Toyota Recall: NASA To Investigate Acceleration Problems

I don't know if he's intelligent or not.

But I see nothing in his resume or his spoken words to suggest either that he is intelligent or qualified to be Secretary of Transportation.

I seriously wonder how he got chosen.

 

He's from Illinois and he is a Republican. The token R in Obama's cabinet.

 

Chalk another one up for the media. They missed another Northeaster today in SE PA ("scattered showers").
We have been getting about one a week through the winter.This one without snow. I trust my Prius more than the media. It got me through the storm tonite..

 

You and me both! I saw forecasts ranging from showers to 4" of rain. I want their job; I could be wrong everyday and chalk it up to the unpredictability of the weather!

 

Just an fyi. His own words on why he thinks he was chosen, in an article before all the current media circus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/us/politics/05lahood.html

 

Maybe when Toyota lands on the moon to inspect a lunar rover which was built nearly 50 years before the first Prius that statement will have any semblance of credibility. BTW - I am not an expert, but I do believe fly-by-wire originated in the aerospace industry.

 

"Houston, we have a problem..."

Tom

 

Thanks for the info. I was unaware that drive-by-wire in automobiles is a specialty of aerospace engineers, as opposed automotive engineers. I'll trust my brother-in-law who says this is a punt. He thinks the Japanese and Germans have better engineers than we do on average. He and his ex-stepfather are engineers who work with them on a daily basis.

I also know that his starting salary 3 years ago with Aisin was about 80% of the maximum for a NASA engineer. NASA has better aerospace engineers than their salaries would indicate because I'm sure they're committed to space flight.

If it helps convince people that the cause of Toyota's problems is the same as Audi's, so much the better. It won't convince ATAC of course.

 

Thanks for the info. I did not know that. This is yet another fly by wire application that I don't trust.

 

Bless your brother-in-laws heart. He has evaluated US engineering talent and decided we are inept compared to the rest of the world. He may want to at least set a criteria, and do a comparison. I would put up US engineering talent against anyone in the world. If your brother-in-law does not think he measures up he should not indite all the rest of America. I don't really care how much he gets paid. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

The electronic throttle was first introduced in aerospace as were most of the ideas in electronic control used in cars today. Radiation hardening of electronics also comes from aerospace. I believe BMW first introduced electronic throttles into cars over 20 years ago. The question is really if a safety agency should have people with electronics and software expertise outside of the corporation they are investigating. To me the answer is definitely yes.

 

Excellent. NASA has some very bright people ... but so does Toyota.

"We've been able to replicate the problem in space, but not yet on Earth. We think the absence of gravity is somehow a factor ... We've asked Toyota if they can replicate our experiment, but they have not yet responded."

"They said something about investors not approving rocket fuel funding. We're not sure what they are talking about. Investors? We asked them if they had lobbied Congress yet. They said no, and they think that's where the whole problem started."

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Maybe someone could ask the aliens in area 57 or whereever it is they are now.

Reminds me of the joke about the multiple studies into why men have a, .... no, never mind.

 

Perhaps in flying, you might be right. But the "by wire" part as in actuator controls for steering, and all other movements, I would bet the shipping industry used that technology first.

 

I don't think NASA is being drawn in so much for their technical expertise as it is for their knowledge about engineering processes and practices. The tables have turned on NASA in a good way. After their 2nd major catastrophe, outside "help" was brought in to investigate and offer advice on how NASA needed to change its processes. This "help" turned out to be Naval Reactors, which has an absolutely impeccable record in developing/managing/operating complex and dangerous machinery.

Sure, NASA might make a technical discovery, or they might not. But I think that Toyota is banking on being enlightened with an improved management or engineering process.

 

Well, Mr. LaHood didn't ask for my opinion and doesn't care what I think.

I still think it smacks of American imperial hubris, like invading and kidnapping a head of state for crimes committed in that country, or subpoenaing Toyoda or the Pope. We don't rule the world. That's where most of my problem with this comes from.

Hopefully, the Japanese can get past their problem with what they see as well-justified "American arrogance" if something is found.

I'm not picking on engineers. My father was an electronics engineering technician (graduate of Spartan in Tulsa) who worked with missile targets and missiles (supervising up to 40 engineers at one point) with the Navy for 35 years. I know what he thought about Audi's problems in the 80s, but he's gone so I can't ask him about the Great Toyota Panic of 2010. I do know that he liked to say that "If it looks good on paper, an engineer designed it; if it works, it was designed by an engineering technician."

 

Perhaps the NASA connection makes some sense given the fly-by-wire configurations in modern commercial aircraft. If aerospace engineers have found how to prevent this problem, perhaps some of their measurement methods, technology, and safeguards will have applications in modern automobiles. Nevertheless, my guess is they won't find electronic glitches.