Runaway acceleration possible cause?

Yes, I understand this, thanks.

 

all this is just giving insurance companies the ammunition they need to get the on board computers recording, logging and transmitting data about our second by second driving habits, something they have been lobbying for years to get allowed.

eventually, all these issues will come down to either driver error or not reproducible. the validity of USA (unintended sudden acceleration...after all, it only seems to happen here in a easy-litigious enabled society) will be hotly debated and the PC thing to do will be to implement monitoring devices to insure that the driver (good luck with that!!) is not lying or unknowingly driving like crap.

but insurance companies (who had actually agreed to pay the biggest part of the estimated $150 per vehicle cost to install the "auto black boxes") will only use the data to work against the customer filing an accident claim.

all in all; when this much noise happens, whether its based with a shred of reality or not, change will happen and i am betting it wont be good

 

For lack of a better place to post:

To everyone interested in the whole investigation process, I recommend Bill Adair's book on the investigation of the crash of USAir 427.

Reading about the accident investigation (737 rudder reversal and crash outside Pittsburgh) shows how hard it is to track down "gremlins" in mechanical systems.

The 737 had:
-trained operators
-an excellent safety record
-fully mechanical controls (not fly-by-wire)
-a comprehensive black box record

and yet the investigation was almost unable to determine a "probable cause"

One recommendation of the NTSB was to add another channel to the black box, to show the positions of not just the actual rudder, but the rudder pedals as well

My sympathies to all the engineers at Toyota, et al. tearing their hair out in frustration.

And for the record, I still drive my prius and fly on 737's.

-A.

 

What is "runaway acceleration" anyway? Does that mean that the rate of acceleration is increasing? If anything, the rate of acceleration would be decreasing as the vehicle encountered increasing wind resistance. Again, an example of a phrase coined by the media with no understanding of physics. "Runaway vehicle", "Continuously accelerating vehicle", or "stuck wide-open throttle" are a bit more appropriate.

The obvious root cause? It's simple ... constant force. There ... it's solved, finished. Let's move on.