Loved Ones - Toyota

[Bird]

People all react differently under stress, duress and pressure. The bottom line is we just don't know who will handle a situation, until the critical time is upon them.

We all think we know exactly what we'll do in an emergency, so it's easy to criticize those who didn't react as we think they should have.

You know this past Christmas, we had snow and ice, lots of ice, on the roads, and we went about 31 miles on I-35 to a daughter's home for the day. Along the way, my wife counted over 30 cars and trucks off the road in the ditches. Ridiculous, bad drivers, right? Now I've driven high speed pursuits, I've done a little stunt driving, I've done 360s on ice for fun, I was in charge of the department's safety section for awhile, I received an award for 20 consecutive years of safe driving of police vehicles, I've taught driving, etc. And I'd never lost control of a vehicle on ice. But Christmas morning, I did. The back end of our Ford Crown Vic decided to pass the front end, and did so. Now I can give you all kinds of "reasons" it happened; the power steering is lighter and more sensitive on the Crown Vic (which my wife normall drives) than the Ford Ranger (which I usually drive), I wasn't expecting anything unusual and was following the same tracks the other traffic had taken, etc.

But you know, no matter how you cut it, it was pure "pilot error". I'm sorry to say, I over compensated both directions; bad driving on my part. Fortunately, I got it under control and stopped without leaving the pavement or hitting anything. But it can happen to any of us.

 

[Mace Canute]

Let's play nice fellows and not get personal. As for irony, it seems to me that Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger would find it ironic that you guys are calling him "Sullivan".:laughing::laughing:

Sorry! I just took it from turbo36 post! Shoulda known better!

 

[turbo36]

Sorry! I just took it from turbo36 post! Shoulda known better!

Should have known better about what?

 

[turbo36]

Let's play nice fellows and not get personal. As for irony, it seems to me that Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger would find it ironic that you guys are calling him "Sullivan".:laughing::laughing:

They say your memory is the second thing to go as you get older, can't remember what the first thing was though:confused2:

 

[archerm3]

I can see it now; all the driver training programs will need to be changed to include emergency stuck throttle training! Wouldn't it be easier and less costly just to build cars that won't suffer this problem?

Actually, no...

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to teach drivers how to react to stuck throttles?

PUT ON THE BRAKES AND SHIFT TO NEUTRAL.

There. Done. Didnt' cost a red cent. Purdy darn easy from my POV.

Mechanical systems fail...Drivers leave trash on their floors, ill fitting floor mats are purchased at walmart because the dealer mats are too expensive...there is no way to reduce a mechanical system to 100.00000000000000000000% reliability.

I have yet to read a credible report of a true mechanical failure in these Toyota situations. I had a Volvo wagon that had electronic throttle problems fleet wide, and I experienced a mild surge while driving, it was nothing that applying the "slow down pedal" couldn't handle...and Congress wouldn't force a recall on them...

http://home.comcast.net/~donwillson/NHTSA Final Report.html

I can see in the future with the dumbing down of the average American...."my car ran out of gas and I got in an accident when the car stalled in traffic. We need to outlaw cars running out of gas. There must be a recall. Cars will need to be umbilical corded to a constant supply of gasoline..."

 

[turbo36]

Actually, no...

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to teach drivers how to react to stuck throttles?

100.00000000000000000000% reliability.


quote]

Really? 100% reliability? Some of these crashes happened in a split second. Are you proposing that there should be a test to determine if you could react to a sticking throttle as a condition to get a license? Wow, talk about Big Government creeping into the individual life.

Your argument might hold water if it wasn't possible to design a car without a proper fail-safe mechanism but in reality it is possible, they just failed to do it.

 

[dave1949]

I can see in the future with the dumbing down of the average American...."my car ran out of gas and I got in an accident when the car stalled in traffic. We need to outlaw cars running out of gas. There must be a recall. Cars will need to be umbilical corded to a constant supply of gasoline..."

Actually, in Germany there is a fine for running out of gas on the autobahn. I believe AZ can fine people for having their car stranded in a wash that is flooded. Hikers and climbers are getting charged for the cost of rescuing them when they go unprepared, don't heed the weather, get in trouble, then call for help on their cell phone. So, there are fines or charges for 'dumb' actions.

Knowing there is a cost for stupid actions can be educational and preventative in and of itself, just due to 'pain avoidance'. It's a shame that is what it takes to 'educate' some folks.

I don't know how much the average American is getting dumbed down, or is there a fairly constant percentage of dumb actions across a population? With many more people and much wider dissemination of news, it could just be there are more dumb things done and we hear about most of them.

I still believe, if the latest runaway story is genuine, we are further than we think from assuming the general public is ready to deal with drive by wire incidents. Combine a little panic and a little mechanical ignorance ( I didn't know if the car would flip over if I put it in neutral ) and you can have a real problem.

That doesn't mean this driver is dumb. He could easily have been a world-class cellist, chess master, mathematician, tax accountant, doctor, nurse, politician, HR person or a million other professions. It's possible such a person has never held a wrench. He gets in his car, tries to drive it safely and expects it to operate as it should. When that doesn't happen, he could easily be very confused, very quickly as the situation immediately reveals his total lack of mechanical knowledge.

I know it seems strange to members of this forum, but how many of us have kids that could be in the same boat as this driver?
Dave.

 

[dodge man]

One thing we need to understand is many people don't understand how a car works. Many people on this board have a pretty good understanding of how the different systems on a car function. The guy from California didn't say if he put his car in nuetral it would flip. What he said was he was worried it would go past nuetral and hit reverse and might flip. I don't think he really understands that most cars won't allow that, but I can't fault him for thinking that.

There is the old saying, where there is smoke there is fire. There is no doubt that Toyota has some kind of problem, the question is, and I don't think has been answered yet, is what is causing the problem.

 

[Defective]

I know it seems strange to members of this forum, but how many of us have kids that could be in the same boat as this driver?

I, for one, can say with absolute certainty that mine would not be in that boat.

First reason: They all had to prove to Dad that they could learn to drive safely and intelligently.

Second reason: Each of them (like Dad) drives a standard by choice. :thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

Oh Oh ...

Toyota Hybrid Horror Hoax - Forbes.com

Dave