SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION (SUA)

Slushbox (although, my NZ 200SX is also automatic, because I went to buy a stick and it was actually 'slushy' compared to my Bluebird (and Insight) which have 'well defined' stick positions; the manual 200SX I looked at was very good in all ways, but the gearshift was 'loose' to the point it put me off! The 200SX auto has the same 0-60 as the manual, but would have 'kept going'. In hindsight he could have just switched off the engine with they key - but in the heat of the moment it is instinct to focus on the crisis at hand!

 

The room Michael Barr used was a clean room with no phones or anything allowed in or out, no notes could be kept, and so on! Apparently the level of security was very high. I still empathise with Toyota as they seem to be the 'favourite' of the media, whereas all car code will have similar problems. The Nissan Leaf sudden unintended total brake failure which resolves after you crash hasn't hit the news much at all, for example!

Toyota's ECU code is encrypted, and given the level of security they used during the Barr investigation, I am sure that there is no way the encryption can be broken

 

The basic design and location of Toyota’s event data recorders (typically part of the airbag ECU) is covered by several published papers, and there have been independent validations of the recorded data. See, for example:

[1] Brown, R., Lewis, L., Hare, B., Jakstis, M., et al., “Confirmation of Toyota EDR Pre-crash Data,” SAE Technical Paper 2012-01-0998, 2012, doi:10.4271/2012-01-0998.

[2] Webster, G., Clyde, H., Hare, B., Jakstis, M. et al., “Accuracy of Recorded Driver Inputs in Toyota Part 563 EDR,” SAE Technical Paper 2014-01-0505, 2014, doi:10.4271/2014-01-0505.

[3] Xing, P., Lee, F., Flynn, T., Wilkinson, C. et al., "Comparison of the Accuracy and Sensitivity of Generation 1, 2 and 3 Toyota Event Data Recorders in Low-Speed Collisions," SAE Int. J. Trans. Safety 4(1):2016, doi:10.4271/2016-01-1494.

[4] Iyoda, M., Trisdale, T., Sherony, R., Mikat, D. et al., “Event Data Recorder (EDR) Developed by Toyota Motor Corporation,” SAE Int. J. Trans. Safety 4(1):2016, doi:10.4271/2016-01-1495.

No, Bosch makes the readout device, as Toyota explains in [4]:

Subsequently, the U.S. [ . . . ] made it compulsory for data downloading to be achievable using a commercially available tool. Toyota chose the Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) tool manufactured by Bosch, which is regarded as an industry standard and is used by a large number of automakers. By September 2012, this tool could be used to download EDR from all Toyota’s models in North America. Currently, CDR is compatible with virtually all of Toyota’s EDR-equipped vehicles all around the world. Most automakers, including GM and Ford have also adopted the Bosch CDR data download tool.​

 

THANKS Elektroingenieur! The equivalent of medical journals for cars??!!! Who knew?!! You've opened up a whole new world for me! This is like Christmas! Thank you!

And thank you for answering. It was helpful and appreciated.