota would seem to be the one with an interest in things being sorted out. Unless they really are guilty of something nasty.

    Perhaps you should submit a proposal to Toyota?
     
  4. a1a1a1

    a1a1a1 Member

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    I'm a little torn on this one. I don't want some random massive corporation taking notes on my every move and just handing it over to the cops without my permission, dead or alive. Toyota has (well, had) an interest in not getting involved in too much information collection, either. Remember, the more information one collects, the more they can be subject to niceties like subpoenas, LE requests and lawsuits. These are costly, too. More or less the information gathering concerns me from a standpoint of literally unwarranted privacy intrusion.

    Not really. In fact, I totally disagree with the statement that Toyota brought it upon themselves. They would have been an extremely ethical and brave company to announce this type of issue themselves. The blame for this rests solely (and I mean SOLELY) on the shoulders of the NHTSA and our weak-minded leaders who gutted this regulatory agency of any remaining minimal power it had over the past decade. But that wasn't unanticipated, I guess. Remember the long-standing White House Chief of Staff for the last administration was a former VP at GM and CEO of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. Like the gutting of the other agencies that obviously had a nasty economic impact, so did the gutting of the NHTSA. The fix was in by GM, and it's ironic that enforcement inaction is what is killing Toyota. Had the NHTSA done their job in 2004 (see this -- Statement Regarding Preliminary NHTSA Toyota -Lexus Investigation and E-mails show NHTSA investigating Toyota issues in '04 | detnews.com | The Detroit News ) Toyota would have saved BILLION$! Companies and politicians do *not* self-regulate because it is against the instinct of survival. This is the role of government to make a functional capitalist society, a role abandoned due to corruption.

    The NHTSA is not even equipped to handle this now. There should never be an issue with knowledge and/or ability to retrieve system data recording information with personnel in a regulatory agency. The whole thing is a farce!
     
  5. timo27

    timo27 Member

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    Agreed. We need meaningful driver education in this country--akin to a high-performance driving school, where you might learn useful things like how to recover an out-of-control vehicle, how to put the car in neutral, etc. When I was getting my license, *every* one--to a one--who failed the test, did so because they were unable to parallel-park a car in under two minutes fewer than 18" from the curb. Sheesh. As if the roadsides were littered with bodies stacked like cordwood from those dying in tragic parallel-parking wrecks. Truth is, any moron over the age of 18 in most states can get a license passing a simple test. The 'drivers ed' offered to younger drivers isn't of much use. You get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get. We all do. But, hey, this might actually cost something, so we cannot have that, now, can we?
    ~T
     
  6. blamy

    blamy Member

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    I suppose that the head of the congressional inquiry of Toyota coming from Michigan has absolutly nothing to do with it at all!!!!
     
  7. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Commercial companies have been using data recording systems to handle accident claims. It is easier to deal with the facts and data if you have the record. For those who want vehicle recording, they are now quite affordable:

    If you want a vehicle recording system, they are available:


    Many of us have added our own instrumentation to try and understand what is going on in our cars:
    [​IMG]
    In this case, an accelerometer was used to document the ZVW30, brake pause. Others are using iPod/iPhones for a similar purpose. We're doing this because we want to know, not accident mitigation. However, built-in to every Garmin nuvi is a GPS record showing location and velocity.

    There is a law that will soon require all cars to have a data recording system that can be used to analyze accident data. It is not yet in effect but many early systems are already coming online. Toyota has announced 100 readers will be commercially available in April. But it is a sword that cuts both ways and will hopefully provide engineering data so missing from the NHTSA accident reports.

    Bob Wilson