Loved Ones - Toyota

[turbo36]

Oh Oh ...

Toyota Hybrid Horror Hoax - Forbes.com

Dave

First off I personally find this example of the run away Toyota hard to believe, but the this so called "reporter" has very questionable credentials also.

Michael Fumento - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[PapaPerk]

Toyota is a good company that is being taken advantage of by the media and our crappy elected officals. Toyota is one of the most respected companies in the world. And their commitment to safety and quality prove that for over 50 years.

Throttle issues are generally related to driver error. There's a few instances where Toyota owners have doubled up their floormats and doing so caused the throttle to get hung up. The moron from Cal with the Prius is clearly lieing and should be arrested for risking people's lives.

The media blitz is driven by the media and their constant drive to scare the public into watching and reading their commericals. Don't fall into the trap of fear.

If you want to improve highway safety, lobby for strict requirments for driver's liescenses.... like an IQ above 50.

 

[archerm3]

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.

You totally miscomprehended my post....one of my points is that there is a fail safe mechanism that does work...it's called the brakes, and another one is shutting down the engine, both of which work...

You also selectively cut and paste my point and tried to put my 100% reliability as if I was talking about drivers being 100%, what I said was that you cannot make a mechanical system that won't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever fail. As in your fail safe mechanism that YOU propose that the BIG GOVERNMENT should creep into our individual life.

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.

Yes I heard that statement verbatim as well, I didn't paraphrase accurately enough but the point remains the same, some people have no clue about cars. Ridiculous to think that a car would flip over frontwards if slammed into reverse, park, anything. So I don't see why these handful of idiots that got into accidents with a toyota are any different then the handful of idiots that got into accidents in Audis and Volvos and Pintos should dictate yet one more irrelevant design feature in already overpriced vehicles from cash strapped manufacturers, yet in total there are way more accidents from normal human faults like drunk driving and inattention...maybe we should install ALL vehicles with a breathalyzer engine kill mandated at the federal level for the 60 or so drunk driving accidents this year, oops, is that all there is in DWI accidents?:confused2:

 

[patrick_g]

My '04 Prius accelerated up to 90 yesterday.... OH MY!!!

I was merging onto the interstate and the flow of traffic was about 85 (70 posted limit)

I generally set the cruise control on the speed limit BUT when merging with traffic it is good to be at or slightly above the speed of the general flow to enable a smooth transition and keep your options open. Interstate highway travel in Oklahoma is beginning to be as rambunctious as in California were nearly everyone on the highway totally ignores the posted speed limit or just adds 10-15 to it.

Pat

 

[wedge40]

Just my 2 cents.
Is there a problem? I'd have to say yes, but locating it between a mechanical failure,electrical failure or software failure will be difficult. If it's software it could take months or never be found.
I drive an 08 Prius and I've been asking why they just dont put the car in Neutral? Well I was coming home from the airport the other day and figured I'd give it a try. It took me a few minutes to learn that you have to "HOLD" the lever over to the neutral position for a few seconds before it would kick in. Since I was doing this in the parking lot, I wanted to try at speed. On the way home I tried it from 44 to 60 and still it went into neutral. Now had this happened before I knew about the time it takes for neutral to kick in, I'm not sure what I would have done. And still there is no guarantee that if it happens the car will go into neutral because if it is a software condition, then all bet are off. Is Toyota the only manufacture who has or could have this problem. No. We are driving cars controlled my Microsoft. How many here have NEVER gotten the blue screen of death. Only difference here is it's more a literal term.

I'm not part of Toyota PR system (DA), but if it were me I'd be mailing out a sheet the explains in detail how to put the car in neutral while moving.

Am I afraid to drive my Prius. Not really. My truck get about 12MPG and Prius averages 4X that.

Now if the latest in CA is proven without a reasonable doubt that it was hoax, then he should be keel hauled. :shocked: Ok maybe a bit extreme, but you get my point.

Wedge

 

[Egon]

My '04 Prius accelerated up to 90 yesterday.... OH MY!!!

Did it require both hands on the steering wheel to prevent a flip??:laughing:

 

[BobRip]

Just my 2 cents.
We are driving cars controlled my Microsoft. How many here have NEVER gotten the blue screen of death. Only difference here is it's more a literal term.

Wedge

Wedge, you make some good points. Three seconds can be a long time.
However, I think it is a mistake to think that the Prius software is like Microsoft Windows.

The Prius has many processors, but not all are related to safety systems. I suspect that the radio has several, the display has at least one, etc.

With Windows, Microsoft is writing an operating system and several applications. Anyone can down load other programs which have not been tested by Microsoft and may actually be malicious by intent. There is no way Microsoft can be responsible for issues caused by other's software.

The Prius is a closed system. There is almost no way the user or anyone else can add code (well maybe, but it is very unlikely)

The size of the code in the Prius is a fraction of that in Windows.

The hardware in the PC is made by many different companies and may have differences that Microsoft cannot predict. It can also be added to by the customer. The hardware in the Prius is totally under the control of Toyota.

Just my thoughts.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Toyota may even have to sell their stock in Consumer Reports.

I sure would if I was Toyota. Quote from Consumer Reports Car issue for 2010 "Consumer Reports has suspended its recommendation of those models until the problem has been resolved.---We did not see unintended acceleration in Toyotas we tested,though given the small number of reported problems, "WE WOULDN"T EXPECT TO"My emphasis.
So after years of recommending Toyotas CR can just excuse THEMSELVES from any responsibilty, with a sentence part!
Well,methinks that if some lawyer was looking for some liability, they might consider CR's continued and glowing recommendations of Toyota products. After all aren't they supposed to be testing products and looking after the consumers interests? Just asking.
Wouldn't you guys like to discuss something less controversial, say like global warming?

 

[wedge40]

However, I think it is a mistake to think that the Prius software is like Microsoft Windows.

This is true, the point I was trying to make is that there is a lot of software/firmware in current cars that now control key functions. One bad line of code and things dont work. There is a formula for calculating errors in code. So many errors per x number of lines of code are expected. I should know this but cant recall at the moment.

Like you point out there are many processors in a Prius. Not sure if Toyota is using something off the shelf or is having them made specific for the car. If they are COTS, a manufacture may have changed a small thing in the production of the chip. It still preforms all the functions it always has but there could an odd combo that Toyota is using that causes the problem. Again these are things that I'm sure Toyota is looking at.
If I had to take a SWAG I'd be looking at outside environmental problems, some sort of weird EMI issue that Toyota didn't plan on.

I have confidence that it''ll be figured out in a few weeks. I dont think Toyota is intentionally covering things up. They just just dont know. The silver lining here is that all the other car manufactures should be able to learn from Toyotas mistake.

Wedge

 

[Ironhand]

I sure would if I was Toyota. Quote from Consumer Reports Car issue for 2010 "Consumer Reports has suspended its recommendation of those models until the problem has been resolved.---We did not see unintended acceleration in Toyotas we tested,though given the small number of reported problems, "WE WOULDN"T EXPECT TO"My emphasis.
So after years of recommending Toyotas CR can just excuse THEMSELVES from any responsibilty, with a sentence part!
Well,methinks that if some lawyer was looking for some liability, they might consider CR's continued and glowing recommendations of Toyota products. After all aren't they supposed to be testing products and looking after the consumers interests? Just asking.
Wouldn't you guys like to discuss something less controversial, say like global warming?

What brand of vehicles do you own? I'm just curious.