Sikes accelerator/braking data

I don't think he averaged 90 MPH, just that he reached that speed (or I think I saw up to 94 MPH). The 911 call lasted 23 minutes, which suggests that he averaged right around 60 MPH for this little jaunt. So 250 applications over 23 minutes would be once every 5.5 seconds. But it could have been less frequent depending on how long he was doing this routine before calling 911. I don't think we know the total time period over which the 250 applications occurred.

 

One point never mentioned in the report is the speed of the vehicle. Only Sikes the Scammer's 911 call mentions 90 mph. Until the CHP arrived and confirmed that he was going 90-ish mph he could have been doing 70-ish all the time until the end trying to fry the brakes until he got them well-worn.

I wonder if the CHP officer that finally got him to stop feels like a fool for being drawn into the scam and all that. He did his job but in fact there was no issue. Other CHP officers now....

'Hey Bud, stop any runaway Prius' today?' :rofl:

 

i really wonder why some are anti prius/toyota yet still surf this forum...sell their prius and move on...

anyway hope all these issues can be solved and if its really technical problems, they can be resolved.

 

Sorry, you misunderstood my post. I said that it wouldn't surprise me if the ECU had a data limit of 250 entries. The data came from a diagnostic section of the ECU, where 250 entries would be plenty to see a pattern for most problems.

I certainly wasn't saying that cycling between gas and brakes at high speed is normal.

Tom

 

There is scant information on what is recorded for the purposes of "freeze frame" or diagnostic capability, vs actual crash record (Speed, seatbelt use, etc at time of airbag deployment)

Toyota has always been secretive on what is actually recorded. One consequence of this latest incident is that the attorneys will demand access to what parameters are recorded

No doubt most of this information will trickle down to us mere mortals

 

Did everyone hear the goalposts move upthread?

Last week, it was "When will Toyota release the data?"

Now the data isn't good enough. How typical.

 

Hobbit, I do know that the Prius logs some odd behavior or unusual events. For example, if you shift into D before the car is Ready, it logs it. They do this because many "problems" are actually user error. Someone comes into the shop and says "My Prius doesn't always shift into D." It was a common enough complaint that now the tech can pull the codes and see that the driver was shifting before the car was completely booted.

At this point I am going to switch to complete speculation. Let me be clear that I don't know the following to be true, nor does it come from any reliable source. I am extrapolating from what we do know, and how I normally engineer microcontroller systems:

I suspect that unusual events are time-stamped and kept in some sort of a DTC log. There wouldn't be many of them, because only unusual or error conditions would be logged. From the press report, it sounds like this particular ECU can hold 250 entries.

Further speculating, rapid transitions from acceleration to braking could be considered an unusual event. It could indicate oscillation in the control system. I believe that is why the braking/accelerating cycles were logged.

Note that this in no way implies a flight data recorder type function, where routine control information is constantly logged. I think, in this case, the driver's erratic control inputs triggered diagnostic logging.

Tom

 

shame... it should have a 100% flight data style recorder.. very handy to tap into.

 

I'm starting to think they might be part of an Astroturf campaign.

Tom

 

Very good explanation. Mr. Sikes probably used the brakes so much that the initial regeneration fully charged the battery to the normal limit of 80%. Once that point was reached, the vehicle record all subsequent application of the brake as an abnormal situation. A lot of brake use in itself isn't necessarily a problem (eg-going down a mountain), but coupled with a whole lot of accelerator use might be recognized as a problem by the onboard computer, then perhaps the computer began recording all subsequent brake/accelerator events.

 

If you hold the gas pedal while pressing the brakes, only friction braking is used. Alternately you can shift into and out of N.

Or, as you suggest, you can charge the HV battery to the high limit and not have to do anything special.

Tom

 

Some people here would still argue even if Sikes admitted to fabricating the whole incident.

 

The same aliens that built the pyramids have returned and reprogrammed select Toyota ECUs to kill those that know too much. Everyone who reads this is now in danger...

 

I had a knock sensor failure in a '97 Subaru and the mechanic was able to tell me when, what the engine temp was and what the ambient air pressure was. That was a '97 model. This all occured about 2 weeks prior. Can you imagine what infor today's computers store?
Tony Renier

 

If Toyota can prove that every time Sikes used the brakes the automobile responded by trying to decellerate but he deliberately eased up on the brakes and kept speeds up, then I'd certainly take Sikes to court and sue him for trying to implement fraud and doing deliberate damage to Toyota's reputation.

On a lighter note, I found it funny that evidently the Corvette Owners Club identified on Sikes jacket is embarrassed that Sikes is a member. Embarrassed that he is claiming he couldn't stop his Prius.

 

Okay, look, any of you guys with a repair manual [any year] go
look up "operational history data". I have to go pump out
someone's basement, but I might be able to put the relevant
manual sections up for grabs later. In the meantime, y'all will
probably figure out that brake applications are NOT part of
that supposed "log".
.
_H*

 

I recall that the whole "tin foil" hat conspiracy thingy was initially being laid squarely on the shoulders of people who thought the whole incident was a fraud from the outset. The people accusing the neysayers were the ones that were flabbergasted that these same neysayers couldn't accept that their cars and Toyota were somehow guilty of something, and that it HAD to be the driver (driver error, driver ineptitude, driver fraud, etc). Further, the CHP was in on the "evil plot" with this driver. A few posters in this forum were having a heyday with these accusations (taking a few smug prius owners down a notch or two?)

Now, as more information comes out, it appears (but has not been proven) that this is a case of driver fraud and that the car nor the corporation is at fault. The CHP officer was just doing his job. It appears that these same few posters now feel that Toyota and the NHTSB are involved in a cover-up and are slandering the driver....DESPITE evidence (both physical of the car, and of the character of the individual) that would indicate that the driver is being deceptive.

Who is wearing the tinfoil hat now?

The irony is delicious isn't it?

 

Toyota said that Sikes switched back and forth between the gas and brake 250 times. That means 5 seconds on the gas followed by 5 seconds on the brake and then 5 seconds on the gas again. This I find credible. He could do this to adjust his speed so he did not crash into the back of another car and by just pressing on the brake hard enough to wear out the fronts and not wear out the rear brakes.

Most of the braking comes from the front brakes and they are engaged first and will wear out first. If Sikes pressed the brakes hard enough to engage the rear brakes and hard enough for the rear brakes to wear out, Sikes would come to a stop and his chance for his 15 minutes of more fame would be over.)

Math wise consider 125 gas aplications and 125 brake aplications equaling the 250 recorded events.

23 minutes * 60 seconds/minute = 1380 seconds. 1380seconds /250 events = 5.5 seconds per event or like I said, 5 seconds on the gas and 5 seconds on the brake.

 

That would only prove that Toyota somehow got Sikes to join in the coverup. Or that Sikes was a Toyota plant setup to discredit real claims of UA.

Conspiracy theories are fun!