Sikes accelerator/braking data

Hey, maybe there is UAV drone (un-armed Predator) video from the episode.... The Dept. of Homeland Security has been putting drone missions along the U.S. - Mexico border to keep the illegals at bay. Good luck getting Homeland Security to disgorge their video. Toyota will be recalling the Prius for Sudden Acceleration before Homeland Security releases their video feed.

 

The CHP cop did report the brake pumping from when he was behind, but the in-car video would be of little use in showing that the foot was firmly on the brake the whole time because the cop eventually moved right next to Sikes then in front of him.

News helicopters love to follow car chases so why not the runaway Prius, but most likely too little notice was given before it was over.

 

Well, it wasn't LA proper. Sikes really missed his chance there.

 

LA traffic would have stopped his SUA cold without involving the CHP.

 

Darn - a missed opportunity for a Darwin award!

 

Here is another perspective on what is the likely cause of the sudden acceleration: http://www.cherryclough.com/Downloa...als' recall is a smokescreen, 13 Feb 2010.pdf

If it is tin whiskers, the act of running diagnostics on the circuits could remove the whiskers. But the whiskers would explain the reason why no codes are being thrown.

 

I just wonder how fast the CHP officer was going to catch up with Mr. Sikes...

 

Too bad that Dr. Anderson is not an automotive engineer, and spends all of his time testifying in SUA cases. Or so he says. If he was an automotive engineer, for example, he would know that if they're working, brakes can stop any car.

 

NTHSA got the data as well, as since data was evidence, i am sure police secured it so it could not be faked or deleted, just as they said they did in NY case.

For NY incident, NTHSA themself has said that Prius logging capatibilities are better than other cars.

Those people just picked wrong car to report their "hoax" for, whatever it was done for.

My problem with all of this is that you will eventually have all cars having really good logging capatibilities which will be accessible to your insurance company as well, meaning that in quite few situations insurance companies will refuse payout due to logs.

 

I see no problem with this. It's not like health insurers refusing coverage for pre-existing conditions, which I would have a big problem with. This is simply a matter of discovering the automotive-related facts that caused in an accident. 99.94% of those facts are going to have happened in a brief period of time leading up to the accident, and will be of the type that can be sensed and recorded electronically.

Granted, there may be "pre-existing conditions" on a car that can cause an accident. For example, if a car was involved in an accident 5 years ago, underwent body repair work and some really important bolts weren't torqued properly. Now those bolts have come loose, causing some important mechanical system to fall apart and result in an accident. A "pre-existing condition" like this is going to be rare and probably not recorded electronically.

No need to fear. Joseph McCarthy is not haunting us.

Now, if the data happened to record the fact that a driver incredibly abused his car or neglected some important maintenance to some degree that could be shown to have caused the accident, then I think that the insurance industry and the authorities have a right to know that. Same thing happens in the airline industry.

It's all a balancing act between your personal right to privacy (how you drive and take care of your car) and public safety.

 

Heck, I would even accept rear view and forward view cameras attached to the mirror. This will eliminate "the light was green when I got hit, or they backed up and hit me, I was not on the cell phone when I crashed, my car accelerated and I hit the wall etc..."

 

Ludicrous speed!

:bolt:

 

Does anyone think this is accessible using a TechStream & Mongoose? I wonder if you could access the multiple ECUs with this information.....I might be willing to split the cost of the cable and possible software subscription with someone locally to see what information we can get.

 

It is too bad that the root cause of sudden acceleration is not due to a failure of the braking system. Then your argument might hold some water. Dr. Anderson is an expert on EMI and electronics in general. NHTSA did not retain him for his expertise on braking systems.

 

Your right, the brakes did not fail. You don't need to be an engineer, or even a physics expert to know that brakes will stop a car when engaged, even if the accelerator is at open throttle, or if there was any other electronic failure. In Sikes case we have definate physical evidence that the brakes were engaged or else they wouldn't have worn down. It wasn't until Sikes realized that he may have to collide with the rear of CHP vehicle that the brakes miraculously started to slow down the car. How fortunate for him to have this electronic "glitch" on open highway. How fortunate for him that he didn't have to collide in the back of the CHP vehicle. How fortunate for him that his electronic "glitch" fixed itself before he or anybody else was injured. How unfortunate for him that there are people out there that actually do understand physics, and have common sense on what happened out there.

 

No it is not accessible. It is deeply rooted in one of the ECU (hybrid or skid control I think). I would guess (completely guessing) it is only available with in circuit programming/debugging pins on the microcontroller itself. Probably explains why Toyota has to have a specialist go there.