Toyota Prius Speeds Out of Control on SoCal FWY

I have not said toyota is doomed. In trouble yes, but doomed no. The longer this goes on the harder it will hit toyota long-term in terms of sales and revenue. The wild card in all of this is if a 'smoking gun' emerges indicating a toyota cover-up, or if there is another 911 call that ends in a major accident.

 

This goes to the question of whether it was a set up or not.

If his throttle was stuck open BEFORE he hit the brake and the normal throttle/brake override was working he could not have dragged the brake as you suggest. The only way you can hold the brake on and have an active throttle is to depress the brake BEFORE depressing the throttle.

Yes he could have done what you said if the whole thing was play acting.

Unless, of course, his car had a VERY UNUSUAL TOTAL FAILURE with a very unusual result which magically recovered when the cop showed up.

 

And if that is true, it shows that override systems are not infallible. There are several ways to intentionally override the system on the Prius. These were put into the system for a good reason.

It's the same problem we have with security systems. If you make something completely secure, no one can use it. If you make the override system too aggressive, it will cause accidents. One has to be careful that the cure is not worse than the disease.

Tom

 

Well, Biller (the former attorney for Toyota) is getting play on CNN; so, that little minefield is in good working order. Besides, criminal probes trump civil nondisclosure agreements; whatever Biller has in his possession or has access to, will see the light of day in one form or another. Plus, the stories about Toyota sudden acceleration keep happening (at least one or two a week; sometimes more frequently).

It will be interesting to see what happens to Toyota sales in March. March did not have a production halt to blame; the sales in March should reflect how the public is responding to the continued presence of Toyota in the various news accounts. Hey, maybe all of the publicity may end up helping Toyota to make sales.... Sudden acceleration? It is a benefit! Need to pass a semi tractor-trailer on the highway? Put it in sudden acceleration mode!

 

How do you overide the brake throttle overide in a 2008 prius? I really am curious as to how this is designed to work.

I would think that hitting the brakes then holding the throttle at high speed would not disable it, but I do not know how its intended to work. If that is designed that way its a design flaw against an intermittent throttle. I do not know how this is designed to work, but we have at least one pc member that says his override does not work, and dealer has not looked at it yet. I would think the investigation would show brake and throttle application, so investigators should know as soon as they read the erd if the driver intentionally alternated between hitting the brakes and gas to burn the brakes, or something in the car did not operate correctly. I have no idea if these things will be made public.

 

Posting on PC? It is much easier to be an armchair quarterback. That is why there are so many of them.

 

Heaven forbid the 50 copies of his resume hit the light of day...

 

If they are relevant to the investigation (as in he claimed to be an attorney, but really did not pass the California bar), you can bet they will see the light of day.

 

According to Congressman Issa he has seen the documents which the congressional subpoena obtained and couldn't find any smoking gun. We know he tried.

The issues are both civil nondisclosure agreements and stolen documents. Anything having to do with unintended acceleration would have to be stolen since he (according to him) worked on rollover accidents. But criminal probes do override even the fact they're stolen.

 

I was referring to this

 

I am not quite sure what you are referring to in the link you posted. The link was to another thread where there are debates back and forth as to whether Biller is credible and whether he has any smoking gun(s). My point is that there is a criminal investigation that is on-going. Whatever is found that is relevant will be considered and if material, there likely will be indictments that will issue. Criminal proceedings have a life of their own and there isn't much that can be done to de-rail them (ask Scooter Libby about that). There won't be much in the press until there is a finding one way or the other, but if it goes against Toyota, it will not be good for them (just like it wasn't good for Scooter Libby - he is a convicted felon for life).

 

I just explained that a couple of posts back. You step an the brake FIRST and then then throttle.

It is called a "hill holder". It is so you don't roll backwards before you go forwards.

 

i think the enhanced toyota incentives will benefit toyota sales, especially in March. I think the toyota loyalists will repsond to the $$$$. The problem will be 2,3,4 months and on . The non-loyal customer will not consider toyota nearly as strongly as they would have pre-1/20/10, especially women. I think toyota will lose at least 2 pts of market share in 2010. If a smoking gun is uncovered or a horrific accident on tape, all bets are off.

 

Thanks. I have tried the feature on my 2010. I assumed it needed to be engaged at low or no speed. Are there actions that a driver might take to disable throttle override at higher speeds. I can't think of a reason to do this on a prius, but could be wrong. I know other makers have a switch. I just would hate it if someone might turn this off accidentally. When I read about the incident I just assumed the 2008 did not have the throttle override, but was soon corrected on this forum.

 

Really? The two non-Toyota dealers (Volvo and BMW) that I have recently done business with are not taking Toyotas as trades. For them, it is like back when gas was north of $4/gallon and no one would take a SUV in trade.

 

It's unclear if there is any EDR data to analyze, let alone make public.

 

Switch off the 60's station on XM/Sirus

This video pointed out my youth to me - I was in my 10, ... but I remembered
Thank you for this moment of happiness. :thumb:

Friendly, Guy

 

Do you think it was wiped? Or did not work? Toyota has put edr's in all us cars with airbags since at least 2001. They have been very secretive about what they are recording. The NHTSA requested the reader (1 in the us) and toyota has agreed to get it to san diago. I would think there would have been plenty of time to read it by now.

 

What about Malorn's dealership?

 

I don't know of any concrete proof, but many people believe the EDR only keeps data upon airbag deployment.

And just to provide some context, as of 2004, Toyota EDRs only recorded 150 ms of data.

http://www.harristechnical.com/downloads/05-0271-W.pdf