How does accelerator read driver age?

Just yet another magician's smoke screen by Toyota's PR "shills".

Neither of the two more prominant SUA instances can be attributed to age. Age might result in short term confusion regarding which pedal to push, has been pushed, but not long term as in the case of CHP officer Saylor's ES350 nor Sike's 2008 Prius.

 

Wrong, Sikes is 60 years old, which puts him in the group of drivers with 6 times the rate of complaints as compared to 20-30 year-olds, as stated in the OP.

Although I don't believe Sikes's case is a real SUA and a driver of any age could have pulled his hoax.

 

And Saylor was a floor mat issue.

Tom

 

Bob,

The accellerator does not directly read driver's age. However, muscle strength, which decreases with age, can be directly sensed by the pedal being pushed. If the pedal is not pushed "briskly" (as one piece of Toyota documentation says), the system senses the presence of an older driver.
The ECU then attempts to compensate for lack of muscle strength in pushing the pedal by supplying additional throttle opening.
The problem is, this sometimes causes the older driver to lighten up further on the accelerator, which causes the ECU actually to overestimate the driver's age, and open the throttle further.
This causes a feedback loop with the driver constantly lightening pressure on the accellerator and the ECU ordering wider throttle opening, leading to uncontrolled and unintended accelleration.

Makes sense, don't you think?



[Insert appropriate smiley/flame symbol here]

 

Sounds like something that should be posted tomorrow.

 

Yeah, but why wait?

 

The age sensor is also tied into the turn signal. If you drive for 20 miles with the left turn signal flashing, the system assumes that you are a retired person. A Florida license plate makes this the default condition.

Height is sensed by the mirror, headrest, and seat position.

If both the height and age conditions are met, the ECU reverses the accelerator and brake just for fun, but only on the first Tuesday of each even month.



Tom

 

I don't think it's a Toyota smoke sreen. The article is about a GM study.

 

On aqua teen hunger force last night the tree court suggested cutting into the suspects trunk and count the rings to determine age. I think that may work. Reading the EDR seems to determine whether the brake was hit seems a lot more straight forward than adding the age and height sensors.

The quoted GM study was done in the '80s. The author of the article works for exponent. Follow the money and connect the dots. Its a PR move to keep this story out there with the mantra audi. There is nothing wrong with that. Toyota is a big business and has a lot riding on making people feel safe in their cars. Ergonomics, badly designed pedals, incompetent dealerships, and driver error could be the reason for all the unintended accelerations. At the same time they need to really investigate these things unlike the past. It sounds like they are starting to do this.

 

No kidding. The Saylor case was clearly the mats ( human dealer error ) and the Sikes case was clearly a hoax.

 

Funny, wwest40 thinks Michael Fumiento is a Toyota shill too. Toyota Hybrid Horror Hoax - Forbes.com
Google monkey?

 

Yeah Sven, and da runnerway Norvegian got busted also too.....

 

The ECU reads your subcutaneous RFID chip to determine your age, sex, and height, as well as your medical history to determine if you are likely to have a seizure, heart attack, or go into a diabetic coma. It then goes through an FDA-approved algorithm to determine whether or not to allow you to start your car.

 

Why not just ask the driver for the input? Make it part of starting up the car or putting it into "gear".

 

Oh, you didn't know about the other vision research Toyota's
been doing? In addition to LKA and auto-park, now we've got a
pinhole camera mounted at the bottom of the heater housing that
detects varicose veins in the ankles, and adjusts accordingly.
All part of "occupant classification", which is why it takes
a whole separate ECU to handle that.
.
_H*

 

Video: Moment of Zen - Larry King Drives Snoop Dogg's Car | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

 

Here's another one..

Car crashes through South Brunswick bank, narrowly missing employee | - NJ.com

 

Wow, someone honest enough to admit that he accidentally stepped on the accelerator.