LA Times: Toyota Unintended Acceleration Death Toll Tops 100

I've usually heard it referred to as a DERM or SDM.

 

Let's add the other posts:

In December 2009, we saw the first post about a 'brake pause' in the 2010 Prius. There was a fairly involved investigation by the members at the time (see Gen-3 forum). We were able to quantify ~800 msec. pause that could be triggered by a rare combination of slick road, specific speed, and a road bump/pot hole. Toyota issued a recall that changed the software in the brake controller and we confirmed it solved the pause problem.

There were lay reports of similar problems with the Gen-2 Prius, your model year. However, not having a Gen-2, I could not investigate. At the time, I had a Gen-1 Prius and confirmed it did not have the 'brake pause' problem.

Here is one relevant thread about it:
Poll: Are Prius brakes a problem? | PriusChat

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

For the record...the S/W only reduced "the pause" on Gen III's. It's still there.

 

If the hydraulics were working, it is not possible for them to not stop the car. You just have to press down. Also don't understand how at 10mph such an extreme crash could happen that still had time to hit a pothole, check the pedals, and scream. That's too much time.

More likely explanation is this is again a problem of the bag of flesh not understanding what is going on in the physical world. Humans are terrible at "feeling" jerk. To us, it feels like acceleration. When the pothole was hit, the traction control kicked in and the regen brakes stopped applying pressure and the frictions kick in. That transition is a decrease in the deceleration until you hit the brake pedal more and apply more friction brakes. The car is still decelerating, however it is decelerating at a slower pace, that's jerk. Distance -> Velocity -> Acceleration -> Jerk with each "->" being the derivative with respect to time (dT).

 

... and stomp down REALLY HARD, with your full body weight (or as much of it as you can possibly muster), just as in the old days before power-assisted brakes.

 

Well not really that hard, but "stomping on it" should suffice. If you've never driven anything without power brakes it could be discomforting but that personal ignorance is not an excuse for not understanding how your many-tons of hurtling-metal-mass operates.

And in most panic situations people put a lot of weight into it. So much so their own bones break or they bend the steering wheel, etc.

 

If that was nearly universal, there would have been no reason to put in the Brake Assist feature.

 

our '04 GenII had it.
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i'm going to reserve any further opinion until next month when bev posts the results of the ED.

 

What! Not the Emergency Department? Surely that's where traffic accident patients are taken?

 

In the US, ED refers to something some people solve with a prescription drug (drug name is banned here, apparently).

 

You got me. I'm lost as soon as you've said 'in the US.'

 

Can you say erector set dysfunction? The ED he refers to is "similar" to that.

 

On the west side of the pond, that is called the ER, Emergency Room ...

... which is also where some ED sufferers end up when that prescription drug's effect doesn't relax within 4 hours.

 

You can't be bragging, so I reckon you must be complaining!

 

Fixed!

 

we used to call it er as well. not sure when that changed.

 

We call it E Dysfunction, but I always used the male birth control pill. You put one in a shoe and it always made you limp.