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Detroit, 12:17 AM
Fri Dec 11
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/07/09
12/07/09
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12/07/09
"Yeah, sure thing, man."
/forgetsaboutitlikeeverydoes
12/07/09
If it did tell somebody higher up it'll cop a boot in return or someone will say "look a talking rat" and then they sink.
It's a cynical outlook but I'm afraid lots of large companies would rather stick their fingers in their ears and yell la la la al at the top of their lungs and hope the problem will go away.
12/07/09
Unlike the floormats! Amiright, folks? Zing!
12/07/09
(No heckling. Two drink minimum. Tip your waitress.)
12/01/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
Not saying Toyota doesn't need to improve engineering and recall response. But if I worked for a manufacturer and heard complaints of unintended acceleration, my response would have been a whole lot less charitable than the one Toyota issued in April.
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
Washing machines that just flash lights like KITT, yes.
But, what of these "troubles" you mention?
11/30/09
11/30/09
The implication being that, if my washer and dryer emulate KITT, all is well.
11/30/09
11/30/09
11/30/09
Wow, how is this issue still about braking. FYI the officer in the accident DID brake. In fact, the brakes were used so much they were on fire.
People seem to think the brakes can always stop a car no matter what, but that's only true from a stop. The car was already traveling at highway speeds or faster, and the momentum of the car would make it very hard to stop the car. Also the engine would be well into its powerband by that time. Another factor is during WOT the vacuum assist on the brakes don't work.
I wish someone would do this in a test to shut the people up who still claim you can always stop a car at WOT moving at highways speeds by using the brakes. This incident seems to prove you can't always do so.
Also the car had push button start and requires a three second press to turn off the car. Being a loaner, the officer wouldn't have known how to use it.
So two options for stopping the car has already been eliminated. In a panic situation that's quite bad.
The last option is to shift to neutral and it's unclear if the officer attempted to do so. On quirk about the ES though is that the N for neutral is next to the up-shift notch for manual mode in the ES. If he was unfamiliar with the car, he might have mistaken the up-shift for neutral.
11/30/09
Here's a guarantee for you: right now, multiple engineers are testing ES brake response in a WOT condition. There's going to be a lot of money in expert fees spent on cases arising from the recall.
12/01/09
The computer problem they were talking about is that they can't shut off the car because of the the keyless fobs that are used now days.
There was never a problem drive-by-wire or anything else.
Toyota in the recent recall is reprogramming cars with such fobs to turn off the engine if the break and acceleration are pressed at the same time. ...and I can think of several situations were that can go bad.
12/01/09
12/01/09
From the article you linked:
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has done six separate investigations of such acceleration surges in Toyotas since 2003 and found no defect in Toyota's electronics. "
11/30/09
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11/30/09
Step one, do not let morons drive.
Step two, do not allow the media to translate bona-fide stupidity into a maniacal mechanical menace.
Problem solved.
11/30/09
11/30/09
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11/30/09
Start hating that thought, then.
Now, they had the "presence of mind" to call 9-1-1, like that's gonna be of any help, but actually address the problem? Nope.
11/30/09
Yeah, I was tempted to b) it, but decided I didn't have time to go down that path, as it always gets my rant-mode 'on'.
11/30/09
And the 911 call came from his brother-in-law in the back seat.
11/30/09
Melted the front rotors, eh?
I have issues with this, as after the pads became hot, they'd produce effectively -0- friction.
We call it 'brake fade'.
Not slapping it into neutral...brain fade. I'm not happy four people died, but at the same time, ONE of them should have been able to come up with the obvious. Hell, my 87 year old mother-in-law asked why he didn't just put it in neutral, and a gearhead, she's not.
11/30/09
Once again: they did not have a chance due to some shortsighted design problems on Toyota's part.
11/30/09
Jesus.
Yo, engineer guys...try not to block all avenues of bailing from bad situation.
I stand corrected. I still can't believe it, but there it is.
Steering assist is still belt-powered in that car, but I can see brake boost quickly going to near zero.
I still have issues with it being caused, ultimately, by a floor mat. Were it under-the-hood, yeah, you can't access anything, but at least try to pull the pedal back.
Oh, and were they getting on the freeway at full-throttle when it stuck? Hold on, California, they were probably pulling out of a parking space.
11/25/09
the meantime, owners of the involved vehicles are asked to take out any removable driver's floor mat and not replace it with any other floor mat until they are notified of the vehicle-based remedy, as notified in the consumer safety advisory and the interim notice."
Bet it's too late for this guy.